Tag Archives: State: Pennsylvania

PennLive.com: In a bid to end a federal court battle, proponents argue that atheists and agnostics aren’t being harmed by Pennsylvania’s Year of the Bible resolution because “it doesn’t mandate anything.”

Religion Clause Blog: The new regulations operate to close down the churches’ decade-long programs of feeding of the homeless outdoors in Philadelphia’s public parks.  The complaint (full text) in Chosen 300 Ministries, Inc. v. City of Philadelphia, (ED PA, filed 6/5/2012) . . .

LifeSiteNews: The Whole Woman’s Health Funding Priority Act, an initiative of Republic State Representative Daryl Metcalfe and co-written by the Susan B. Anthony List and the Alliance Defense Fund, will place facilities that provide abortions at the bottom of a priority list for funding, allowing more money to go to health care providers that offer services for women such as dental care, mammograms, and treatments for anxiety disorders.

Catholic.org: The bill has been presented by state representative, Daryl Metcalfe (R-Butler) and will put all abortion providers at the bottom of the state’s funding list. The bill is known as the Whole Women’s Health Funding Priority Act. The bill was co-authored by the Susan B. Anthony List and the Alliance Defense Fund.

Inquisitr.com: Metcalfe will introduce the Whole Woman’s Health Funding Priority Act on Wednesday, a bill that would place abortion providing health care providers at the end of the priority list for state funding. The bill was co-written by anti-abortion activist group Susan B. Anthony List and the Alliance Defense Fund.

Ms. Magazine: According to the Huffington Post, the bill was co-written by the anti-abortion group Susan B. Anthony List and Alliance Defense Fund.

Huffington Post: The University of Pennsylvania is implementing a new policy that will offer benefits to faculty and staff in same-sex partnerships who are forced to pay more in taxes on health coverage than heterosexual married couples.

The Raw Story: Metcalfe was due to appear at a press conference on Wednesday morning with anti-abortion activists who wrote the bill, including representatives from the Alliance Defense Fund and the Susan B. Anthony List. Both groups boast on their websites of how effective they have been in harming Planned Parenthood’s funding, with the Susan B. Anthony List claiming that it played an integral role in sapping more than $61 million from the women’s health provider in legislative battles across the nation. (also reported at Democratic Underground)

Care2.com: Rep. Daryl Metcalfe (R-Butler) will introduce the Whole Woman’s Health Funding Priority Act, a bill similar to one in Ohio that would put health care providers that offer abortion services at the bottom of the priority list for state funding. The bill is co-written with anti-abortion activist group the Susan B. Anthony List and the Alliance Defense Fund.

Huffington Post: Metcalfe’s bill, the Whole Woman’s Health Funding Priority Act, would put health care providers that offer abortion services at the bottom of the priority list for state funding. The anti-abortion activist group Susan B. Anthony List and the Alliance Defense Fund co-wrote the bill, which closely resembles the one Arizona lawmakers used to defund Planned Parenthood earlier this year.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: State Supreme Court Justice Joan Orie Melvin this morning informed the court that she will voluntarily recuse from all duties because nine criminal counts will be filed against her today. | The PA Supreme Court has issued a couple of orders relieving her of duties. How Appealing reports and links to them.

White House: Matthew W. Brann, of Pennsylvania, to be United States District Judge for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, vice Thomas I. Vanaskie, elevated. Malachy Edward Mannion, of Pennsylvania, to be United States District Judge for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, vice A. Richard Caputo, retired.

How Appealing links to several reports and the state Supreme Court ruling that prompted the action.

One News Now: In the aftermath of North Carolina approving a constitutional amendment to protect natural marriage, some Pennsylvania residents are wondering when they will have the chance to vote on one.

Hazelton Standard Speaker: But now that the board has removed elective abortions from the employee benefit package, the union plans to file a grievance.

One News Now: Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) attorney Greg Baylor says the Justice Department is out of line in contending that the lawsuit filed by western Pennsylvania’s Geneva College was premature. The college is seeking to have controversial parts of the Affordable Health Care Act struck down. “This mandate applies to them, and it’s going to apply to them in the near future. So they were not too early in asking a court to intervene and step in and protect their important fundamental right,” Baylor argues.

Beaver County Times: The Alliance Defense Fund, a Christian civil rights group, filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh in February . . . Gregory Baylor, senior counsel for ADF in Washington, D.C., said during a February appearance on the Geneva campus that the compromise is not officially part of the legislation and doesn’t legally have to be honored. And if the compromise was honored, the organizations still would be paying for things they find objectionable through their health insurance premiums, he said.

WFMZ.com: The American Civil Liberties Union is taking on Pennsylvania’s new voter identification law.

Cumberlink.com: A middle school student who says she’s being punished for sitting during the Pledge of Allegiance is suing a western Pennsylvania school district.

Philly.com: “Brian Sims, a 33-year-old lawyer, appears to have defeated Center City’s longtime representative in the state House, setting himself up to become the first openly-gay state lawmaker in Pennsylvania.”

LifeNews: The Planned Parenthood abortion business waged a $100,000 bet that it could influence a race for the state legislature and it lost that battle.

The question is whether the General Assembly may, by statute, influence the definition of the constitutional phrase “purely public charity.”

Washington Post: Just two years removed from being the most powerful voting bloc on Capitol Hill, Blue Dog Democrats are now trying to stave off political extinction

NECN: A clinic spokeswoman says the registration was revoked “under false allegations.” The clinic says in a statement that a doctor who resigned was not its OB/GYN staff consultant — which is what the clinic needs to remain operating.

Politico: The political arm of Planned Parenthood is going up with a major TV ad buy in a Pennsylvania special election, aimed at sending a message to state Republicans who are attempting to pass a restrictive ultrasound bill.

Reuters: A U.S. appeals court on Monday revived a lawsuit brought by members of the adult entertainment industry which challenges federal laws requiring pornography producers to report the ages of all performers.
| Free Speech Coalition v Attorney General, No. 10-4085 (3rd Cir. April 16, 2012) (Before SCIRICA, RENDELL, and SMITH, Circuit Judges. )

Philadelphia Inquirer: For the first time, a Pennsylvania appeals court has confronted the complex question of who gets custody of embryos, ruling this week in favor of a Chester County woman who hopes to give birth using frozen embryos that her estranged husband wants destroyed . . . The three-judge Superior Court panel affirmed and quoted the trial court’s reasoning: “Because Wife cannot achieve genetic parenthood otherwise, we conclude that Wife’s interest in biological procreation through the use of these pre-embryos outweighs Husband’s professed interest against procreation.” | Opinion: Reber v. Reiss | Hat tip: How Appealing

Philadelphia Inquirer: Critics of the month-old voter-identification law are poised to challenge it in the courts and General Assembly.

Religion Clause Blog: AP reported yesterday on the problems faced by Amish and certain Mennonite sects now that Pennsylvania’s new voter identification law has come into effect.

WPXI.com (includes video): “We’ve decided to take a hard line on this,” Batterson said. “We have legal counsel and we are not going to remove the Ten Commandments.”

CBS: The federal court judge who presided over the federal case has ordered the city to repay the Scouts $877,000 in legal fees.

CBS Pittsburgh: Officials with the Valley School District in New Kensington are bracing for a legal battle with an atheist group that’s threatening a lawsuit if a Ten Commandments monument is not removed from school property.

Religion Clause Blog: In Imani Christian Academy v. Unemployment Compensation Board of Review, (Commwlth. Ct. PA, March 21, 2012), a Pennsylvania appeals court, in a 2-1 decision held that a Christian school which was independent from the church that founded it, but had overlapping personnel, is not exempt from the Pennsylvania unemployment compensation statute.

HSLDA: Earlier this month, Home School Legal Defense Association intervened on behalf of a member family in the Carmichaels Area School District whose superintendent had unlawfully threatened to terminate their home education program if they did not submit a mid-year evaluation.

PoliticsPA: News broke a few minutes ago that the House State Government Committee will delay its vote on HB 1434, known as the “Marriage Protection” amendment, proposed by State Rep. Daryl Metcalfe (R-Butler).

Wall Street Journal: The Pennsylvania House postponed a scheduled March 12 vote on the bill. House Majority leader Mike Turzai, a Republican, said the debate was cancelled due to “concerns raised by the medical community, among others,” Philly.com reported.

One News Now: A lesbian couple from Pennsylvania legally “married” in Canada and then settled in Illinois. Then one partner — Sarah Farley — died of cancer, leaving her retirement fund to her parents. However, the surviving lesbian — Jennifer Tobits — then sued, claiming a legal right to the fund, even though same-gender “marriage” is not legal in either Pennsylvania or Illinois.

Philly.com: New testimony in the political corruption trial of State Sen. Jane Orie makes it even more obvious that her sister, Justice Joan Orie Melvin, should step down at least temporarily from the state Supreme Court.

Philly.com: The House Judiciary Committee is considering two bills, HB 1815 and 1816, sponsored by Rep. Bryan Cutler, R-Lancaster, that would set up a merit-selection system to fill vacancies for the state’s appellate posts – Supreme Court justices and Superior and Commonwealth Court judges.

Religion Clause Blog: . . . First Korean Church that had been prevented by township zoning ordinances from using a 33.8 acre property for a church and seminary. The property, purchased by the church at a sheriff’s sale, formerly housed another seminary . . .

PennLive.com: House lawmakers postponed a vote that was set for later this month on controversial legislation to require women seeking an abortion to first have an ultrasound exam to determine the gestational age of the fetu

Eugene Volokh reports at the Volokh Conspiracy.

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.