The state’s Adjutant General told the Senate Appropriations Committee reductions in funding for veterans’ homes won’t hurt residents of those facilities. Major General Wesley Craig says the 6.7% cut in funding to veterans’ homes can be absorbed. Major General Craig said they’ve been able to come up with savings this year by reducing overtime and […]
The governor’s proposed budget includes $8-million dollars to pay for 115 new State Police cadets. Even with the new troopers, PSP faces a projected 500 vacancies by the end of June 2013. At Thursday’s Senate Appropriations Committee, Tina Tartaglione (D-Phila.) asked PSP Commissioner Frank Noonan if he is worried they are being spread too thin. […]
Talk of liquor store privatization was brushed aside at Thursday’s Senate Appropriations Committee with the Liquor Control Board. Instead, the focus was on modernization. The governor’s proposed budget calls for an $80-million dollar transfer from the Liquor Control Board to the General Fund next year. LCB CEO Joe Conti tells lawmakers that number is right […]
Continued budget cuts could cost the state’s independent fiscal watchdog its bite. Under next year’s proposed spending plan, the Auditor General’s Office is slated for a $2.2-million dollar (or 5%) cut. It would make it an aggregate 25% cut over the past four years, according to Auditor General Jack Wagner. “I’m not complaining. We realize […]
The state Health department is urging smokers to “Quit for Love” for Valentine’s Day. Nicotine replacement therapy kits and counseling support are being offered free of charge to Pennsylvania residents who are trying to quit using tobacco. The kits will be available for six to eight weeks, or while supplies last, through the free quit line […]
The Governor’s spending plan would transfer $250 million dollars from the Lottery Fund to the state’s Medicaid budget, directed to the long term care fund. AARP Pennsylvania says that’s sending the wrong message. Advocacy manager Ray Landis says the transfer would take money away from home and community-based programs for older adults and give it […]
The state will be getting a significant chunk of change from the recently announced mortgage foreclosure settlement with the big banks. Housing advocates believe some of that expected $69-million dollars should be used to restore the Homeowners Emergency Mortgage Assistance Program. “It’s appropriate to put this foreclosure money back into a solution that is foreclosure […]
Virtually no line item will be left unturned as the Senate and House Appropriations Committees convene dozens of budget hearings over the next three weeks. Leading off the agenda was Budget Secretary Charles Zogby, who told the Senate Appropriations Committee that the $27.14-billion dollar, no tax increase budget plan is reflective of the ‘new normal.’ […]
Throughout his 35-years in the college classroom, first at Drexel University and now Penn State, Dr. Joseph Rose has developed a reputation as the “storytelling professor.” Rose tells us his stories are meant to help students realize that it’s not enough to get good grades; they need to take charge of their lives. But Rose’s […]
Lottery officials said changes in the multi-state Powerball game would lead to larger jackpots sooner. It has already happened, not quite a month into the change. The jackpot for the drawing on February 11th was up to 325 million dollars by Friday afternoon. Brisk sales were pushing the jackpot up to its highest mark since […]