From the NEW YORK TIMES: Hospital patients waiting in an emergency room or convalescing after surgery are being confronted by an unexpected visitor: a debt collector at bedside. This and other aggressive tactics by one of the nation’s largest collectors of medical debts, Accretive Health, were revealed on Tuesday by the Minnesota attorney general, raising concerns that such practices have become common at hospitals across the country.

From USA TODAY: …Rep. Tim Holden, D-Pa., was beaten by political newcomer Matt Cartwright, who delivered one of the biggest incumbent upsets this election year. Holden, a 10-term congressman, was joined by Rep. Jason Altmire as the second incumbent Democrat to lose Tuesday. Altmire was beaten by fellow Democratic Rep. Mark Critz in a race in which each overwhelmingly won their home counties…

PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER: Former Lackawanna County prosecutor Kathleen Kane declared victory Tuesday night in her hard-fought battle for the Democratic nomination for attorney general over former Congressman Patrick Murphy of Bucks County.

Kane, 45, of Clarks Summit, who spent 13 years as an assistant district attorney, edged out Murphy to become the first woman of either party nominated to run for Pennsylvania attorney general.

PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER: In 2008, when Gov. Ed Rendell signed Pennsylvania’s toughest-in-the-nation law governing commercial breeding kennels, the objective was to end the state’s reputation as the “puppy mill” capital of the East.

Now, nearly a year after key regulations governing temperature, lighting, ammonia levels, and ventilation went into effect, there is little if any evidence that the Department of Agriculture is enforcing that provision of the law. The agency, which is facing a deepening financial crisis, is failing to cite repeat violators and is “committing a serious abuse of its discretion” by allowing the wife of a convicted animal abuser to hold a kennel license, according to state records and one legal expert.

NEW YORK TIMES: ….“We had been attempting to highlight the inability of Congress to do anything,” recalled William M. Daley, who was the White House chief of staff at the time. “The president expressed frustration, saying we have got to scour everything and push the envelope in finding things we can do on our own.”

For Mr. Obama, that meeting was a turning point. As a senator and presidential candidate, he had criticized George W. Bush for flouting the role of Congress. And during his first two years in the White House, when Democrats controlled Congress, Mr. Obama largely worked through the legislative process to achieve his domestic policy goals.

PEW RESEARCH CENTER: The largest wave of immigration in history from a single country to the United States has come to a standstill. After four decades that brought 12 million current immigrants—more than half of whom came illegally—the net migration flow from Mexico to the United States has stopped—and may have reversed, according to a new analysis by the Pew Hispanic Center of multiple government data sets from both countries.

The standstill appears to be the result of many factors, including the weakened U.S. job and housing construction markets, heightened border enforcement, a rise in deportations, the growing dangers associated with illegal border crossings, the long-term decline in Mexico’s birth rates and changing economic conditions in Mexico.

NEWSMAX: …French President Nicolas Sarkozy lost the first round of his re-election bid and a revolt against extra spending cuts in the traditionally budget-conscious Netherlands propelled Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s coalition toward an early breakup.

Together with anti-austerity rumblings in a campaign for elections in Greece, the shift in grass-roots sentiment at the heart of Europe generated fresh doubts about the German-driven strategy for getting to grips with the two-year-old crisis.

From USA TODAY: … The biggest reason: Consumers have bought more vehicles and gone out to eat more often, even though gas prices had been expected to make them spend less, says Jeff Rosen, an economist at Briefing Research in Chicago.

As is evident to regular visitors and especially from Keisling on Pennsylvania Politics, we despair over the long term corruption in Pennsylvania government and we believe that both parties have joined together in many circumstances to exploit the taxpayers.

From POLITICSPA.COM: Kathleen Kane leads the Democratic race for Attorney General 42 percent to 33 percent, according to a poll conducted for her campaign. Both she and Patrick Murphy have strongly net favorable ratings.

From the NATION: … On December 1 the Justice Department announced an investigation into SCI Cresson as well as SCI Pittsburgh in response to allegations of prisoner abuse. Since then, another inmate, who reportedly asked repeatedly for and was denied mental health treatment, has committed suicide inside SCI Cresson. An investigation by The Nation uncovered details of the claims at the center of the probe, through interviews with current and former Department of Corrections (DOC) employees, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal.