It's Friday and normally I like to share good news but this needs some attention:
http://www.timesherald.com/...
Gov. Tom Corbett is following through on a budget-related proposal to expand natural-gas extraction below Pennsylvania’s state forests and parks.
Corbett issued an executive order Friday that will allow drillers to bore horizontally into the rock deep below underneath public lands from adjacent, privately owned lands, so long as there is no long-term disturbance to the surface of the forests and parks.
The governor’s order also permits drilling from areas of forest that already were leased for gas drilling under previous administrations. - AP, 5/23/14
Here's a little more info:
http://www.bizjournals.com/...
"With this executive order, I am directing that the commonwealth maintain a moratorium on any additional gas leasing of DCNR (Department of Conservation and Natural Resources) lands that involves long-term surface disturbance, such as placing well pads, roads or pipelines in the newly-leased areas," Corbett said in a statement. "This balanced approach will ensure that the special characteristics and habitats of DCNR lands are conserved and protected, and will also provide for historic investments in conservation programs, our schools and quality health care, without raising taxes on Pennsylvanians."
Corbett said specific areas of acreage will be analyzed by reviewing interest from oil and gas operations who can access the gas through horizontal drilling without additional disturbance on the surface of DCNR lands.
"Future royalties from these leases will be dedicated to expanding our system by acquiring lands with high conservation value and ecological importance, purchasing privately-held subsurface rights for existing DCNR lands and improving state parks and forests," Corbett said. - Pittsburgh Business Times, 5/23/14
Now here's something else you need to know:
http://www.pennlive.com/...
Recent research by Penn State professor Margaret Brittingham indicates that conventional drilling activities in the Allegheny National Forest have already affected bird populations, a trend which is likely to accelerate as Marcellus drilling activity - especially the construction of additional roads and pipelines - breaks up interior forests.
"The cumulative effect of many small-scale disturbances within the forest is resulting in the homogenization of bird communities, with species that inhabit the interior forest, such as black-throated blue warblers, ovenbirds and Blackburnian warblers being pushed out, and species that prefer living in edge habitat and near people and development, such as robins, blue jays and mourning doves, moving in," said Brittingham.
Corbett's position is the new leasing will not add to forest degradation.
"I am directing that the commonwealth maintain a moratorium on any additional gas leasing of DCNR lands that involves long-term surface disturbance, such as placing well pads, roads or pipelines in the newly-leased areas," he said. "This balanced approach will ensure that the special characteristics and habitats of DCNR lands are conserved and protected, and will also provide for historic investments in conservation programs, our schools and quality health care, without raising taxes on Pennsylvanians."
PennFuture, one of the state's leading environmental groups thinks differently.
After the DCNR report in April, PennFuture President and CEO Cindy Dunn said, "We remain unequivocally opposed to additional leasing of our state parks and forests for natural gas drilling. It's time we put the brakes on runaway drilling — the gas is under our land and it's not going anywhere.
"We owe it to the citizens of the Commonwealth to more fully understand the impacts of natural gas drilling before we turn special places into industrial zones," she said.
Previously, DCNR officials has indicated that additional leasing (with surface disturbance) could jeopardize the state forests' "green" certification, but the Corbett administration says the current proposal won't.
"The commonwealth's state forest system has been certified as 'well-managed' longer than any other in the country, and continues to receive that distinction after five years of gas development in the Marcellus shale formation," DCNR Secretary Ellen Ferretti said. "I am confident that DCNR can continue to manage our system for a variety of uses and values, including ecological integrity, outdoor recreation and the environmentally sound extraction of underground resources."
Meanwhile, Rep. Greg Vitali, a Democrat from Delaware County, is waging an open records battle with the Corbett administration in an attempt to find out how they arrived at the $75 million estimate for revenue likely to be generated by the additional leasing.
Yesterday, the Office of Open Records ruled in Vitali's favor, directing DCNR to release the relevant documents.
Vitali compared the administration's reluctance to release records to its Friday-afternoon-before-a-holiday-weekend announcement of the executive order.
"It shows a total lack of interest in transparency and on the contrary, a concerted effort to hide what he's doing," said Vitali. "I think it's apalling." - The Patriot-News, 5/23/14
And that's not the only bad Corbett-related news to surface this week:
http://articles.philly.com/...
A 7-year-old student died suddenly after becoming ill at a city public school on Wednesday.
The child, a first grader at Jackson School in South Philadelphia, experienced a medical emergency and appeared to stop breathing. Classroom staff administered CPR and called 911, and the child was taken to Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, where he was pronounced dead.
"It's shocking, and it's tragic, and we extend our deepest sympathies to the family," said School District spokesman Fernando Gallard.
There was no nurse at Jackson at the time the child, whose name was not released, became ill, Gallard said. The school of 450 students has a nurse every Thursday and every other Friday.
Karyn Lynch, deputy chief of student services, emphasized that people trained in CPR and first aid responded to the child as soon as they became aware he was in distress.
"The minute they looked over and saw him, they immediately performed CPR and called 911," Lynch said.
It was not clear whether the child had a preexisting medical condition. School officials cannot discuss students' medical histories.
Asked whether having a nurse in the building would have made a difference in the child's death, Gallard said: "That's a very difficult question to answer, not knowing what occurred. We're not medical experts. There were trained personnel with CPR certification." - Philadelphia Inquirer, 5/22/14
Now here's something you need to know:
http://www.msnbc.com/...
Wednesday’s death is a cruel reminder of just how tenuous the Philadelphia school system remains. The death marks the second time in about 8 months that a young student has died after becoming ill at a school with no full-time nurse on duty.
In September, 12-year-old Laporshia Massey fell ill at her Philadelphia elementary school and later died after suffering an asthma attack. A nurse was assigned to her school just twice a week. The day that she died was not one of those days.
The beleaguered Philadelphia School District has been collapsing under the weight of deep budget cuts and layoffs since the start of the school year. Republican Gov. Tom Corbett has cut nearly $1 billion from state education funding, and parents and opponents of the cuts have long argued that the economic starvation of the schools is creating an unsafe and dangerous school environment.
Laporshia’s death sparked outrage and led to ramped up pressure on Corbett to release funding he’d withheld from the city in lieu of teachers union concessions. Just weeks after the girl’s death, the governor released $45 million to the district, though he said the release of the money had nothing to do with her death.
Many of the other problems that school advocates had predicted have come to fruition, following the cuts and after the district shuttered two dozen schools over the summer and laid off nearly 4,000 teachers and other support staff.
Some schools don’t have enough desks for students, forcing many to stand along the walls or sit in window sills during class. Without adequate school supplies including paper, books and furniture, Mayor Michael Nutter resorted to a public plea on local television asking for donations.
Because of the cuts, the number of school nurses in Philadelphia has dropped from 289 to 179.
“We don’t know if a school nurse could have saved this young boy. But we do know every child deserves a full-time nurse in his or her school,” the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) wrote, along with city, state and national presidents, in a joint letter to Gov. Corbett. “We do know all parents deserve to know that their child will be safe and his or her most basic needs will be tended to at school. We do know that all Philadelphia children deserve better.”
“We cannot tolerate one more life lost, one more dream snatched from our children,” the letter continued. - MSNBC, 5/22/14
I know I've been writing a lot about the Pennsylvania Governor's race this week. We had the primary on Tuesday, Pennsylvania is my home state, Corbett is one of the most vulnerable Governors in the country and because everyone needs to be reminded of how awful he is and how his policies are hurting Pennsylvania. I also want to bring this up because the press keeps trying to paint the narrative that Corbett has shifted to the center and stands a chance of being re-elected:
http://www.philly.com/...
Corbett, who opposes same-sex marriage and once compared it to incest during a TV interview, said an appeal by the state "is extremely unlikely to succeed."
The governor on May 8 said he would not appeal a Commonwealth Court ruling that overturned the state's Voter ID law.
Corbett, who pushed for the law, said he would work with the state General Assembly to address issues that prompted the judge to overturn it.
And Corbett on May 1 softened his position on medical marijuana, calling for "new legislation that would allow a research-based pilot program with leading children's hospitals" in the state.
Medical marijuana is the only issue where Corbett changed his position on public policy.
He still supports voter ID and the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act. He's just not going to pursue legal appeals to reinstate them.
Wolf took advantage of Corbett's announcement Wednesday to deliver a backhanded compliment followed by a full-faced political slap. Wolf applauded the "important step toward inclusion and fairness" and then knocked Corbett for devoting "time and state resources to defend an indefensible policy." - Philadelphia Daily News, 5/23/14
PA voters still hate him for a number of reasons, especially his handling of the Jerry Sandusky case. But Corbett has a big war chest thanks to Comcast, Marcellus Shale and the Koch Brothers and he spend every penny to dupe voters into believing he's been an effective Governor. He will also use that money to destroy Tom Wolf (D. PA) and make sure voters stay home. But G. Terry Madonna and Michael Young make some valid points about how Wolf's effective strategy can play off in the general:
http://articles.mcall.com/...
•Early money matters, but early money used well matters most. Tom Wolf's campaign struck early and often with effective advertising and shrewd time buys that put better-known opponents on the defensive — a position from which they never recovered. Wolf was not the first gubernatorial candidate to use this early-and-often strategy. Milton Shapp pioneered it back in 1970 with similar results. In 1994, Tom Ridge followed a similar path. Underestimating any opponent, especially a well-funded one, is always dangerous and frequently fatal. Three former candidates for governor now know that.
•The Democratic contest might be called an "all of the above" race. Certainly, disparate parts of the party structure favored and supported various candidates. But none of the candidates was unacceptable as the nominee. Fractious primaries often lead to divided parties that lose in the fall. If Democrats lose in the fall, it won't have anything to do with the primary. Instead, the passion to defeat Gov. Tom Corbett in November was palpable and paramount throughout the campaign, producing a race virtually guaranteed to put a united party behind the ultimate winner.
•A good "air war" beats a good "ground war" every time. Wolf's early and excellent media advertising was some of the best Pennsylvania has seen. But he didn't have the major endorsements or field organization enjoyed by his opponents. These were shared mainly between Allyson Schwartz and Rob McCord, both of whom could have potentially benefited from well-run Election Day organizations. But phone banks, doorbell ringing and even social media can't compete with a well-planned and expertly executed statewide presence on TV.
•Rookies don't win in Pennsylvania — except when they do. Wolf is an amateur politician by any standard, and most rookies, running statewide in Pennsylvania, are like the proverbial "nice guy." They finish last. Except Wolf never got the memo. Instead, he ran a flawless campaign. The essence of equanimity, Wolf, even when attacked, remained unfailingly polite. It is true that he had an impressive campaign team supporting him, a large amount of money available to him and a well-thought-out strategy that served him well. But it's fair to say that Wolf is a different candidate than usually seen in Pennsylvania. It is far too early to fully evaluate him, but not too early to predict he will continue to surprise.
•Negative advertising is not always effective. One of the myths of modern campaigning is that negative advertising is usually necessary to win and always effective. It wasn't here. The barrage of negative ads aimed at Wolf toward the end of the campaign caused minimal damage to him and possibly hurt his opponents more than him. That's largely because negative advertising works best when it addresses something voters care about, it is perceived as being fair, and it is considered credible. Most of the negative ads aimed at Wolf failed one or all of these criteria. Voters didn't care about them, didn't like them, and didn't believe them. But Wolf's campaign also demonstrated that it isn't necessary for a candidate under attack to answer with his own negative ads. Wolf ran a virtually 100 percent positive campaign and he won. That will be remembered, and it should be.
What do these results mean for November? Wolf impressively passed his first test, but another, perhaps greater, one lies ahead. Corbett may be unpopular, but he has amply demonstrated his intention to wage an aggressive re-election campaign — something he has the resources to do.
Nevertheless, Corbett has signaled his concern about running against Wolf. He took the virtually unprecedented step of running negative ads against Wolf during the Democratic primary. What's certain is that Pennsylvanians are going to experience an exciting, hard-fought race to select their next governor. The Democrats' new nominee rejects politics as usual, which the 2014 gubernatorial race isn't likely to be. - The Morning Call, 5/22/14
I cannot emphasize how important winning this race is. Pennsylvania is a Blue State being choked by a corrupt Tea Party extremist trying to paint himself as something he's not. We can't let Corbett dupe voters. So lets make sure Wolf is ready to go to win in November. Click here to donate and get involved with Wolf's campaign:
http://www.wolfforpa.com/
UPDATE: Wolf and the other Democratic nominees had a unity breakfast and are ready to go:
http://www.philly.com/...
The three Democrats easily bested by Tom Wolf in Tuesday's Democratic primary election for governor are now unified behind the victor. Just don't ask them any questions about it.
U.S. Rep. Bob Brady invited the candidates, U.S. Rep. Allyson Schwartz, state Treasurer Rob McCord and former state Environmental Protection Secretary Katie McGinty, to breakfast with Wolf this morning at the Oregon Diner in South Philly. The media was invited too but not allowed to listen in on the table talk.
Former Gov. Ed Rendell joined in and later insisted repeatedly that nobody present would answer any questions about the discussion.
"Campaigns are tough, rough business," Rendell said. "So this is a first step. It's a process that's going to take some time."
Brady, asked if the tone of the Democratic primary came up during breakfast, said no.
"Nothing. Zero. Zip," said Brady, who tipped $100 on a $150 bill. "We're not looking in the rear-view mirror. We're going forward, not backwards."
U.S. Sen. Bob Casey Jr. and state Democratic Chairman Jim Burn also attended. Casey said he "became an expert at bringing people together for party unity" after he lost the 2002 Democratic primary election for governor to Rendell.
Casey's father, the late Gov. Bob Casey Sr., defeated Rendell in the 1986 Democratic primary election for governor. - Philadelphia Daily News, 5/23/14