News
Radio PA Roundtable 02.17.12
Radio PA Roundtable is a 30-minute program featuring in-depth reporting on the top news stories of the week. Professionally produced and delivered every Friday, Roundtable includes commercial breaks for local sale and quarterly reports for affiliate files. Click the audio player below to hear the full broadcast: [audio:https://s3.amazonaws.com/witfaudio/radiopa/Roundtable02-17-12.mp3]
Table Games Revenue Increases in January at Pennsylvania Casinos
Table games revenue rose in January. Numbers were up for seven of the state’s 10 operating casinos, with an increase of 22.3% over the revenue for the same month last year. Richard McGarvey, spokesman for the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board, says play at table games generated tax revenue of more than 8.6 million dollars for […]
Adjutant General Assures Senate Committee Budget Cuts Won’t Hurt Pennsylvania’s Veteran’s Homes
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 […]
PSP Commissioner Addresses Vacancies, Cadet Class
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. […]
Modernization Plans Dominate PLCB Appropriations Hearing
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 […]
Budget Hearings: Straight Talk from the Auditor General
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 […]
Smokers Encouraged to Kick the Habit for Valentine’s Day- State Offers Free Help
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 […]
AARP Concerned About Budget Transfers Proposed for Lottery Fund
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 […]
Housing Advocates See Way to Restore HEMAP Funding
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 […]
Budget Secretary Speaks of the ‘New Normal’
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.’ […]