“In a development that instantly changed the race for the Wisconsin Supreme Court, revised vote totals for Waukesha County released this evening show that incumbent Justice David Prosser picked up more than 7,500 voters over challenger JoAnne Kloppenburg.”… AOL News, April 7.

From the PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE: Forty-two environmental, conservation and faith-based organizations and businesses have asked Gov. Tom Corbett to end the state Department of Environmental Protection’s new procedure requiring political appointees to review and approve of all enforcement actions involving Marcellus Shale gas well operations.

From AOL NEWS: In a development that instantly changed the race for the Wisconsin Supreme Court, revised vote totals for Waukesha County released this evening show that incumbent Justice David Prosser picked up more than 7,500 voters over challenger JoAnne Kloppenburg.

From the PATRIOT-NEWS: Teachers might have bristled at Gov. Tom Corbett’s request for a one-year pay freeze, but many state workers might well be envying teachers right now. A salary freeze looks generous in comparison to what the governor wants from the state’s union employees…

From POLITICO: The dramatic 2012 spending plan unveiled Tuesday by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan amounts to a test of political will for the GOP’s most vulnerable lawmakers, some of them only a few months into their maiden terms. The decision before them boils down to this: Will they stake their seats on a risky vote to overhaul the federal budget, including the popular Medicare entitlement program?

From the WORLD SOCIALIST WEB SITE: Numerous press reports over the weekend add to the evidence that the Libyan rebels fighting the regime of Muammar Gaddafi are under the direction of American intelligence agencies. Despite the repeated claims by Obama administration officials that the rebels are a largely unknown quantity, it is becoming increasingly clear that key military leaders of the anti-Gaddafi campaign are well known to the US government and have longstanding relations with the CIA.

From THE NATION: …By some estimates, the United States loses $100 billion every year to foreign tax havens, though Shaxson emphasizes that most people still don’t really grasp the enormity of the problem. When they hear the term “tax havens,” many people envision a handful of billionaires sunning themselves on a remote beach somewhere, martinis in hands. The real problem is actually much larger and closer to home.

From the BEAVER COUNTY TIMES: …Last week, the industry got an early hand-out when the state Department of Environmental Protection announced a new policy that requires that the approval of enforcement actions and punishments aimed at Marcellus Shale drilling operators, who contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to Corbett’s gubernatorial campaign, go through agency officials who are political appointees.

QUESTION: When over 80% of the US families have experience no increase in inflation adjusted earnings over the past thirty years, why do such a large share of them continue to support politicians who have turned their backs on them and instead further enrich the ½ of 1% whose real incomes have grown geometrically since 1980, a phenomenon which is rapidly turning our social democracy into a plutocracy?

With the $10.9 million purchase of the former Pennsylvania Academy of Music’s building at 42 N. Prince Street by Millersville University, philanthropist Paul Ware is relieved of debt in the form of guarantees of loans which he incurred to launch construction when he was PAM’s chair and enthusiast.