Thursday, April 18, 2013
The U.S. Department of Defense conducted a comprehensive report on payday lending and concluded the average borrower pays back $864 for a $339 loan.
During the course of each two-year session of the Pennsylvania state Legislature, more than 2,000 different bills will be drafted and introduced, but only a handful will ever see any formal legislative action. The system is set up to make it extremely difficult to get a bill all the way through the process and signed into law. In theory, bad bills never make it very far and only the good bills survive. Unfortunately, every once in a while a really bad bill works slips through the cracks before anyone realizes what happened. One of the best examples out there would be the push to legalize “payday loans” in Pennsylvania. A bill to legalize this practice passed the House last year (I voted ‘no’) and died in the Senate, but will likely be …
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
The state lawmaker blasted the DEP, while state Sen. Tim Solobay said he met with the department and it is doing what it can to ensure companies in the Marcellus Shale industry, as well as all industries, 'not only do it right, but safely.'
It's been more than a week since state Rep. Jesse White made a formal state Right to Know request for information associated with the Range Resources waste water impoundment in Cecil Township. And the Democratic lawmaker from Cecil said Tuesday afternoon that he has yet to get a response from the state agency. White made a request for permits and other documents associated with the site after news surfaced that there was a 30-gallon leak from a storage tank located near the impoundment on Swihart Road. The Right to Know law stipulates that a public agency has five business days to respond to requests. If an agency does not respond in that time period, the request is deemed denied. The five-day period was over as of the end of the business …
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
The bill will prohibit employers from requiring social media users to reveal usernames and passwords.
A bill that would prohibit employers from requiring social media users to reveal usernames and passwords as a condition of employment was reported out of the House Labor and Industry Committee today. House Bill 1130, also known as the Social Media Privacy Protection Act, was introduced by state Rep. Jesse White, D-Cecil, and approved 25-0. It is now headed to the full House of Representatives for consideration. White said he introduced the legislation after the practice made national headlines last year, when a state corrections officer in Maryland complained that the Department of Public Safety & Correctional Services sought his password to search personal Facebook posts during a re-certification interview. As a result, Maryland became …
Saturday, April 13, 2013
State Rep. Jesse White, D-Cecil, is seeking co-sponsors for the bill to will introduce.
One local lawmaker wants the state to ban Marcellus Shale wastewater impoundments—or frac ponds—and began seeking co-sponsors Friday for a bill he intends to introduce on the matter. "Wastewater impoundments are NOT an industry best practice, as per the industry itself. The new Center for Sustainable Shale Development, which includes industry partners Shell, Chevron, CONSOL and EQT, recently identified eliminating wastewater impoundments as one of their performance standards," state Rep. Jesse White, D-Cecil, wrote in a memor to colleagues on Friday. "Unfortunately, less reputable operators will not be bound by these standards and will continue to dump this hazardous material in this highly dangerous manner. Wastewater impoundments are …
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
The representative accepted the award on Tuesday.
State Rep. Jesse White on Tuesday accepted the Humane Society of the United States’ award for “Humane Representative of the Year” for 2012. The award is given out annually to select state legislators across the United States who pursue meaningful legislation and awareness efforts related to animal issues. Sarah Speed, state director of the Pennsylvania chapter of the Humane Society, presented the award to White at a ceremony at the state Capitol. Speed said White was given the award because of his local and legislative work on issues related to animal shelters. "We are thrilled to present Representative Jesse White with our Humane Representative of the Year award for 2012 in recognition of his efforts to increase shelter adoptions,” Speed …
Monday, April 8, 2013
'This isn’t a witch hunt; Cecil Township and its residents simply deserve to find out what’s happening in their own backyards without any lies, word games or industry spin,' the lawmaker said.
State Rep. Jesse White filed a right-to-know request with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection on Friday in an effort to ascertain the circumstances leading to a natural gas drilling impoundment’s reclassification from a freshwater impoundment to a hazardous waste site. It also was reported last week that in September, DEP officials and representatives from Range Resources discussed the impoundment, and a possible leak there, in a private meeting. According to the same report, Cecil Township supervisors and residents were never made aware of the meeting or the reclassification of the impoundment, located off Swihart Road. "Questions need answered about the Worstell Impoundment, and fast," said White, DCecil. "Why was …
Friday, April 5, 2013
Q: How can I get my marriage annulled, and how is that different from a divorce?
Whereas divorce is the procedure for ending a valid marriage, an annulment ends a marriage that is legally invalid. In Pennsylvania, marriages must meet certain requirements to be legal. For example, neither spouse may already be married to another person at the time of marriage, spouses cannot be closely related to one another, and each spouse must have the mental ability to consent to marry. When such requirements are not satisfied, the resulting marriage may eventually be subject to an annulment. Pennsylvania law divides invalid marriages into two categories: void marriages, and voidable marriages. Void marriages are invalid from the start, and the law treats them as if they never existed at all. By contrast, the law recognizes …
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
Did you know for example that Mental Health First Aid USA estimates that approximately 7 percent of police contact involves a mentally ill person and 10 percent to 15 percent of incarcerated individuals are mentally ill.
Often times when debating or discussing politics and policy, facts are tossed aside in favor of more emotional arguments. Even worse, when one side of a legitimate but spirited debate falters, it has somehow become acceptable to either refuse to accept the facts as accurate. Others strive to find flaws in an effort to have two wrongs make a right. By way of experimentation, here are ten totally unrelated facts about issues we deal with in Pennsylvania government. Let’s see what happens… 1. Mental Health First Aid USA estimates that approximately 7 percent of police contact involves a mentally ill person and 10 percent to 15 percent of incarcerated individuals are mentally ill. 2. A 90-minute incident on a typical interstate results in $120…
Monday, April 1, 2013
Find out what story was the most popular in March (hint: it deals with the Canon-McMillan School District).
Before we put March in the memory book, here is a look back at the top 10 most-popular stories on the Canon-McMillan Patch for the month. (Drum roll please...) 10. Wrong-Way Driver Charged With DUI 9. One Injured in Cecil Township Crash 8. Fundraiser Started for Gracie the Greyhound's Vet Bills 7. Vehicle Overturns in Canonsburg—Drivers Asked to be Cautious While Traveling Through Area 6. Nearby: Teenager Jailed for Alleged Rape in California 5. Police Searching for Suspect After Chase 4. Yelp's Top 10 Restaurants in Canonsburg: Do You Agree? 3. How Can a Bully be a Good Neighbor? 2. Cecil Township Supervisors Place Police Chief on Administrative Leave And the number-one story of the month is... 1. Canon-McMillan School Board Accepts …
Friday, March 29, 2013
Question: My spouse and I both want to get divorced, and we mostly agree on how we want to divide our property. What is the quickest and easiest way for us to finalize the divorce and move on with our lives?
Question: My spouse and I both want to get divorced, and we mostly agree on how we want to divide our property. What is the quickest and easiest way for us to finalize the divorce and move on with our lives? Answer: Although going through a divorce is never emotionally easy, Pennsylvania law provides divorcing couples with a relatively hassle-free option to divorce by mutual consent. Ideally, couples who divorce in this manner never have to set foot in a courtroom, and their divorce can be final in as few as 90 days. With any divorce, filing the divorce complaint starts divorce proceedings. Assuming there are no child custody, spousal support, or other complicating issues, the divorce complaint is a very simple document. It names each …
Amanda Gillooly
8:31 am on Monday, April 22, 2013
Mr. Ellipses - yes sir it was. Deleted! Thank you for bringing it to my attention! more ›