Tag Archives: State: Pennsylvania

Westchester Fox 19: “Washington, D.C.-based Operation Rescue/Insurrecta Nex is protesting Planned Parenthood Monday morning at the West Chester office of Congressman John Boehner (R-West Chester).”

Pocono Record: “Law enforcement authorities were Thursday considering laying charges against the family of a 13-year-old girl who ran away from home to avoid being forced into an arranged marriage in Pakistan.”

LifeNews: “A local judge has ruled that embattled abortion practitioner Kermit Gosnell — who has gained national notoriety for the shoddy abortion business he ran — can’t sell his assets to avoid a civil lawsuit.”

Philly.com: “For the first time, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has acknowledged it is reviewing the case of a pregnant teenager who was denied permission for an abortion by a county judge. Pennsylvania’s 17-year-old abortion law requires girls under 18 to get consent for an abortion from a parent or, if she wants to bypass her parents, from a judge. The high court’s ruling could clarify how much discretion county judges have to refuse to grant a “judicial bypass” – but only if the justices bend the requirement that such cases be kept confidential . . . ”

The Daily Collegian: “Penn State ACLU President Brian Flowers said Chick-fil-A’s corporate values and sponsorship of programs that outwardly advocate against same-sex marriage run counter to Penn State’s principles of equal rights.”

LifeNews: “The attorney general of the state of Delaware wants the licenses of two abortion practitioners who were colleagues of embattled abortionist Kermit Gosnell yanked because they did not report problems associated with their colleague.”

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: “The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and several other Pennsylvania newspapers filed a petition today to open a sealed state Supreme Court case that could potentially alter part of the state’s abortion law. The case involves a 17-year-old who requested permission from an Allegheny County judge to have an abortion and was denied . . . ”

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Mr. Wenger, along with Matt Bowman of the Alliance Defense Fund, sought a redacted version of the case file so they could prepare their Supreme Court brief, but the request was denied. Still, they maintain that Judge Ignelzi considered all the facts and made an informed decision. “Whatever went into the judge’s decision, we can be sure it was a weighing of testimony and facts about the maturity, health and safety of letting the minor undergo a secret abortion without her parents’ knowledge,” said Mr. Bowman, “and the law of Pennsylvania defers to the judge who decides to protect her by involving her parent.”

Delco Times: “The first school voucher bill with a chance to become law since the Tom Ridge administration has the backing of three state senators with Delaware County constituencies. Dubbed the “Opportunity Scholarship and Educational Improvement Tax Credit Act” . . . ”

CBS Pittsburgh Local: “A Baldwin man is refusing to take down his lighted crosses. Carl Behr said he isn’t going down without a fight at a Baldwin Borough Council.”

AP: “A western Pennsylvania man has been ordered to remove a 24-foot illuminated cross from his front yard following complaints by his neighbor, who claims the act of faith is actually an act of revenge.”

One News Now: The city ordinance on a floating and a fixed “100-foot bubble zone” prohibited pro-lifers’ free-speech rights at virtually all Pittsburgh abortion clinics, but David Cortman of the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) tells OneNewsNow the ordinance violates the Constitution. (David is quoted in several paragraphs)

How Appealing reports on the case in Mesivtah Eitz Chaim of Bobov, Inc. v. Pike County Board of Assessment Appeals, No. 16 MAP 2011

LifeNews: “Authorities investigating the activities of Philadelphia abortionist Kermit Gosnell, who is accused of the murder of viable infants born alive in his Philadelphia clinic, are also putting together the pieces of his corrupt financial practices, according to a report by the Philadelphia Inquirer yesterday.”

NECN: “Brown and the Alliance Defense Fund had argued that the combination of buffer and bubble zones kept protesters too far away from clients to hand them anti-abortion leaflets and to conduct conversations about abortion without having to shout.”

GoErie.com: “Supporters call them a matter of choice, a lifeline for children stuck in broken schools. Opponents deride them as unconstitutional and unworkable and warn that they will erode conditions in some of Pennsylvania’s most troubled schools.”

The New American: Randall Wenger, an attorney who is representing the case with the ADF, noted that Officer Armbruster “understood that police officers are called on to acknowledge and respect” the constitutional guarantees of American citizens, “including Christian pro-life advocates, who have the same First Amendment-protected rights to express their beliefs as everyone else. He should be commended for holding to his duty as a civil servant to protect — not violate — the free speech rights of the group he was told to arrest.” Tom Marcelle, senior counsel for the ADF, predicted a favorable decision from the Third Circuit Court within 60 days. “Placing an officer on unpaid leave, putting a disciplinary letter in his file jeopardizing his promotion to sergeant, and threatening him with termination is the wrong response to upholding his oath as a law enforcement official to obey the Constitution,” said Marcelle. “This case should never have been dismissed, and we’re optimistic that the 3rd Circuit will agree.”

Religion Clause Blog: “The Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh that retains affiliation with the Episcopal Church USA has won its claim to property of the Diocese following the 2008 vote by the Diocesan Convention to withdraw from the Episcopal Church and affiliate with the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone. In Calvary Episcopal Church v. Duncan, (PA Commn. Ct., Feb. 2, 2011) . . . ”

Times Online: “A Christian advocacy organization has contacted Ellwood City officials with the possibility that it might support efforts to fight a possible lawsuit opposing the annual Nativity display in front of the municipal building. Borough Manager Dom Viccari said he had exchanged information with attorneys from the Alliance Defense Fund. Officials from the organization, based in Scottsdale, Ariz., did not respond Wednesday to an interview request.”

AP via KC Star: “The welfare of the child is more important than the religious freedom of the parents,” Temin said.

LifeNews: “Fox 29 indicates Pennsylvania state records it obtained show taxpayers forked over $100,000 in legal bills for attorneys for the state officials the grand jury subpoenaed. The local prosecutors in the case grilled the state officials and they were entitled to legal representation, but chose to accept public attorneys paid for at public expense.”

LifeSite News: Defending the law are the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) attorneys, along with Americans United for Life and ADF-allied attorney Randall Wenger, who submitted a friend-of-the-court brief to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court at the end of December. Backing ADF are the Pennsylvania Family Institute, Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation, Pennsylvania Catholic Conference, and nearly 70 state legislators who support the law . . . “Parents should have a right to be involved in their child’s critical life-changing decisions, and that includes abortions,” said ADF Legal Counsel Matt Bowman. “Secret abortions performed on minors leave children in the hands of a predatory abortion industry that has put profits above parents’ rights and the health and safety of young girls and their preborn children.”

“The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has decided to consider the role judges play in deciding whether a minor can have an abortion.”

WSBT: “The university decided to remove Chick-fil-A as a campus vendor after news that a Pennsylvania franchise will be donating food for an event hosted by a known anti-homosexual group.”

WorldNetDaily: “Does a police officer have the right to disobey an order that would cause him to violate the constitutional rights of, say, a Christian open-air preacher at a public university? ‘Armbruster v. Cavanaugh is an important case,’ said ADF Senior Counsel Tom Marcelle. ‘A police officer takes an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution. If he has that obligation, he also has a right to refuse to uphold orders that cause him to violate the very Constitution he is sworn to defend.’”

ChristianNewsWire: “Tom Ritter, who taught physics and chemistry for over a decade, has filed a federal lawsuit against The Blue Mountain School District in the Middle District of Pennsylvania . . . If evolution is unscientific, why teach it? Because no Creator means no God. In other words, evolution taught without a possible alternative is Atheism.” | Complaint is here (via Religion Clause).

Clark Forsythe writing in the The Weekly Standard: “We can thank, in large part, the Supreme Court, after 38 years of Roe v. Wade, for the lurid reports coming out of Philadelphia . . . Philadelphia’s clinic conditions and lackadaisical approach to regulating clinics are the direct result of the ‘fine print’ in Roe.”

Attorneys with ADF available for media interviews after arguments against
federal court decision affirming unconstitutional order to kick Christian group off campus

Bloomberg: “When they finally resumed routine inspections of abortion clinics last year after more than 15 years, Pennsylvania health regulators ordered 14 of the state’s 22 freestanding clinics to remedy problems, a review of records shows.”

LifeNews: “The Senate Banking and Insurance Committee passed a measure on Tuesday 12-2 to opt out of allowing any abortion funding under the state exchanges the Obamacare law sets up by 2014.”

Marian Wang writing at ProPublica: “In the mid-1990s, the administration of Pennsylvania governor Tom Ridge, a pro-choice Republican, ended regular inspections of abortion clinics—a policy that continued until just last year. According to the grand jury report [PDF] released this week by Philadelphia prosecutors, Pennsylvania health officials deliberately chose not to enforce laws to ensure that abortion clinics provide the same level of care as other medical service providers.”

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: “The voucher proposal, announced last week by state Sens. Jeffrey Piccola, R-Dauphin, and Anthony Williams, D-Philadelphia, would allow low-income students from ‘persistently poorly performing’ public schools to switch to other public or private schools — and receive taxpayer-funded vouchers to pay their tuition. Proposals in the 1990s had broader reach.”

Salena Zito writing at Townhall: “‘William Penn is one of America’s great forgotten founders,’ says Catherine Wilson, a Villanova University political scientist. ‘His policies on religious toleration and political freedom were touted as some of the most welcoming throughout all the colonies.’”

William Saletan writing at Slate: “It’s a tale of gore and nihilism—and an occasion for pro-choice advocates to reflect on the limits of reproductive freedom . . . [According to the pro-choice absolutist view] there’s no moral difference between eight, 18, and 28 weeks. No one has the right to judge another person’s abortion decision, regardless of her stage of pregnancy. Each woman is entitled to decide not only whether to have an abortion, but how long she can wait to make that choice . . . It’s one thing to preach these ideas in the lefty blogosphere. It’s quite another to see them in practice. That’s where Kermit Gosnell, the doctor at the center of the Philadelphia scandal, comes in.”

Robert George writing at Mirror of Justice: “District Attorney Seth Williams estimates that [Gosnell] performed the procedure hundreds of times . . . Gosnell’s procedure for late term babies was to induce delivery and then kill the children with a quick snip . . . People seem to be shocked. One wonders why . . . is it really such a big surprise that a doctor who bought this line [i.e., "the idea that a 'fetus' is not a human being"] would set up shop as an abortionist and perform what have come to be known as ‘live birth abortions’?”

The Patriot-News: “Earlier this month, Derry Township officials found themselves considering a legal challenge when the owner of Shane’s City Limits sought to revive his business by having scantily-clad dancers shimmy for customers several nights a week . . . The Shane’s incident was unusual not only because of the novelty . . . but because cases involving adult establishments have quieted in the past decade.”

The Morning Call: “Allentown City Council on Wednesday extended medical benefits to partners of gay employees in the city’s largest union and white-collar staff, but delayed extending the same benefits to firefighters and police officers.”

Philadelphia Daily News: “Time and time again, authorities alerted to Kermit Gosnell’s filthy and macabre abortion clinic – and to the injured, diseased or dead women he left in his wake – failed to rattle the alarm bells loudly enough to shut his house of horrors, the district attorney’s grand-jury report found.”

“. . . During a press conference, Smith said Gosnell ‘induced labor, forced the live birth of viable babies in the sixth, seventh, eighth month of pregnancy and then killed those babies by cutting into the back of the neck with scissors and severing their spinal cord.’”

Associated Press: “An abortion doctor who catered to minorities, immigrants and poor women was charged with eight counts of murder in the deaths of a patient and seven babies who were born alive and then killed with scissors, prosecutors said Wednesday.”

LifeSiteNews: “A pro-life organization called ‘People Concerned for the Unborn Child’ (PCUC) based out of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania organizes the largest coordinated contingent to the March for Life in Washington, D.C., sending 120-130 buses yearly.”

phillyburbs.com (AP): “A central Pennsylvania school district wants a self-styled street preacher barred from approaching students at bus stops.”

“The death of a female partner of Cozen O’Connor has put the law firm in the center of a dispute over a cutting-edge same-sex marriage issue—whether a marriage that is legal in one jurisdiction should be recognized as valid in another in which the parties would not have a right to wed.”

Daily Local News: “Former West Chester teacher David Devine, made his initial appearance in federal court Thursday, entering a not guilty plea on charges he possessed hundreds of images of child pornography.”

Gant Daily: “Clearfield County District Attorney, William A. Shaw, Jr., announced Thursday that charges have been filed against a Clearfield man for possession of child pornography. Shaw identified the defendant as Jerry Kovach, Sr., age 69, of Walnut Street, Clearfield.”

“Five states allow same-sex marriage. By year’s end, that number could grow. However, several states are working to protect the definition of marriage.”

Christian Post: “The president of Chick-fil-A recently defended a local operator’s decision to donate food to a marriage seminar despite petitions and criticisms from gay rights advocates.”

Daily Times: “It was literally and figuratively the 11th hour Monday when commissioners cast their votes on a controversial anti-discrimination ordinance. After listening to many voices speak passionately on both sides of the issue, engaging in heated debate themselves, and defeating a motion to table, commissioners approved the first reading of the measure 5-3 with one abstention.”

The Philadelphia Inquirer: “Gov. Rendell urged his successor Tuesday to not cut education spending in the state’s next budget, and came out against a proposed voucher program that would help low-income students from low-performing schools attend either private schools or public schools in other districts.”

Christian Post: “Michael Geer, president of the Pennsylvania Family Institute, says the post provoking anger towards Pennsylvania Chick-fil-A chicken restaurants for ‘endorsing’ its efforts are misleading . . . Setting the record straight, Geer said Chick-fil-A is not sponsoring the event. ‘There are a couple restaurants that are giving us food,’ he clarified. The food, mostly chicken sandwiches, is for a day-and-half-long workshop for couples who want to strengthen their marriages.”

ADF attorney Matt Bowman appeared on the Schilling Show to discuss the issue and the litigation. | MP3 audio 13:20 mins

OneNewsNow: “‘We’re in this case to uphold the right of parents to protect their children from being victimized by the abortion industry that profits in that and tries to have secret abortions on minors,’ explains ADF attorney [Matt Bowman].”

Lebanon Daily News: “The Commonwealth Court has refused the city of Pittsburgh’s request to overturn a county judge’s approval of a strip club in the city’s West End neighborhood.”

Charisma: “Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) attorneys, along with Americans United for Life and ADF-allied attorney Randall Wenger, submitted a friend-of-the-court brief to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in the first-ever review of a law requiring parental consent for a minor’s abortion . . . ‘Parents should have a right to be involved in their child’s critical life-changing decisions, and that includes abortions,’ says ADF Legal Counsel [Matt Bowman].”

LifeNews: “Officials with the Alliance Defense Fund and Americans United for Life submitted a friend-of-the-court brief to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in the first-ever review of that court of the pro-life law . . . ‘Parents should have a right to be involved in their child’s critical life-changing decisions, and that includes abortions,’ ADF Legal Counsel [Matt Bowman] told LifeNews.com today. ‘Secret abortions performed on minors leave children in the hands of a predatory abortion industry that has put profits above parents’ rights and the health and safety of young girls and their preborn children.’”

Alliance Defense Fund attorneys, along with Americans United for Life and ADF-allied attorney Randall Wenger, submitted a friend-of-the-court brief to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in the first-ever review of that court of a law requiring parental consent for a minor’s abortion.

Boston.com (AP): “A philanthropist has thrown a wrinkle into a plan for a Boy Scouts of America chapter to buy their city-owned headquarters in Philadelphia to resolve a discrimination lawsuit . . . real-estate investor Mel Heifetz tells the Philadelphia Daily News he would pay $1.5 million for the site, then donate it to a nonprofit that doesn’t discriminate.”

Philadelphia Enquirer: “The city’s proposed sale of the historic Boy Scouts of America local headquarters to the group was back on track Thursday, but a formidable coalition of gay-rights and other civic leaders has lined up against it.”

Daily Local: “Borough Council rejected First Presbyterian Church’s request to tear down two buildings adjacent to the Miner Street church as part of an expansion plan for the church with more than 2,000 members . . . Earlier this year the church hired a Chicago law firm that specializes in religious land-use cases. The firm, Mauck & Baker, LLC of Chicago, said in an October letter that if council denies the land-development plan it could be a violation of the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act..”

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:
“But Mr. Tupi, who volunteers with the religious freedom group Alliance Defense Fund, disagrees with the entire premise that religious displays should be ‘secularized’ if they are to remain on public property. He believes a creche should be allowed, even if it’s not in the context of other holiday items. And he thinks the Supreme Court has misinterpreted the intent of the Establishment Clause in the First Amendment, ‘I think under an original intent understanding of the First Amendment, there would be no need to secularize a nativity display any more than there is a need to abolish the holiday of Christmas,’ he said.”

Lancaster Online: “The American Civil Liberties Union has decided not to pursue a complaint by a substitute teacher who alleges she was ‘blackballed’ by Manheim Township School District after her husband publicly criticized township students for not participating in the Pledge of Allegiance.”

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: “The Canonsburg borough council voted unanimously Monday night to allow a creche back on borough property after a resident’s complaint prompted the borough manager to move the display down the street . . . Bradley Tupi, a Pittsburgh attorney who volunteers with the Alliance Defense Fund, said municipalities end up impinging on religious expression out of fear of lawsuits.”

Daily Local: “Some parents say a health curriculum supplement under consideration by the Downingtown Area School District is inappropriate. District officials were poised to make a decision Friday regarding the sexual-education program Amnion that teaches abstinence-only education.”

Delco Daily Times: “At a press conference Tuesday afternoon, [Cardinal Rigali] noted that changing demographics, declining enrollment and rising costs have contributed to the struggle of keeping Catholic education alive . . . ‘We’re going to map out a long-range plan to sustain the system we have,’ said Quindlen. ‘It doesn’t mean we’re going to sustain every school. It could mean consolidation, it could mean regionalization, it could mean closing some schools.’”

WHPTV: “A day after discussions of religious diversity led officials to remove the word ‘Christmas’ from signs at the Christmas Village merchant fair outside City Hall, the event’s organizers decided Tuesday to take down the signs — only to have the mayor reverse that decision.”

The Mercury: “The head of the local Chamber of Commerce said Tuesday that her organization is prepared to work with the Chester County commissioners to insure that the traditional holiday tree that serves as a backdrop to the chamber’s annual Old Fashioned Christmas celebration will be located at the county’s Historic Courthouse again this year.”

Gettysburg Times: “Four days after a Texas-based legal firm launched a campaign to save a Civil War chapel in Gettysburg, the nine-member Borough Council voiced displeasure Monday night with misinformation in the national media . . . ‘It’s not an issue with God. It’s an issue with the Uniform Construction Code,’ said Council President John Butterfield.”

Trading Markets: “An Ohio man filed a federal lawsuit yesterday against Home Depot, claiming the company discriminated against him because his religious beliefs don’t allow him to work on Sundays.”

OneNewsNow: “Liberty Institute and Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, are at odds over a reconstructed Civil War-era chapel. The replica was constructed in 2006 by John Wega, who refounded the United States Christian Commission (USCC) . . . But Hiram Sasser, director of litigation for Liberty Institute, says the USCC recently received a letter from the borough demanding that the building be torn down. However, no reason was given.”

The Inquirer: “On Wednesday night, the Nutter administration said it expected City Council to introduce legislation Thursday required for Philadelphia to sell the property to the scouts. That surprised Councilman Darrell L. Clarke, who would have introduced the bill because the building is in his district.”

G Philly: ACLU objects to Boy Scout deal

The Inquirer: “Philadelphia would stop trying to evict the Cradle of Liberty Council Boy Scouts from its headquarters near Logan Square and instead sell the building to the organization at a cut-rate price, thereby ending a nearly decade-long dispute, under a proposed settlement.”

Daily Local News: “The Chester County commissioners have approved a new policy to put all winter holiday displays at the Historic Courthouse under county control.”

The Progress: “A few DuBois Area School District residents want to pull the plug on a fourth and fifth grade play titled ‘Santa Goes Green.’ Four individuals approached DuBois’ school board at its meeting last night to ask the board to reconsider its choice of school play.”

Lebanon Daily News: “A federal judge in Pittsburgh must decide whether abortion leaflets are litter or ‘litter’-ature protected by the First Amendment.”

Louis Marven, director of Education and Youth Services at the LGBT Center Coalition in Harrisburg, writing in the Patriot-News: “The General Assembly had three initiatives before it in the 2009-10 session that would advance equality for the LGBT community, including gay youth, but failed to pass any of them.”