Obama Approves Air Surveillance Of Isis In Syria A Step Towards Strikes U S Goal Is to Hurt Militants Without Aiding Assad EDITOR: That truly is threading a needle.
Conservative legislator puts credentials on line in bipartisan medicinal marijuana effort
Folmer met with constituents whose children have epilepsy who heard how certain forms of marijuana can curb potentially fatal seizures. The evidence they provided dispelled his “preconceived notions,” and now Folmer is half of a bipartisan team looking to legalize cannabis for medical use in Pennsylvania.
Pa. Lottery outsourcing critics say Illinois’ failed privatization could have played out here
HARRISBURG PATRIOT-NEWS Column: After three years of revenues falling short of expectation, Illinois is parting ways with the private management firm it hired in 2010 to run its state lottery.
Medical marijuana laws may reduce painkiller overdoses
CNN — States that have legalized marijuana for managing chronic pain have significantly fewer deaths from prescription painkiller overdoses each year, according to a new study published Monday in JAMA Internal Medicine. Researchers looked at medical marijuana laws and death certificate data in all 50 states between 1999 and 2010. During that time, just 13 […]
Smart may be smarter than he realizes
“Maybe we are understored. Maybe there are retail chains clamoring for space here. But how wise is it to build yet more retail space within a stone’s throw of existing space that’s struggling?”
PA public education funding is a mess
Pennsylvania is in the bottom 10 in the United States. Data from the National Center for Education Statistics show our state taxes only covered 35.8 percent of public education costs for 2010.
The Enclosure of the American Mind
NEW YORK TIMES BOOKS: …The trouble starts at admission. Top universities woo thousands of teenagers to apply, but seek one defined type: the student who has taken every Advanced Placement class and aced every exam, made varsity in a sport, played an instrument in the state youth orchestra and trekked across Nepal. This demanding system […]
The End of Liberal Zionism: Israel’s Move to the Right Challenges Diaspora Jews
NEW YORK TIMES Op-Ed: …The dissenting left doesn’t have all the answers, but it has the principles upon which solutions must be based. Both liberal Zionism and the left accept the established historical record: Jews forced hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their homes to make way for the establishment of a Jewish state. But […]
Germany Pledges Aid for Ukraine as Russia Hails a Returning Convoy
NEW YORK TIMES: Kiev, Ukraine — Pulling back a huge aid convoy whose entry into Ukraine stirred Western outrage, Russia on Saturday cheered the completion of what it called a successful humanitarian mission, while Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany visited the Ukrainian capital and pledged more than $690 million for the rebuilding of war-ravaged areas […]
Where the criminal case against Penn State’s Graham Spanier stands: No news is, well, no news
HARRISBURG PATRIOT NEWS Column: …Each defendant has asserted he believed Baldwin was acting as his personal attorney when she attended their grand jury appearances i Harrisburg in 2011, and their attorney / client privilege was never waived.
Job No. 1 for the next governor? A huge budget gap
PHILLY.COM / AP: …Tax collections have been disappointing. Costs are rising by more than $1 billion a year, primarily for health care for the poor and public employee pensions.
Russia Moves Artillery Units Into Ukraine, NATO Says
NEW YORK TIMES: …The Russian move represents a significant escalation of the Kremlin’s involvement in the fighting there and comes as a convoy of Russian trucks with humanitarian provisions has crossed into Ukrainian territory without Kiev’s permission… NATO’s secretary general, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, criticized the Russian moves in a statement issued in Brussels on Friday. […]
U.S. General Says Raiding Syria Is Key to Halting ISIS
NEW YORK TIMES: The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria cannot be defeated unless the United States or its partners take on the Sunni militants in Syria, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said Thursday. “This is an organization that has an apocalyptic end-of-days strategic vision that will eventually have to be defeated,” […]
Widening Wealth Gap: ‘Bottom 20’ of Americans Worse Off Now Than in Year 2000
NEWSMAX / AP: The median net worth of the richest households rose 11 percent between 2000 and 2011, to $630,754. The next-wealthiest group’s net worth also rose… A rebound in the stock market and rising home values after the housing bust helped richer Americans regain their wealth since the recession, which began in December 2007 […]