Tag Archives: State: Pennsylvania

LifeNews.com: The Pennsylvania House Health Committee voted on Monday to advance the Women’s Right to Know Act (House Bill 1077), which would offer a pregnant woman the chance to view an ultrasound image of her unborn child and observe the baby’s heartbeat prior to an abortion

News from The Associated Press: Students at Shippensburg University in central Pennsylvania can get the “morning-after” pill by sliding $25 into a vending machine installed at the request of the student government.

Catholic News Agency (CNA): The “unique value” of Catholic education in Philadelphia is being threatened by a shortage of resources, and Pennsylvania Catholics should encourage their legislators to create vouchers to sustain them, Archbishop Charles J. Chaput says.

News from The Associated Press: When federal regulators approved a 39-mile natural gas pipeline through northern Pennsylvania’s pristine Endless Mountains, they cited the operator’s assurances that it would make sparing use of eminent domain as it negotiated with more than 150 property owners along the pipeline’s route.

PennLive.com: But some of political Pennsylvania got angry about that wait when they learned today that two members of that court majority – Chief Justice Ronald Castille and Justice Max Baer – have since left for a Pennsylvania Bar Association conference in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Religion Clause: On Tuesday, the Pennsylvania House of Representatives adopted House Resolution 535 by a unanimous vote of 193-0. The Resolution (full text) provides in part . . .

Catholic Culture: Bishop Joseph McFadden of Harrisburg has attracted criticism from the Anti-Defamation League and others for comparing the monolithic nature of the public education system to the education systems of 20th-century totalitarian regimes.

LifeNews.com: Pennsylvania House Bill 1077, entitled The Women’s Right to Know Act, is advancing in the Pennsylvania General Assembly. The bill empowers women by offering truly informed consent before an abortion by providing the opportunity for a woman to view the ultrasound image of her child and observe the heartbeat.

News from The Associated Press: The Supreme Court has passed up a pair of cases for the online age – whether schools may censor students who are at home when they create online attacks against school officials and other students.

Mcall.com: Preliminary state audit report finds Pocono Mountain Charter School had ‘improper entanglements’ with Tobyhanna church.

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: A court watchdog group on Tuesday called on state Supreme Court Justice Joan Orie Melvin to resign in the wake of a corruption investigation, but legislative leaders remained mum on the issue.

Eastern Pennslvania Citizens Against Gambling: With less than a month’s notice, the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board has scheduled a public input hearing to be held on a proposal by the developers of a Valley Forge mini-casino to include table games. Eastern Pennsylvania Citizens Against Gambling (EPCAG) formally opposes the proposal . . .

WPXI.com: Ellwood City is planning to move its Nativity display off public property next year to avoid a lawsuit from an anti-religion advocacy group, but the mayor and hundreds of residents are lobbying to reverse the decision.

Religion Clause: The Lehigh Valley Morning Call reported yesterday on the settlement of a federal lawsuit that had been filed against the Catholic Diocese of Allentown (PA) by a woman who worked as a bookkeeper at a Catholic Church in Easton (PA).

“A county judge should not have decided a girl could not have an abortion simply because the teen did not tell her mother she was pregnant, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled Thursday as it clarified how minors can obtain the procedures.”

News.Ellwoodcity.org: “We cannot afford an expensive lawsuit,” said DeCarbo. “I urge the council to move this thing,” DeCarbo added.

LifeNews.com: Citing the economic downturn and a decrease in taxpayer funding, Planned Parenthood officials closed four abortion referral clinics in two states, giving pro-life advocates an early Christmas gift.

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: Officials in Ellwood City, threatened with legal action from an atheist group over a holiday display at the borough’s municipal building, say they’re on the verge of an agreement that will result in a “happy ending” for the parties involved.

Philadelphia Inquirer: The deadline was 5 p.m. Monday for Philadelphia Entertainment & Development Partners L.P. to appeal its license revocation to the state Supreme Court.

After sloughing through a pile of obstacles, pro-lifers in Pennsylvania have taken an important step forward on two bills.

LifeSiteNews.com: A small Catholic college in Philadelphia has revised its policies to end employment discrimination based on “sexual orientation [or] gender identity” after its firing of an openly gay dissident priest set off a controversy, reports the Cardinal Newman Society. While the cleric said he felt “vindicated” by the change, the school says the change simply reflects recent changes in city non-discrimination rules.

TriValley Central: A western Pennsylvania mayor refused to include a banner from an atheist group that says “there are no gods” as part of a holiday display that includes a Nativity scene and has been erected annually on city property for decades.

CBS Pittsburgh: The Vasko home is full of religious icons. Some of them have seasonal significance and some don’t, but all of them are inside the home for now.

WCN: Hundreds gathered at Ellwood City’s borough building to support the traditional nativity display.

Ellwood City News: The Borough of Ellwood City will likely have a number of protestors outside of the Municipal Building by week’s end in response to the setting up of a Nativity display on the building’s front lawn.

Herald-Mail.com: “This is awful. Who would do something like this?” she said as she looked at the creche in front of Central Presbyterian Church on Memorial Square.

Timesonline.com: Borough officials will attempt to continue a local tradition next month while avoiding federal legal action.

Lancaster Online: Only four districts — Columbia, Eastern Lancaster County, Lampeter-Strasburg and Octorara — now pray at their public meetings each month.

NewsWorks: Pennsylvania lawmakers are considering stricter regulations for health centers that perform abortions.

Philadelphia Inquirer: Democrats and Republicans took one victory each in races for two openings on state appellate courts.

The Republic: Federal attorneys in Pittsburgh have sued an anti-abortion protester, claiming she violated the federal Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act by allegedly pushing two volunteers who were escorting a woman into a city clinic.

Philly Magazine: The 11th grader – Kasey Landrum, 16 – was handed a suspension by his Lexington High School for supposedly violating the school’s dress code, which loosely says teachers can use discretion about questions of wardrobe appropriateness

LifeNews.com: A fourth defendant is expected to plead guilty today in the gruesome case involving the botched abortion deaths and the abortion-infanticides of dozens of unborn children that took place at the abortion facility run by Kermit Gosnell.

The Legal Intelligencer: A federal judge overseeing a dispute over death benefits between the parents and wife of a deceased Cozen O’Connor partner has requested the parties brief the constitutional question of same-sex marriage, increasing the potential for a determination of whether the Defense of Marriage Act and a similar Pennsylvania statute are valid.

CourtHouse News: A sex superstore in southeastern Pennsylvania can’t enjoin a Catholic group from protesting outside its business, a federal judge ruled. | Routes 202 and 306 and Novelties and Gifts v. The Kings Men, No. 2:11-cv-05822-PBT (E.D. Pa.)

News from The Associated Press: Prosecutors say 34-year-old Andrea Moton assisted with abortions done by cutting the spinal cords of babies allegedly born alive.

Morning Call: Matthew Sharp, an attorney from the Alliance Defense Fund in suburban Atlanta, a group that provides legal defense of religious freedom and represented the Ayers family, did not return a call. Michael Ayers declined to comment.

Federation for Childre: he Pennsylvania State Senate today took a significant step towards expanding educational options to low-income children and kids in failing schools, passing legislation that would create a new voucher program and increase funding for the state’s existing scholarship tax credit program.

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: n Indiana University of Pennsylvania graduate student has filed a complaint with the school’s human resources department, alleging one of her business professors subjected her to humiliation and insults based on her sexuality.

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: An Indiana University of Pennsylvania graduate student has filed a complaint with the school’s human resources department, alleging one of her business professors subjected her to humiliation and insults based on her sexuality. | The Penn: Rally held speaking against hate, for tolerance

AFC: The American Federation for Children (AFC) today called on the Pennsylvania State Senate to immediately pass legislation that would create the state’s first school voucher program for children in failing schools and significantly expand the Keystone State’s highly-successful Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) Program.

OneNewsNow.com: “Christian students have positive messages to share with other students that are not only protected by the Constitution, but that should be welcomed in public schools,” notes ADF attorney David Cortman. “The court was right to stop this unconstitutional ban on Christmas party invitations.” Though school officials prohibited invitations to the church party, ADF staff counsel Matt Sharp says they indiscriminately permitted other students to distribute invites to other events . . . [more]

The Republic (AP): The Alliance Defense Fund sued the Pocono Mountain School District in March, claiming the student’s free speech rights were violated.

A federal court issued an order Thursday that prohibits the Pocono Mountain School District from continuing to stop a student from distributing fliers that invite other students to church parties and other religious events.

Federation for Children: Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett today announced a sweeping education reform package that would create an expansive voucher program for low-income families stuck in failing schools, ensure strict accountability standards for charter schools, and increase eligibility for the state’s highly-successful Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) program.

Timesonline.com: An American Civil Liberties Union attorney says a western Pennsylvania school superintendent has removed references to prayer from his blog on a district web site after the agency said a former teacher complained.

Examiner.com: The Patriot-News recently published an article discussing non-believers – Ernest Perce, Carl Silverman and Mikki Weidman — who protested a “See You At The Pole” event at East Hanover Elementary School in which students gathered to pray. The article briefly mentions complaints that were voiced regarding this particular event, but it does not delve into great detail concerning the legal problems associated with the event.

News from The Associated Press: Employees who worked for an abortion doctor charged with murdering a patient and seven newborns must stand trial with him, even if they are not charged with killing anyone, a Philadelphia judge ruled Friday

Examiner.com: The Patriot-News recently published an article discussing non-believers – Ernest Perce, Carl Silverman and Mikki Weidman — who protested a “See You At The Pole” event at East Hanover Elementary School in which students gathered to pray. The article briefly mentions complaints that were voiced regarding this particular event, but it does not delve into great detail concerning the legal problems associated with the event.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: A clash is reigniting over a pair of measures regarding the state’s abortion clinics, with anti-abortion lawmakers pushing for stronger rules that opponents say will make the procedure less accessible.

Post-Gazette.com: Several dozen state lawmakers this morning called for the swift approval of two measures to increase oversight of abortion providers and further limit the use of taxpayer funds in paying for those medical procedures.

OneNewsNow.com: “That case will be filed with the U.S. Supreme Court in the next few weeks,” the attorney tells OneNewsNow, “and I believe later this year, before the end of December, we’ll have a word from the high court about taking these cases. And I’m sure that the … court will schedule arguments in the early part of 2012, and by the end of June we will have a ruling on the constitutionality of ObamaCare.”

The Washington Post: he new academic year has ground to a halt for Roman Catholic high schools in the Philadelphia area, where on Tuesday the archdiocese called off classes for about 16,500 students due to a teachers strike.

President Obama’s plan to require individual Americans to purchase health insurance or pay a penalty exceeds the powers granted both the president and Congress by the Constitution, a federal district court judge ruled Tuesday in Harrisburg

Fortune: Brought down to individual terms, a typical Wharton MBA in this class will graduate with average debt of nearly $124,000. With monthly payments of $1,477 over 10 years, the total would come to $177,256, including nearly $53,000 in interest alone. It would be the proverbial bite that would be hard to chew for most because a graduate would need an annual gross salary of $176,560 to comfortably pay down the loan, according to financial advisors. That’s not a comforting thought when the median starting pay of a Wharton grad was only $110,000 last year. (You can crunch your own numbers on an online loan calculator to estimate the impact of your own debt.) And none of these numbers include the debt assumed by students during their undergraduate years.

LifeNews.com: U.S. District Judge Nora Barry Fischer, this summer, granted a request from pro-life advocate Mary Kathryn Brown and ordered the city to pay $209,276 in attorney fees and costs, mostly to attorneys from The Alliance Defense Fund, a pro-life legal group that represented Brown. Fisher reduced the amount requested from Brown’s attorneys by $48,272, the Tribune Review reported . . . Alliance Defense Fund attorneys challenged the local law as unconstitutional for prohibiting speech and helped represent a pro-life nurse who took on the ordinance, which prohibited her from counseling and speaking with women.

Mayor Michael A. Nutter, telling marauding black youths “you have damaged your own race,” imposed a tougher curfew Monday in response to the latest “flash mob” — spontaneous groups of teens who attack people at random on the streets of the city’s tourist and fashionable shopping districts.

CBS Philly: Mayor Michael Nutter today announced a tighter weekend curfew in the Center City and University City regions of the city, as he continues grappling with the threat of “flash mobs” in Philadelphia.

FoxNews.com: Two doctors at a Pittsburgh abortion clinic gave hundreds of prescription diet pills over several years to a staffer seeking to treat anxiety and depression, state authorities said Tuesday in charging the three and a former registered nurse not affiliated with the clinic.

Legal Intelligencer: The parents of a Cozen O’Connor partner who left the bulk of her estate to her wife argued the profit-sharing benefits the daughter accrued at the firm should go to them because Pennsylvania and federal law does not recognize same-sex marriages. | O’Connor v. Tobits

The Morning Call: The U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia heard arguments Thursday on whether charter schools can sue their parent districts — a question Judge Marjorie O. Rendell called hugely important for the future of charter schools in Pennsylvania.

ABC News (includes video): Starting July 16, McDain’s, a Pittsburgh-area restaurant, will ban children under the age of 6 from its dining area. Restaurant owner Mike Vuick said the policy came in response to complaints he’d received from older customers about kids causing a ruckus.

Centre Daily: The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania announced that a vote by the State College Area School Board to extend health insurance benefits to same-sex partners of its employees will partially settle a discrimination lawsuit brought against the school district by the ACLU . . . ACLU officials said the district also will add “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” to anti-discrimination policies for staff and students under the settlement agreement.

PennLive.com: The New York effort, widely acknowledged as groundbreaking and shrewd, was made possible by appealing to a select group of wealthy Wall Street Republicans with gay relatives, friends and business partners, or who are gay themselves . . . “There are at least 10 active cases in federal court challenging the constitutionality of the federal Defense of Marriage Act,” said Austin R. Nimocks, senior legal counsel, at the Alliance Defense Fund, an Arizona-based national legal alliance advocating conservative views.

WSJ.com: School may be out for the summer, but school choice is in, as states across the nation have moved to expand education opportunities for disadvantaged kids. This year is shaping up as the best for reformers in a very long time.

Religion Clause: Two recent unrelated cases involve disputes over whether certain property is used for religious purposes so that it is exempt from property taxes

Philadelphia Inquirer: The battle over proposals to impose tougher standards at Pennsylvania’s 20 abortion clinics took a new turn Monday as state senators voted to study what those standards would cost the clinics.

AP: A judge has overturned a kindergartner’s expulsion from a Philadelphia charter school for touching his teacher on the thigh.

WFMZ Allentown: The Diocese of Allentown has found itself the target of a lawsuit that claims a woman was fired for being a Muslim.

Forbes.com: Pennsylvania’s senate on Tuesday approved a bill to ban abortion coverage from policies obtained through health insurance exchanges that are to begin in 2014 under last year’s landmark federal health care law . . .

ADF attorney Greg Baylor at the Speak Up Movement University Blog: Messiah College, a Christ-centered educational institution in Pennsylvania, is being pressured to abandon its commitment to biblical sexual ethics.

AP: The Supreme Court ordered a federal appeals court on Monday to take a new look at a Pennsylvania city’s crackdown on illegal immigrants in light of the high court’s recent decision upholding an Arizona employer-sanctions law.

Christian Institute: In March this year it was revealed that a schoolchild in America was banned from handing out invitations to classmates for a Christmas party held in a church . . . The case was taken up by religious liberty group, Alliance Defense Fund.

Pittsburgh Tribune Review: Despite complaints of inadequate funding, the Pennsylvania judiciary’s payroll increased almost 20 percent, from $159 million to $190.4 million, during the past six years, a Tribune-Review analysis of payroll records found. Supreme Court Chief Justice Ronald D. Castille, whose $195,138 annual pay is third highest among state chief justices nationwide . . .

LifeNews: But Delaware lawmakers on the House Health and Human Development Committee said no. They rejected on Wednesday a bill requiring girls under the age of 18 to get the consent of at least one parent before an abortion.