Free Republic

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A Pennsylvania state legislator exchanged gunfire with a would-be robber near the state Capitol in Harrisburg, city police said Wednesday. Rep. Marty Flynn and another lawmaker were walking to their residence after a late dinner with other legislators when two males accosted them and demanded their wallets just before 11 p.m. Tuesday, police said. Flynn is a former Lackawanna County prison guard who is licensed to carry a handgun. He drew his pistol and fired during the attempted holdup. At least one of the two would-be robbers was armed, police said, but neither Flynn nor the...

For decades, free high-school education helped strengthen the middle class and generate prosperity. So isn’t it time to extend the same thinking to college? The idea might seem impractical, since college costs more than high school and higher education isn’t for everybody in the first place. Yet it’s also obvious that a high school education alone isn’t nearly as valuable as it used to be, which is why some researchers and policymakers are now studying ways to make college as accessible as high school for those who want it. College is free in Scandinavian countries and highly subsidized in much...

Right now in the United States, there are more 23-year-olds than people of any other age. This seemingly trivial fact of demographics is an anomaly more than 50 years in the making. According to U.S. Census data, since 1947, the most represented age in the United States has always been a member of the group born in the 20 years after WWII, the baby boomers. In 1950, it was age 3. In 1990, it was 29. In 2010, it was 50. [snip]

Twenty-eight years after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, its effects are still being felt as far away as Germany – in the form of radioactive wild boars. Wild boars still roam the forests of Germany, where they are hunted for their meat, which is sold as a delicacy. But in recent tests by the state government of Saxony, more than one in three boars were found to give off such high levels of radiation that they are unfit for human consumption. [snip]

<p>According to the suit, Nizewitz signed on to the show before it had a name. She claims she was advised of the nudity, but was assured that all frontal and genital nudity would be blurred. During one brief moment, though, during a "wrestling takedown" of her date, her crotch was allegedly flashed on the screen without blurring.</p>

CARRICK, Pa. — A deadly home invasion was reported in Carrick early Tuesday morning near the set of a Hollywood movie being filmed in the area. Police said the invasion happened around 2:20 a.m. on Merritt Avenue. Channel 11’s Brandon Hudson reported that the victim opened fire on the two men accused of breaking into his home, killing one and critically injuring the other. Detectives said the men demanded the victim’s belongings, but instead he pulled out a shotgun and opened fire. Investigators said one of the men tried to run away after he was shot, but fell as he...

Block Communications Inc. said it will lay off 136 people at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and 131 at the Blade of Toledo, a decision that will help cut costs at the two money-losing dailies where the company has been wrangling with unions for more than a year over concessions. [snip] Negotiations with the unions over a new contract have been ongoing for a year, with Block asking for wage and benefit concessions after years of losses. In March, members of the Newspaper Guild “celebrated” their 3,000th day without a raise with a pie party in the newsroom. Block told employees in...

The broadcast network announced “an unprecedented effort to discover fresh comedic voices” on Tuesday by launching a national campaign offering aspiring comedy writers from around the country the chance to pitch their sitcom ideas. [snip]

PITTSBURGH — Students at Brashear High School in Pittsburgh will return to school Thursday, less than a day after a shooting outside the school injured three students. (snip) The shooting happened just blocks away from the campus Wednesday. Investigators said the 16-year-old charged in the shooting “planned the ambush” as retaliation to a fight that happened at the school last month. A.J. Willet was taken into custody shortly after the incident. Channel 11 News was there as he was taken from Pittsburgh police headquarters to the Allegheny County Jail late Wednesday night. As of Thursday morning, two of the victims...

Traffic remains backed up for miles on Interstate 70 in Washington County after a tractor-trailer carrying Mountain Dew jackknifed Thursday morning. [snip]

Four Pittsburgh firefighters are suing seven companies that manufacture fire trucks or sirens, claiming they've lost hearing due to the blaring sirens. (snip) They're claiming that Mack Trucks Inc., Seagrave Fire Apparatus LLC and five other firms "knew or should have known the products ... were inherently dangerous, defective and hazardous to human hearing." The men claim they've suffered irreversible hearing loss "due to exposure to the intense noise." The firefighters are seeking unspecified monetary damages

EAST LIBERTY (KDKA) – A routine bus ride for kids heading to school became anything but Tuesday morning. A wheel on a bus transporting students to Pittsburgh Obama Academy came loose on Route 28. {snip} http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2012/09/04/school-bus-loses-wheel-with-30-students-aboard/

WILKINSBURG, Pa. — Police are detaining a man accused of promoting anti-American violence, although there is no direct link to any terrorist groups at this time. On Thursday, federal agents raided Khalifah Ali Al-Akili’s Wilkinsburg apartment and took him away in handcuffs. (snip) Jennings said investigators pulled Jihadist literature from Ali Al-Akili’s apartment and computers. So far, no charges have been filed.

Heavily promoted on their front page, a new six-part video series "Remake America". Looks like a freebie series of Obama campaign ads to me. A steady stream of what Reagan used to call "the poor suckers from South Succotash someplace". Boy is there a need for a Conservative search engine!

State Representative Bob Hagan (D-Youngstown) wants Limbaugh's show pulled from Youngstown's WKBN-AM (570) where Limbaugh's show has aired for years. Hagan felt called to start a petition against Limbaugh's "most recent on-air attack against women" on behalf of his three daughters and seven sisters.

Former County Council President Rich Fitzgerald legged out a victory over County Controller Mark Patrick Flaherty in the Democratic primary for Allegheny County executive on Tuesday night. Fitzgerald will face Mt. Lebanon entrepreneur D. Raja, who handily beat former County Councilman Chuck McCullough in the Republican primary (snip) The winner in November will inherit a county with a structural deficit of about $50 million, a cash-strapped transit system and a state Supreme Court order to conduct a property reassessment that's certain to wallop some homeowners with huge increases

link only http://prospect.org/cs/articles?article=whether_we_drill_or_not_its_time_to_ask_more_questions#

NEW DELHI: A day after Senate Republicans blocked passage of an anti-outsourcing bill, Democrat-led US made a conciliatory tone, stating the issue, which was an "irritant" in with India, can be "managed". (snip) Sanchez would conclude his three-day India visit today. He said protectionism is not good for any country which, "President Obama knows better than anyone in our country". Sanchez said the US market is "most open market in the world". "But the key is not to focus on any specific conflict or irritant but how we manage those and how we take advantage of that opportunity," Sanchez said.

UNIONTOWN, Pa. -- Firefighters in financially struggling Uniontown not only won't be laid off, they'll get raises and a new four-year contract. (snip) Instead, the firefighters sued and a three-member arbitration panel has instead issued a binding order giving the firefighters a new contract through 2014. Under the order, the firefighters laid off last year will also be recalled immediately, and all firefighters will receive 3.5 percent annual raises. Mayor Ed Fike wanted to cut the department to save money. Now he says that the department will be partially funded by a $633,000 federal grant.

CALIFORNIA — Acting Police Chief Tracy Vitale has been placed on administrative leave amid questions over her citizenship. (snip) Vitale's attorney, Chuck LoPresti, said the acting chief was adopted in Germany by her American parents, and brought to the U.S. at age 3. She has always felt that her parents completed all of the paperwork needed to insure her citizenship. When she applied for any police job, she has answered "yes" to the question of whether she is a citizen because she has always believed that's the case. But in this case, someone has asked the borough to question Vitale....