Marrone told District Justice William Wenner that former Turnpike Chief Operating Officer George Hatalowich would tell him what firms to rank highly before each meeting…

A national study on charter school performance shows that academic achievement is on the rise nationally among charter school students, but Pennsylvania is not sharing in that success, likely due to students in cyber charter schools.

In a widely touted speech, the US president laid out a three-part plan to deal with climate change using the power of his office, defying congressional inaction on the issue…

“Congress could have updated the coverage formula at that time, but did not do so. Its failure to act leaves us today with no choice but to declare [Section 4] unconstitutional. The formula in that section can no longer be used as a basis for subjecting jurisdictions to preclearance.” …

Duke researcher Rob Jackson says their paper shows that methane contamination is “not an epidemic” but does exist. Methane is an odorless gas that is not known to be toxic, but high concentrations can be explosive…

NEW YORK TIMES: … The People’s Bank of China, the central bank, let the world know on Monday that it was putting the nation’s banks on notice: the loose money and the speculation it fed had to stop. It said banks had to step up risk controls and improve cash management.

In an appearance today at the Pennsylvania Press Club luncheon, Kane acknowledged his review of her predecessors’ handling of that case is progressing but declined to offer a date certain when it would be complete.

WALL STREET JOURNAL: Capping a year of suspense with a surprise anticlimax, the Supreme Court Monday sidestepped a sweeping ruling on affirmative action and instead directed lower courts to re-examine whether a race-conscious admissions program at the University of Texas at Austin should survive constitutional scrutiny.

3. Philadelphia, Pa.

The Philadelphia – Camden – Wilmington metro area sits on the Delaware River, which has been lined with refineries and chemical plants for decades. The region has 18.5 million lbs a year of toxic releases, according to the EPA, with 7.2 million lbs discharged into the water. Superfund sites include the Franklin Slag Pile and the Martin Aaron site. Sperling Air Quality Index: 22 Sperling Water Quality Index: 12 …

PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS Column: … It’s the rush to the annual June 30 deadline, when Harrisburg decides how and where tax dollars are spent, what policies progress and what issues go back down the ever-munching maw of the Legislature for redigestion.

Republican Gov. Tom Corbett is about to suffer the biggest defeat of his tenure. The state legislature, with both chambers under the Governor’s political control, will likely pass some sort of budget by the end of next weekend.

“Humankind’s new ability to manipulate atoms and molecules is also leading toward the disruptive revolution in manufacturing known as 3D printing. Also known as additive manufacturing, the new process builds objects from a three-dimensional digital file by laying down an ultrathin layer of whatever material or materials the object is to be made of, and then adds each additional ultrathin layer –one by one – until the object is formed in three-dimensional space.