Approaching 2015, five unfolding political themes deeply rooted in 2014 seem likely to dominate state politics in the New Year

The law has brought in $1.5 billion in the same time, enabling the state to repave and resurface 221 roads, spanning 1,696 miles, by November, PennDOT records show. That includes 20 road projects and more than 199 miles in the district that covers the Lehigh Valley, Poconos and Berks County.

[Governor elect Tom] Wolf said “one-time fixes” were being used to make ends meet for a long enough time that, “we basically don’t have cash left.”

Now, Mr. Obama’s restoration of diplomatic ties with Cuba is snatching a major cudgel from his critics and potentially restoring some of Washington’s influence in a region where rivals like China have long chipped away at America’s primacy…

SPORTS ILLUSTRATED: …The Eagles are hosting Detroit in Week 6 of the 2012 season. Andy Reid had coaxed Mudd, the grizzled offensive line coach, out of retirement two years earlier, charging him with molding Philly’s up-and-coming front five.

We were used to the tradition of newspapers not identifying, let alone showing photographs, of accused youthful offenders. But before attacking LNP for violating journalistic ethics, we ran a Google check that led to the American Journalism Review articled: “Identifying Juvenile Suspects.”

Williams said Kane had irresponsibly and without evidence claimed that the investigation had been marred by racial targeting.

The PHC4’s 2013 Hospital Performance Report (HPR) shows that in-hospital mortality rates decreased significantly statewide between 2008 and 2013 for eight of the 16 illnesses for which mortality was reported. Additionally, none of the reported conditions resulting in mortality showed a statistically significant increase in mortality.

Rep. Sam Farr: “This is essentially saying, look, if you are following State law, you are a legal resident doing your business under State law, the Feds just can’t come in and bust you and bust the doctors and bust the patient. It is more than half the States. So you don’t have to have any opinion about the value of marijuana.

Testing has become to the United States’ medical system what liquor is to the hospitality industry: a profit center with large and often arbitrary markups. From a medical perspective, blood work, tests and scans are tools to help physicians diagnose and monitor disease. But from a business perspective, they are opportunities to bring in revenue — especially because the equipment to perform them has generally become far cheaper, smaller and more highly mechanized in the past two decades…

“We’re not going to consider any new revenue until we do pension reform,” he said, noting that a pensions proposal from new Appropriations Chairman Pat Browne would be next year’s Senate Bill 1.

USD – Russian Ruble exchange rate today is 58. The value of the Ruble is almost half what it was less then a year ago. And it keeps falling down. Central Bank continues to spend its reserves, about one billion dollars a day, to support the Ruble.

Referring to “Federal spending bill gives Minnesota’s medical marijuana business some peace of mind”, our Drug War Facts editor Doug McVay reports:

“I will be running for a second term,” Kane, a Democrat, said in an interview during this weekend’s annual Pennsylvania Society gala. “I love my job and I think it is the best place for me.”