DAILY BEAST / REUTERS: Voters approved a ban on hydraulic fracturing in the north Texas town of Denton on Tuesday, making it the first city in the Lone Star State to outlaw the oil and gas extraction technique behind the U.S. energy boom. The vote in the city of 123,000 was highly symbolic because hydraulic […]
Berkeley soda tax bubbles ahead, set to become nation’s first
ALJAZEERA: …The Alameda County registrar’s office reported 74 percent of voters favored Measure D, which calls for a 1 cent per ounce tax on sugary drinks such as sodas, with 42 percent of precincts reporting… The movement appears to have failed to cross San Francisco Bay, with fewer than two-thirds of San Francisco voters pulling […]
Plummeting rouble loses central bank support
FINANCIAL TIMES: The Central Bank of Russia announced an effective free float of the rouble on Wednesday, a step which triggered a fresh plunge in the currency but is intended to eventually stabilise it. Hammered by falling oil prices and western sanctions, the rouble has lost more than a quarter of its value against the […]
Foes of Paterno firing play role in Corbett loss
In exit polling Tuesday, the Associated Press found nearly 60 percent of voters were not concerned over Corbett’s handling of the Sandusky scandal. But the remaining voters, nearly 40 percent, considered the issue very important or somewhat important. Most of those voters said they chose [Tom] Wolf…
Seeking New Tools to Address a Wage Gap
Washington already redistributes income from the rich to the poor. Richard Burkhauser and Philip Armour from Cornell and Jeff Larrimore from the Joint Committee on Taxation have become heroes to the right by trying to establish that government redistribution has, in fact, erased the trend of increasing inequality…
State, Local Marijuana Legalization Measures Win Big On Election
NORML: Oregon and Alaska legalized and regulated the commercial production and sale of marijuana for adults, while voters residing in the nation’s capitol and in numerous other cities nationwide similarly decided this Election Day to eliminate marijuana possession penalties.
No Wolf ‘coattails’ for PA Senate Democrats, who face 30-20 Senate GOP majority in 2015.
With all the talk the last couple of months about a possible Democratic majority in the state Senate – and the potential political coattails of Democrat Tom Wolf’s historic gubernatorial win – you’d think Senate Democrats would have made a better showing on Election Day.
Riding Wave of Discontent, G.O.P. Takes Senate
An election that started as trench warfare, state by state and district by district, crested into a sweeping Republican victory. Contests that were expected to be close were not, and races expected to go Democratic broke narrowly for the Republicans.
Joe Paterno’s last win: 55 to 45
“It’s amazing what 300,000 PSU alumni can do.”
Pennsylvania’s challenging elections
READING EAGLE: …Most states let voters cast a ballot before Election Day, either during an early voting period or by absentee ballot. Pennsylvania is one of 14 states that require an excuse to receive an absentee ballot, and it makes no other concessions for voters’ busy schedules, according to a survey by the National Conference […]
LETTER: Public had no interest in what LNP editors had to say
I took the time today (11/3) to read the transcript of the call-in on Lancaster Online where the new editorial board was explaining their political endorsements. NO ONE called in!! The entire 30 minutes was occupied by LNP staffers. Evidently LNP has lost whatever political influence they once felt they had. How embarrassing (and deservedly […]
Statistical Portrait of an Ordinary Russian
What struck me was a sense that the style of life for an average Russian today is very much similar to under Communism, which failed more then 20 years ago.
On Tuesday, there’s one Election Day, but many elections: Terry Madonna and Michael L. Young
Indeed, the state includes such a rich range of political types that it often seems there is more than one Pennsylvania – and on election night, more than one election…
Ukraine’s Rebel Leader Is Sworn in, Crisis Deepens
NEW YORK TIMES / REUTERS: A pro-Russian separatist leader was sworn in on Tuesday as the head of a self-proclaimed ‘people’s republic’ in eastern Ukraine in a ceremony that worsened a standoff with Russia. Alexander Zakharchenko, who was elected in a rogue vote on Sunday that was denounced as a “farce” by Kiev and illegitimate […]