Court Date Set for Challenges to Latest State Legislative Maps

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Court rejection of the first plan sent the state’s Legislative Reapportionment Commission back to the drawing board this summer.  Now, a court date has now been set for challenges to the new plan.

The latest maps for state house and senate districts passed the committee, which includes leadership from both chambers, on a 4 to 1 vote in June.   Senate Democratic Leader Jay Costa voted against the plan, saying it still had too many unnecessary county splits.

State senate Democrats are again among those challenging the plan.  The State Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on the 13 appeals on September 13th in Philadelphia.

The session will be broadcast live on the Pennsylvania Cable Network.   Observers will be admitted to the courtroom at Philadelphia’s City Hall on a first-come, first-served basis.

The court’s decision will not impact the November election, since those house and senate seats are being decided using the old legislative maps.

Drivers License, PennDOT

Report Cites Voter Troubles Obtaining Photo ID

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The Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center sent a team of volunteers to PennDOT licensing centers, where they found a lack of signage and information about Pennsylvania’s new Voter ID law.  They also noted that in three out of every ten cases, individuals were told they had to pay for an ID that should have been made available for free.

“With three months to go until Election Day, the Commonwealth has a lot of work to do to ensure that voters will not be disenfranchised,” says PBPC director Sharon Ward.  The report recommends a delay in the implementation of Pennsylvania’s Voter ID law.

Questioned about the report’s findings at an unrelated stop in Franklin County, Governor Tom Corbett was not concerned.  “I think in the individual [PennDOT] offices they are working hard.  I think sometimes direction can be better, and it’s a learning process,” Corbett told reporters.  He stressed that there’s still plenty of time to obtain a photo ID by the November 6th election.

Corbett also notes that there are other forms of valid photo identification under the law besides a PennDOT ID card.

Meanwhile, a Commonwealth Court judge is expected to rule on a “preliminary injunction” regarding the controversial new law later this month.  No matter which side loses the court case, the decision will be appealed to the state Supreme Court.

Emerald Ash Borer Spreads in Pennsylvania

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The Emerald Ash Borer continues to spread in Pennsylvania.   Six more counties have been added to the list, bringing to 28 the number of counties in Pennsylvania where the pest has been detected. 

State Agriculture officials are urging the public not to transport firewood, its one way the ash borer can be spread. You should burn the wood where you buy it.  The ash borer can destroy an ash tree within three years after first drilling into the bark.

The new counties are Bucks, Franklin, Jefferson, Perry, Snyder and Venango.

People who suspect they’ve found one of the beetles in a new area should call the automated pest hotline at 1-866-253-7189. The Emerald ash borer is dark green, about a half inch in length and flies only from early May to September.

RadioPA Roundtable

Radio PA Roundtable 08.03.12

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On this week’s Radio PA Roundtable, Brad Christman and Matt Paul discuss the latest Voter ID developments as a Commonwealth Court hearing wrapped this week; you’ll also get a wrap-up of another busy week at Penn State University as attentions shift to on-the-field concerns in the football program; and an update on the efforts to privatize PA Lottery management. You can also play along with Brad and Matt as they offer a quiz on the new AP NFL power poll. Where did your Eagles and Steelers rank?

Radio PA Roundtable is a 30-minute program featuring in-depth reporting on the top news stories of the week.

Click the audio player below to hear the full broadcast:

[audio:https://s3.amazonaws.com/witfaudio/radiopa/Roundtable08-03-12.mp3]

Top Democrat: Private Management Agreement Unnecessary for PA Lottery

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The Pennsylvania Lottery’s 2011-12 Annual Report shows a 10.4% increase in net revenues, which means a record $1.06-billion will be used for programs that benefit the state’s senior citizens.

The positive financial news comes as the state Department of Revenue continues to investigate a potential private management agreement for the lottery, and House Minority Leader Frank Dermody (D-Allegheny) believes that it’s proof no such deal is needed.

“The lottery’s doing quite well and there’s nothing that the current folks can’t do that these new people could do, other than skim profits off the top,” Dermody tells Radio PA.  “This is just another solution in search of a problem.”

But the welcome lottery growth has not turned officials off to the idea of entering into a private management agreement.  “The need for the programs is going to grow over the next ten to 20 years, and we need to be looking at every possible way to increase the funding for our seniors,” Pennsylvania Lottery Executive Director Todd Rucci said in a telephone interview.

If officials decide to take the next step toward a private management agreement, Revenue Secretary Dan Mueser says invitations for bid could go out in the fall.

Study: Shale Land Concentrated Among Few Landowners

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Researchers at Penn State sought out public records in 11-counties that account for most of the state’s natural gas drilling, and they found that the majority of landowners have little voice in leasing decisions.

Overall, 13% of the land is owned by the state and 27% is owned by nonresidents.  That leaves 60% which is owned by county residents.  “But of that 60%, the majority of that is owned by the top 10% of landowners,” says Timothy Kelsey, professor of agricultural economics.  “So the majority of landowners in the counties collectively own a relatively small proportion of the land area in those counties.”

Nonresidents actually own more than half of the land in the key natural gas-producing counties of Lycoming, Sullivan and Tioga.  “The questions about what happens in that community – if it’s based simply on who’s going to lease and who’s not going to lease – the local residents have less voice than the people who don’t live in the community,” professor Kelsey tells Radio PA.

He says the data is important because it helps us to understand how loud of a voice local residents have in drilling decisions, and how broadly distributed royalty & lease dollars may be.

Pennsylvania’s recent Marcellus Shale impact law preempts local zoning authority over oil and gas wells in order to provide uniformity for the growing industry in the state; however Commonwealth Court recently struck down those provisions of the law.  The Corbett administration has already indicated it will appeal to the state Supreme Court.

Guns, Seized Guns

Legislation Crafted to Keep Young People Out of Gangs

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Dominic Pileggi

State Senator Dominic Pileggi

A trio of southeastern Pennsylvania lawmakers is introducing a bill designed to prevent gang violence before it starts  The bill would make it a criminal offense to recruit gang members in Pennsylvania.  “It will give law enforcement a tool to stop people from trying to recruit young folks into gang activity,” says Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi (R-Chester/Delaware).

The new offense could be a misdemeanor or felony, depending on how the recruitment takes place.  Simply soliciting someone to join a gang would be a first-degree misdemeanor.  The addition of threats or intimidation would bump the offense up to a third-degree felony, and there would be a sentencing enhancement if bodily harm were involved.

Senator Pileggi tells us the bill was born out of discussions with Chester County DA Thomas Hogan, who is currently prosecuting a dozen teens and young adults for offenses related to the stabbing deaths of two rival gang members.

Listen to Hogan’s comments at this week’s news conference in Chester County:HOGAN

Sen. Pileggi says Pennsylvania’s behind the times on this issue.  “We found at least 20-states, including our neighbors in Delaware and New Jersey that have very similar laws in place now.”  He says the bill will be up for discussion this fall, and believes it could see action before the end of the legislative session.

Senators John Rafferty (R-Montgomery/Chester) and Ted Erickson (R-Delaware/Chester) are also a part of the legislative push.

Study: Pennsylvanians Want Electricity from Renewable Sources

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Penn State researchers are finding broad public support for increased renewable energy generation, and the strengthening of the state’s alternative energy portfolio standards.  “We looked at different groups with different incomes, different political backgrounds, rural vs. urban,” says PSU professor of agricultural and environmental economics Richard Ready.  “The support is there across the board.”

The broad-based public support encompasses renewable electricity sources like hydropower, solar and wind power.  In fact, Dr. Ready found that the average Pennsylvania household is willing to pay an extra $55 per year to increase renewable energy production.

“We estimate for example that to increase the amount of electricity that comes from wind power, by an amount that would be equal to 1% of the total electricity consumption in the state, the aggregate amount that Pennsylvania households would be willing to pay we estimate at about $290-million dollars per year.”

However, on average, people were not supportive of biomass combustion.  “People are more supportive of technologies that don’t have emissions, and biomass combustion does have emissions,” Ready says.  Pennsylvanians rated biomass combustion rated below other electricity sources, like natural gas and nuclear, according to the report.

The study, Pennsylvanians’ Attitudes Toward Renewable Energy, was sponsored by the Center for Rural Pennsylvania.

Pennsylvania Adds New Air Quality Forecast Areas In August

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Air quality forecasts will soon cover more areas of Pennsylvania.   The Department of Environmental Protection is adding 8 new areas to its forecasts starting August 1st.

DEP spokesman Kevin Sunday says the summer’s record heat waves have brought the need for increased ozone surveillance. He says hot and humid weather can put a lot of ozone into the air. He says it’s important to keep in mind the impact the weather can have on our air quality. High levels of ozone can make it more difficult for some people to breathe.

Altoona, Erie, Johnstown, Scranton Wilkes-Barre, State College, Williamsport, Mercer County and Indiana County will be added to the existing five regions; the Lehigh and Susquehanna Valleys and the Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Liberty-Clairton Regions.

There have been a number of Code Orange alerts in the original five forecasting areas this summer.  Those mean air quality can be unhealthy for sensitive people including the very young, the elderly and those with respiratory problems.  There have been no Code Red alerts, meaning air quality is unhealthy for everyone. Sunday says the number of Code Red alerts has been declining for the past five years as pollution levels improve.

Sunday says people in the new areas can connect to the forecasts by going on line to enviroflash.info.  They can sign up to receive the air quality forecasts in their email.

Marking Ten Years since the Quecreek Mine Rescue

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It’s hard for Bill Arnold to believe a decade has already passed.  He vividly recalls stepping outside to see why there were folks with flashlights walking around his Somerset County farm on July 24th, 2002.  That move made him the third person on the scene of what would later became a miraculous mine rescue.

Arnold thinks the world “miracle” is overused in today’s society, but tells Radio PA there’s no other way to describe the “9 for 9” Quecreek Mine rescue.  “This was a matter of life and death.”

Today, Arnold is humbled to be the caretaker of the rescue site and to serve as executive director of the nonprofit Quecreek Mine Rescue Foundation.

Nine miners were trapped some 240-feet underground for four days that July.  The accident took place just months after, and miles away from the Flight 93 crash site in western Pennsylvania.  Arnold says, “It was a turning point in the hearts of Americans to realize that miracles still do happen, and we can do great things when we pull together for a united cause.”

The man leading the rescue ten years ago was Joe Sbaffoni, now the director of the Pennsylvania Bureau of Mine Safety.  Sbaffoni says coal mine safety has improved greatly since Quecreek.  A 2009 law gave the Mine Safety Board the authority to update its own regulations as needed instead of waiting on lawmakers to respond, and Pennsylvania hasn’t had an underground mine fatality in more than three years.

“Things are going to happen.  I mean you’re dealing with Mother Nature, conditions change by the minute.  But if you do things you’re supposed to… always follow safe work practices, you’ve got a darn good chance of coming home at the end of each shift,” Sbaffoni says.  “That’s the number one goal.”

Saturday’s celebration ceremony will cap-off a week’s worth of anniversary events at the Quecreek Mine rescue site in Somerset, PA.  It’s also the day they will cut the ribbon on a brand new visitors’ center.  The site attracts more than 10,000 visitors a year.