blue neen
blue neen's JournalWhat's Tom Corbett Up to Now? (Private takeover of PA Lottery?)
"HARRISBURG -- Pennsylvania received one bid in response to its search for a private manager to run the state's lottery system, officials announced this afternoon."
"United Kingdom-based Camelot Global Services LLC was the only company to submit a bid outlining how much revenue it pledged to raise over a 20-year management contract."
"Gov. Tom Corbett's administration briefed legislative staffers on the Camelot bid during a conference call this afternoon. The Department of Revenue posted a document listing the company's profit commitments on its website, though additional materials will remain confidential until a final decision is made."
Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/state/one-company-submits-bid-to-privatize-the-pennsylvania-lottery-662949/#ixzz2CoAgrsSq
PA Supreme Court Agrees to September Voter ID Hearing
Pennsylvania's Supreme Court agreed today to a swift review of the Commonwealth Court decision upholding the state's voter ID law, thereby rejecting a Corbett administration request to hold off until October.
The court agreed to an expidited review, meaning it will hold hearings in its Philadelphia session from Sept 10-14.
Read more at:
http://earlyreturns.post-gazette.com/component/content/article/53-post-gazette-staff/4697-supremes-agree-to-sept-voter-id-hearing?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+EarlyReturns+%28Early+Returns%29
Adult Basic Funding Suits Allowed to Proceed Against Corbett!
"Commonwealth Court ruled that a second class-action suit over the redirection of tobacco settlement funds away from the defunct adultBasic health insurance program may proceed against Gov. Tom Corbett, Budget Secretary Charles Zogby and the state Treasury Department."
"In a 34-page opinion in Sears v. Corbett issued June 27, a 5-2 majority decided to sustain in part and overrule in part preliminary objections filed by Mr. Corbett, Mr. Zogby and the state Legislature, allowing the plaintiffs to proceed with their claim seeking to have the state Treasury Department return to allocating tobacco settlement money to adultBasic."
"AdultBasic was a popular, low-cost health insurance program for working poor who were ineligible for other government plans such as Medicaid and Medicare. But the state let the program expire in 2011, claiming a lack of funds."
"The court also allowed claims seeking declaratory and mandamus relief to go forward."
"On June 29, the court issued a nearly identical ruling in a second class action, Weisblatt v. Corbett, though that suit does not name the Legislature as a defendant."
"Because the reasoning of Sears v. Corbett applies equally in this case, we incorporate that opinion by reference and reach the same conclusions in this case," Judge Patricia A. McCullough wrote for the majority."
Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/business/legal/adultbasics-funding-suit-will-proceed-643924/#ixzz2072VhIe2
Many Pennsylvanians have suffered because of Tom Corporate Corbett's apparently illegal ax to the Adult Basic Program. Adult Basic covered working Pennsylvanians who had no other way to obtain insurance. I pray that Corbett loses and these tax-paying citizens can have their insurance restored retroactively.
Tom Corbett. Worst Governor Ever.
Couple Denied Mortgage Because of Marcellus Gas Drilling
WASHINGTON COUNTY, Pa. -
Brian and Amy Smith seem to be the first example in western Pennsylvania of a homeowner being denied a mortgage because of gas drilling on a next-door neighbor's property.
The drilling goes on day and night at a new Marcellus Shale well in Daisytown, Washington County, and Brian Smith told Channel 4 Action News investigator Jim Parsons that he has no complaints -- except one.
"As far as drilling and the noise and the lights in the window? No," he said. "But when it affected the value of my home? Absolutely."
The Smiths live across the street from the new gas well. They applied for a new mortgage on their $230,000 home and hobby farm, and Quicken Loans congratulated them on their conditional approval.
"They said all the paperwork will be done by the end of the week and we'll be able to close," Brian Smith said. "Somewhere in there, they called us and said, 'Your loan got denied.' "
In an email, Quicken Loans told the Smiths, "Unfortunately, we are unable to move forward with this loan. It is located across the street from a gas drilling site." Two other national lenders also turned down Brian Smith's application.
Quicken Loans emailed the following statement to Channel 4 Action News: "While Quicken Loans makes every effort to help its clients reach their homeownership goals, like every lender, we are ultimately bound by very specific underwriting guidelines. In some cases conditions exist, such as gas wells and other structures in nearby lots, that can significantly degrade a property's value. In these cases, we are unable to extend financing due to the unknown future marketability of the property."
Read more and see video at: http://www.wtae.com/news/local/investigations/Couple-denied-mortgage-because-of-gas-drilling/-/12023024/12865512/-/ohf26fz/-/index.html
Extras Needed for New Matt Damon Anti-Fracking Movie! Check it out!
"APOLLO, Pa. -- An open casting call will be held Saturday for extras needed for the movie "Promised Land," starring Matt Damon and John Krasinski."
"The casting call will be held from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Apollo High School at 400 North Second Street in Apollo."
"Kids, teens and adults are needed to work as paid, nonspeaking extras during shoots in Apollo, Avonmore and nearby areas from late April until early June."
"Casting agents will especially be looking for "great character faces, farmer looks, senior citizens, baseball players, cheerleaders, basketball players, teens and kids."
"Those attending the open call are asked to download and complete a registration form from the film's Facebook page, attach a recent photo and bring it with them on Saturday."
"The film is also looking for "upscale" extras for the first day of shooting on April 23, as well as stand-ins and photo doubles available to work the entire shoot."
"For more information on how to apply, visit the Pittsburgh Film Office's website."
"No prior acting experience is required."
Read more: http://www.wtae.com/entertainment/30914767/detail.html#ixzz1sUNef24z
Fresh Water Pipes for Fracking Laid Through 3 Townships! (Check Picture)
What WILL they think of next?:
"Range Resources has laid a temporary pipeline through three townships to pump in water needed for hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, to complete five wells in Frazer."
"The 8-inch, high-density polyethylene pipeline begins at a water storage site in Harmar, runs a short distance along Log Cabin Road to Little Deer Creek Road in Indiana Township, then up a private drive through a Duquesne Light waste area to the well pad in Frazer."
"The pipeline should be gone by early April, said Range Resources spokesman Matt Pitzarella."
"Range is using the pipes instead of trucking the water to the well site. However, trucks will still haul water to the "tank farm" in Harmar, about a mile from the well pad in Frazer."
"The pipelines are cheaper than the trucks," he said."
"The pipe will carry fresh water to the well pad for the fracking process, Pitzarella said, in which the water is pumped underground to create cracks in the shale to release natural gas. No water from the well site will be pumped back through the pipe, according to Pitzarella."
"Range Resources began constructing the pipeline about two weeks ago and has secured all the rights of way needed, Pitzarella said. About two dozen homeowners agreed to allow use of their property, he said."
"Compensation for property owners are individually negotiated, Pitzarella said."
"Lillian Hepler, who lives at 23 Little Deer Creek Road, said she didn't want Range using her property. She was afraid they would need to dig up her yard."
"I just don't want that," she said. "We had sewers put in here a couple years ago, and we had a big mess. Plus, I really just don't trust these people."
"Hepler said Range offered her $2,000 for the temporary use of her property."
Read more: Fresh water for fracking flows to Frazer well sites - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/valleynewsdispatch/s_787235.html#ixzz1pZpwkHNw
Foster "Aspirin Between Their Knees" Friess---$105,000 to Tom "Just Close Their Eyes" Corbett
FRIESS, FOSTER
Securities & Investment CORBETT, TOM & CAWLEY, JIM JACKSON, WY $100,000 Unknown
FRIESS, FOSTER
Securities & Investment CORBETT, TOM & CAWLEY, JIM JACKSON, WY $5,000 01/29/2010
http://www.followthemoney.org/database/StateGlance/contributor_details.phtml?c=123883&d=610523861
Follow the money, indeed.
We can thank Citizens United for the fact that we have idiots like Tom Corbett and Bob McDonnell running our states. An extra-special thank you goes to Justices Roberts, Alito, Scalia, Thomas, and Kennedy.
"This election cycle, Friess -- who infamously "joked" that women should stick aspirin between their knees as a contraceptive -- has given $1 million to the Santorum-supporting Red White And Blue Fund, a super PAC."
"In Pennsylvania, where Friess also gave Gov. Tom Corbett (R) $100,000, state Rep. Babette Josephs (D-Philadelphia) said such free-flowing campaign cash is bound to create a scandal, or at the very least alienate voters. Think of Friess’s shudder-worthy comments about contraception, Josephs said -- comments that inevitably became associated with the candidate and former Sen. Santorum (R-Pa.) himself."
"If I were a Republican operative right now, I would be looking for places to reverse Citizens United, because what a mess,” Josephs said. “Be careful what you wish for, because it might come true."
"Pennsylvania, like 11 other states, has no limit at all on what an individual may contribute to a candidate's campaign. Corbett's history of accepting massive lumps of money from oil and gas companies there has opened him up to heavy criticism as the state debates how much to tax natural gas drilling. Corbett's office has defended a plan to charge hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, companies only a nominal fee on the grounds that he was “was elected under the premise that we do not tax ourselves to prosperity.”
"Friess also gave Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) $17,000, and paid for South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (R) to fly out to the Texas ranch of another wealthy, well-connected tycoon, T. Boone Pickens. Haley and her husband spent a weekend with Friess and McDonnell. Haley's office did not return a request for comment on the meeting."
"The fact that individuals can throw around huge sums in local races is "outrageous" and "needs to be stopped," Josephs said. She is sponsoring a bill in Pennsylvania to put limits on campaign giving there."
"There is no reason in the world why somebody who happens so be rich should be able to snuff the voices of the rest of us."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/13/super-pac-donors-campaign-contributions-states_n_1324229.html
Workers Promised Careers in Marcellus Shale Laid Off After One Month
"PITTSBURGH -- Sixty men from all over the United States are staying in a Moon Township hotel Friday night with one common bond: they came to Pennsylvania with the promise of a career in the Marcellus Shale gas drilling industry, only to have it crushed a month later."
"They told me I would have a job and it would last," said Keith Miller, of Tennessee."
"Jeffrey Milton, of Orlando, Fla., said he was told, "I never had to worry about any layoffs."
"Channel 4 Action News' Jim Parsons spoke with 10 of the workers, each one saying he was recruited to come to Pennsylvania by Houston-based gas drilling services company Baker Hughes."
"But after just one month on the job near Williamsport, all of them were fired."
<snip>
"I was basically promised the world, good money like these other gentlemen, and they basically promised good work in Pennsylvania alone for 14 years," said Scott Peterson, of Indianapolis."
"Brian Golden, a former police officer from Jacksonville, Fla., closed his business and left a wife and six kids behind for a future in natural gas drilling that lasted only one month."
"I was begging him almost in tears and said, 'Please, send me to North Dakota because nobody wants to go there. I'll go today. I don't care. Cut my pay.' I begged him to cut my pay to keep my job because it is bad. He could not care less," said Golden."
Read more: http://www.wtae.com/news/30596320/detail.html#ixzz1o0LVYYlF
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Member since: Sun Aug 1, 2004, 07:55 PMNumber of posts: 12,428