by psmith, May 16, 2016, 02:40pm, (Issue #927) This article was produced in collaboration with AlterNet and first appeared here. Health Canada announced Friday that it is proposing new regulations to allow access to prescription heroin under its Special Access Program (SAP). That program allows for emergency access to drugs for serious or life-threatening conditions when conventional treatments have […]
Philly Inquirer nets a questionable $583,000 from state, and stands to gain another $300K
Is the Inquirer bilking taxpayers and the Commonwealth of PA? If the judges stand their ground and demand a do-over election, it looks like another financial windfall for the state’s financially strapped newspapers. None of the newspapers, meanwhile, seem to be complaining. by Bill Keisling (Editor’s note: to view an Excel spreadsheet of the 2016 […]
MILLER: Are McCord, Estey linked? Is ex-Governor Rendell the target?
By Dick Miller: WE CONNECT.DOTS: Are the Federal apprehensions of two high-ranking state government individuals linked. Both are Democrats and this is the question many Harrisburg operatives ask. Two years ago the political world was shocked when the U.S. Attorney’s office for Middle Pennsylvania announced the indictment of former state Treasurer Rob McCord. He […]
On procedural grounds, judge rejects Kane’s claim of selective prosecution
PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER: …In an order signed Monday, Judge Wendy Demchick-Alloy said Kane’s lawyers had not conformed to proper procedure in filing their motion for dismissal last month. The judge did not offer an opinion on the merits of Kane’s assertions but instead gave her a chance to file an amended motion within 10 days… Last month, […]
In Kathleen Kane’s absence, her staff continues to grapple with ‘Porngate’ quagmire
PENN LIVE: …[Former Maryland Attorne General Doug] confusion about his status. The contract, revised by Castor, is a mechanism that allows him to be paid although he actually began working as a special deputy on Dec. 1, he said… “At the time, Bruce Beemer and his guy [Robert] Mulle were doing everything they could to […]
TSUKERMAN: V Day In Russia
By Slava Tsukerman Russia marked the Soviet Union’s role in defeating Nazi Germany 71 years ago by holding a series of parades that occur in over 20 of Russia’s major cities and one of the largest Victory Day military parades in Moscow in years. Thousands of soldiers marched through Red Square on May 9. This year’s Victory Day parade […]
LETTER: From USA TODAY: “Bids in George Zimmerman gun auction top $65M”
In my view a clear message of this election is that: It’s about white power stupid! This article is just more evidence of the climate in white America that fosters and is reinforced by Donald Trump’s candidacy for President. These times disturbingly parallel the rise of the Ku Klux Klan and Jim Crow in […]
Colorado City To Use $1.5 Million From Pot Tax To Help Homeless
HUFFINGTON POST: … [Aurora, Colorado] City officials forecasted that recreational marijuana sales would bring in $5.4 million, the Denver Post reported. In addition to allocating $1.5 million to helping homeless people, about $680,000 will be set aside for city nonprofits. And $2 million will be used to issue bonds to build a new recreation center […]
KEISLING: Tight-Lipped John Estey’s Plea Hearing Reveals Little of Long-Running Government Sting
Was the FBI’s textbook bribery scam an F Troop operation gone awry, with even the bureau’s own well-heeled lobbyists stealing from it? Or was it serious and praiseworthy undercover work? We don’t yet know. by Bill Keisling There’s no bigger mystery in Pennsylvania government this week than questions surrounding the arrest and plea deal of John […]
John Fry: College President as Philadelphia Urban Planner
PHILLY.COM: …As Franklin and Marshall’s new president, [John Fry] wasted no time launching a $75 million redevelopment project, one of the largest in Lancaster’s history. It involved demolishing the factory and moving half of a railroad yard on the college’s rim to a site less than a mile away, freeing dozens of acres for […]
Easter in Moscow
By Slava Tsukerman In Russia Easter is usually celebrated later than in the West. This happens because Easter dates are determined by different calendars. The Russian-Orthodox church uses the old Julian calendar, whereas the Roman Catholic and Protestant churches switched to the Gregorian calendar in the 16th century. This year Russians celebrated Easter on May 1. May 1, the May […]
LNP editorial recognizes high tuition problem but not the solution
By Robert Field According to “Students shouldn’t have to suffer from rising higher education costs”: “Pennsylvania colleges are the second least affordable in the country, according to the ‘College Affordability Diagnosis,’ a report released by the University of Pennsylvania, Vanderbilt University and the Higher Education Policy Institute… “Students take on obscene amounts of debt, and […]
Is the American Legislative Exchange Council effective here?
By Dick Miller WE.CONNECT.DOTS: The American Legislative Exchange Council is the nation’s largest and most powerful lobby group but claims to do no actual lobbying. About 400 state legislators met for ALEC’s spring educational seminar on legislative proposals in downtown Pittsburgh over this past weekend. ALEC describes itself as a non-partisan, non-profit organization […]
Feds Give Up on Effort to Seize Nation’s Largest Medical Marijuana Dispensary
by psmith, May 04, 2016, 02:58pm, (Issue #926) This article was produced in collaboration with AlterNet and first appeared here. In a stunning victory for California’s marijuana industry, federal prosecutors have agreed to end their years-long effort to close and seize Oakland’s Harborside Health Center, the nation’s largest dispensary with more than 100,000 patients. Inside Harborside. (HarborsideHealthCenter.com) […]