TexasTowelie
TexasTowelie's JournalPa. halted anonymous nursing home complaints for 3 years, audit finds
HARRISBURG — The Pennsylvania Department of Health risked “residents' safety” by refusing to accept anonymous complaints against nursing homes for almost a three-year period, Auditor General Eugene DePasquale said Tuesday.
Halting anonymous complaints violates federal policy and is “a decision that is absolutely breathtaking,” DePasquale said at a news conference. He said he suspects it was “an action intended to silence critics.”
It occurred from 2012-14 under the former administration of Republican Gov. Tom Corbett.
Michael Wolf, who became acting state Secretary of Health in October 2012, was nominated by Corbett in April 2013 and confirmed by the Senate in May 2013. Now a vice president of a health care management company, Wolf could not be reached Tuesday for comment.
Read more: http://triblive.com/news/adminpage/10850267-74/complaints-depasquale-nursing
Texas Reaches Agreement With Families in Birth Certificate Case
After undergoing mediation, the state of Texas has reached an agreement with undocumented families in a lawsuit over its denial to issue birth certificates to children born in the U.S. to undocumented immigrants.
The state will clarify and expand the types of secondary forms undocumented immigrants can use to prove their identity, according to attorneys representing the group of undocumented parents and their U.S-born children who filed a lawsuit against the Texas Department of State Health Services.
Previously, immigrants in Texas could request birth certificates for their children if they had two secondary forms of ID, including Mexican voter registration cards and foreign IDs with a photo.
In the agreement, the state said it would accept voter ID cards received by undocumented immigrants in Texas by mail under recent changes to Mexican law, the attorneys said. Until earlier this year, the Mexican voter registration cards could only be obtained in Mexico.
Read more: http://kut.org/post/texas-reaches-agreement-familes-birth-certificate-case
(Note: Families was misspelled in the original headline so if it is updated then the link may also be updated)
I have a solution to the problem--ban emails!
No more questions whether they are fake, doctored or real. If a problem does exist then pick up the phone or walk over to the next office to discuss it.
Alabama superintendent lifts ban on 'Amazing Grace'
ELMORE COUNTY, AL (WSFA) - Elmore County School Superintendent Dr. Andre Harrison has reversed a decision he made earlier this week regarding a song that was to be performed by a high school band this upcoming football season.
Controversy arose earlier this week when the hymn Amazing Grace was pulled from the halftime set list of the Holtville High School Marching Band after Harrison's office received a complaint.
According to Harrison, his office received the complaint and was then contacted twice by the same person about the constitutionality of the band playing the song.
Harrison says that after consulting with legal counsel and receiving what he says to be an admittedly conservative recommendation, Harrison decided to remove the song from the Holtville halftime show.
Read more: http://www.wsfa.com/story/32517522/superintendent-reverses-decision-holtville-hs-band-now-allowed-to-play-hymn
Longtime deputy killed in robbery at Round Rock home
Authorities have identified the Travis County sheriff’s deputy who was killed early Monday as Sgt. Craig Hutchinson, a veteran officer of 32 years who was set to retire in September.
Travis County Sheriff Greg Hamilton said Hutchinson called in on the radio that people were running out of the backyard of his home in southwest Round Rock around 1:22 a.m. Hamilton said officers arrived to find the deputy shot in the yard about 10 minutes after the call.
The sheriff said the shooting appears to be part of a robbery and that investigators so far do not think the incident was an ambush or a targeted attack. He said there was no word on any suspects but that the area had seen other burglaries recently.
Hamilton reflected on the life of the deputy, noting that Hutchinson was his field training officer.
Read more: http://www.statesman.com/news/news/local/travis-county-deputy-shot-early-monday-in-round-ro/nr4jJ/
With Pa. lawmakers in recess, several high-profile bills left in limbo
HARRISBURG — There is unfinished business under the Capitol dome this summer.
When state lawmakers returned to their home districts last week after completing the 2016-17 budget, several high-profile bills were left in limbo. Among them are pension reform, updates to the state’s statutes of limitations on child sexual abuse cases, a proposal to tighten restrictions on abortion and the expansion of anti-discrimination protections to people who are gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender.
Another lingering issue, the expansion of legal gambling in the state, carries special significance: The recently-completed state budget was balanced with help of revenue from that proposal.
Many of the bills have support, but time constraints, complexities and historical divides hindered them from reaching fruition before summer, experts and lawmakers said.
Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/news/politics-state/2016/07/25/With-Pennsylvania-lawmakers-in-recess-several-high-profile-bills-left-in-limbo/stories/201607250010
Trump to visit Pennsylvania, in the middle of the DNC
HARRISBURG (AP) - Donald Trump will visit Pennsylvania next week in the middle of the Democratic National Convention for the first time as the Republican presidential nominee.
State party officials said Trump will visit Lackawanna College in Scranton on Wednesday.
Pennsylvania GOP Chairman Rob Gleason said it'll be a town hall-style event. He said Trump wants to win Pennsylvania and the state can expect to see quite a bit of him in the coming months.
Trump last visited Pennsylvania on June 28 when he delivered a speech on trade in Monessen, near Pittsburgh, and promised to restore millions of lost factory jobs by backing away from international trade agreements.
Read more: http://www.philly.com/philly/news/politics/presidential/20160722_ap_6da9cc4f621b4328a51f4eddd33ded9a.html
Despite criticism over Sandusky payouts, Lubert elected PSU board chair
LEHMAN, Pa. - Despite criticism over his approval of $93 million in settlement payments to Jerry Sandusky's accusers, Philadelphia investment-fund manager Ira Lubert was elected chairman of Pennsylvania State University's board of trustees Friday.
The election was uncontested, but some alumni trustees had been vocal last week about their hesitance to elect Lubert without public scrutiny of the money paid to 32 Sandusky accusers. As chair of the board's legal subcommittee in 2012, Lubert oversaw the payout negotiation process.
As Lubert was bringing the meeting to a close, trustee Anthony Lubrano interrupted to praise Lubert for his behavior at a closed session that preceded the board meeting. Lubrano, the president of an Exton-based financial services and wealth management firm, was one of the alumni trustees who had been critical of Lubert.
"I want to commend you for this morning's discussion. I thought you demonstrated great leadership and confidence," Lubrano said. "It is unfortunate that we only got to hear it in executive session."
Read more: http://www.philly.com/philly/education/20160723_Despite_criticism_over_Sandusky_payouts__Lubert_elected_PSU_board_chair.html
New Pa. anti-hazing law targets middle and high school students
Starting Saturday, middle and high school students in Pennsylvania can be criminally charged for hazing their peers, as new state regulations go into effect following several high-profile incidents at local schools.
The state's anti-hazing law had applied only to college students, but in May, Gov. Wolf signed a bill extending its penalties to seventh through 12th graders. The changes kick in just in time for the start of the 2016-17 school year, and about five months after Chester County officials revealed a culture of hazing at Conestoga High School in the Tredyffrin/Easttown School District.
The amendments also require private and public secondary schools to write anti-hazing policies, post them on their websites, and provide all athletic coaches with copies.
Hazing is a third-degree misdemeanor. In addition to the possibility of jail time for a convicted student, the law now allows secondary schools, as well as colleges, to impose fines, probation, and suspension, and to withhold diplomas and transcripts. The amendments also add expulsion to the list of punishments.
Read more: http://www.philly.com/philly/education/20160723_New_anti-hazing_law_targets_middle_and_high_school_students.html
Democrats party on battleship in Camden
CAMDEN — Nearly 1,000 state Democrats came to an opening reception for the Democratic National Convention aboard the battleship New Jersey museum Sunday night.
State Senate President Steve Sweeney sponsored the informal cocktail party on the fantail of the historic ship to showcase his home area of South Jersey on the eve of the convention. It starts Monday across the Delaware River in Philadelphia with more than 2,000 voting delegates from around the country and abroad as well as thousands of other delegates and volunteers.
Sweeney said he invited not only the state delegates but elected officials and county committee members from all 21 counties so they could experience "some of the convention flavor." He was clad in a Hawaiian -style shirt and greeted visits as they stepped off the Battleship New Jersey Museum and Memorial gangway onto the largest Navy ship ever built.
"The battleship was the perfect place to hold tonight's event. What better way to fire off the first shot of the DNC and show off everything New Jersey has to offer, for a crowd of a thousand people, than on one of our state's best landmarks?"
Read more: http://www.courierpostonline.com/story/news/2016/07/24/democrats-party-battleship-camden/87505354/
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Gender: MaleHometown: South Texas. most of my life I lived in Austin and Dallas
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Current location: Bryan, Texas
Member since: Sun Aug 14, 2011, 03:57 AM
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