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Cheltenham High School students took a stand against the administration and held a sit-in Sept. 19 in the first-floor main hallway at the school. What were they protesting? According to a flyer that was circulated prior to the stand-off, students were upset about a series of school rules imposed by administrators. These rules included a four-minute time limit to get to classes, no headphones in the hallways, no eating outside and no walking up and down a particular stairwell in the building. These rules were referred to as “careless,” “unwelcome” and “ineffective” on the flyer. Students and curious online spectators...

Louis Freeh is no longer the head of his law firm. In a press release Thursday, Pepper Hamilton LLP announced that the former FBI director was being succeeded as chairman of the executive committee by Thomas Gallagher. Officials for the firm confirmed that Freeh remains a partner and member of the executive committee, and that he is still chairman of Freeh Group International Solutions. Gallagher is a former federal prosecutor and two-year member of the firm’s executive committee. His focus has been representing those accused of white-collar crimes and corporate investigations. While the move comes on the heels of a...

Two state troopers fell from a tree stand Wednesday night during the search for Eric Frein and were injured, according to a state police official. The troopers entered a wooden tree stand to clear the structure and ensure it was not occupied around 7 p.m. The tree stand was a man-made hunting blind elevated roughly 20 feet off the ground and attached to a tree. While inside the stand, the floor collapsed and both men fell to the ground. They were treated by tactical medics at the scene. At the advice of the medics, both troopers were air-lifted to Lehigh...

BARRETT TOWNSHIP — State officials call it a rare move. By executive order, hunting and trapping are temporarily banned in seven townships in the Poconos as law enforcement continue to comb the woods for suspected killer Eric Frein. Those townships are Price, Barrett, and Paradise in Monroe County and Blooming Grove, Greene, Porter, and Lehman in Pike County. Officials believe it is just too dangerous for hunters to be in those woods with Frein still on the loose. more here

The three Bucks County residents arrested earlier this month for allegedly attacking two gay men in Center City will have a joint preliminary hearing on Dec. 16, a judge ruled Tuesday. Following that hearing, a judge will determine if there is enough evidence to warrant a trial. The defendants - Kathryn Knott, 24, Philip Williams, 24, and Kevin Harrigan, 26 - were excused from having to appear at the status hearing by agreement with the District Attorney's Office. But attorneys for Knott, of Southampton, and Harrigan, of Warrington, said their clients are not gay-bashers. Williams did not utter any homophobic...

BLOOMING GROVE, PA - State police searching for a man accused of killing a state trooper said Tuesday they found two pipe bombs in the Pennsylvania woods during their manhunt. Lt. Col. George Bivens said the bombs were fully functional but not deployed. He says they could have been set off by either a trip wire or fuse, but appear to be among items that were hastily discarded.

BLOOMING GROVE, Pa. – State police searching for a man accused of killing a state trooper say they found two pipe bombs in the Pennsylvania woods during their manhunt. Lt. Col. George Bivens said Tuesday the pipe bombs were fully functional and could have been set off by either a trip wire or fuse, but appear to be among items that were hastily discarded.

Fracking is evolving. There are mutant wells in the Eagle Ford that are producing four times more oil and gas than hydraulically-fractured wells did in 2010. In Pennsylvania, the wells are using less water because drillers are recycling. And in North Texas, the number of earthquakes have dropped dramatically since the good people of Azle through a fit and convinced the Texas Railroad Commission to hire a seismologist to investigate. When you include the demand that drillers take more care in completing their wells to avoid contaminating the ground water, the only conclusion is that the oil and gas industry...

RON CASTILLE, the chief justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, says any judges snared in the pornographic-email scandal unfolding in Harrisburg at the state Attorney General's Office will "have to pay the piper." Castille, speaking yesterday on a conference call with reporters, said he has asked Attorney General Kathleen Kane - in a letter Thursday followed by a telephone call - for the names of any judges who sent or received the hard-core pornography. Castille also wants copies of the emails. "I want to make sure that, if they are involved, they have to pay the piper," Castille said. "It's...

EAST STROUDSBURG Pa. (Reuters) - The manhunt for the suspect in the ambush that killed a Pennsylvania trooper and wounded another won't stop the opening of deer-hunting season in the Pocono Mountains, one of most prized spots in the Northeast for game, authorities said on Monday. Beginning Saturday, bow hunters can enter the deep woods of the region even if the search for the suspect, Eric Frein, is still under way, more than three weeks after the September 12 shooting. Since then, hundreds of officers, supported by armored vehicles and helicopters, have combed the forests of northeastern Pennsylvania looking for...

It was life imitating art. In a move straight out of TV's "Law and Order," FBI agents put on a fake trial — with a pretend suspect — to catch a corrupt judge who agreed to influence the faux case, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. Philadelphia Judge Joseph Waters pleaded guilty last week to mail fraud and wire fraud. "As I understand it, none of it was real," Waters' lawyer Michael J. Engle told the Inquirer. "This whole sting was orchestrated." According to court documents obtained by the newspaper, a man identified as David P. Khoury was arrested two years ago for carrying an...

Fugitive gunman Eric Frein has again evaded the massive police dragnet that has now been hunting him for 16 days as he ran into woods after being spotted in the Pocono Mountains. Frein, 31, wanted for murdering one state trooper and critically injuring another, managed to flee, although MailOnline understands they have a jacket that he left behind. Frein, who is on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted List, was seen just outside the perimeter of the five-square-mile search area that up to 1,000 cops are manning at any one time. The sighting led to a huge shift southwards as heavily...

Lessons from Philadelphia's mandatory African American History classes. This summer, in Missouri, America got an awful tutorial in the realities of racism. We were taught—yet again, through bullets and teargas­—what it means to be black in this country. There is much to be done to prevent future Fergusons, of course. But as a teacher, I find myself wondering what our schools can contribute. In Philadelphia, where I live and teach high school, we have a course that could help to improve race relations. But some students believe that it doesn’t go far enough. Here in Philly, students are required to...

Sen. Rand Paul brought his national crusade against the war on drugs back to his home state, giving testimony before the Kentucky state senate in favor of an amendment to restore voting rights to felons after they get out of prison.The amendment, which state Republicans have forestalled for years, looks like it may finally pass. Today, only Kentucky and Virginia permanently strip felons' of their voting rights. Most states require a probationary period before felons can vote again, but states like Iowa and Florida have such punitive laws that they may as well be permanent. Only Maine and Vermont have no restrictions on felons voting, including when...

Ever since Rick Santorum ended his presidential campaign a year ago this week, he has acted as if that defeat was just a brief setback in his running quest for the Republican nomination. Almost three years out from the 2016 Iowa caucuses, the former Pennsylvania senator is set to return Monday to the nation’s first voting state, where he won a come-from-behind battle against Mitt Romney by 34 votes in January 2012. Having witnessed the perils of underestimating him, Santorum’s potential rivals next time around aren’t likely to discount another strong challenge on his part, particularly in the Hawkeye State.

Republicans should learn from Pope Francis how to better communicate their message, Rick Santorum, former Pennsylvania senator and 2012 Republican presidential candidate, argued Friday at the Conservative Political Action Conference. Republicans focus too much of their message on attracting business owners rather than workers, attacking President Barack Obama and explaining what they are against rather than what they are for, Santorum claimed. Instead, Santorum urged Republicans to reach out to those who are hurting and to talk about how their policies will help them. And to do that, learn from Pope Francis. "I think we need to take a lesson...

Did Rick Santorum really just come within a few micro-seconds of calling America's first ever black president a "******"?Of course not, comes the rational response. Apart from the fact that it would instantly be a campaign-killing gaffe, it would be in direct opposition to the Santorum image we have seen now for months. This is the man who is almost two goody-two-shoes to be real. He has a large and loving family. He may be ultra-conservative, but he also appears to be the sort of suburban dad who would be more likely to say "Aw, shucks" and "Jeepers creepers" rather...

As the controversy over recent comments by Duck Dynasty’s Phil Robertson rages on, everyone from twitter users to national figures are adding their perspectives to the discussion. In the below clip. former GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum, appearing on On The Record, weighs in, saying that what Phil Robertson said was a “pretty accurate” job of quoting the Bible.

Just moments ago on the Sean Hannity radio show, GOP candidate and RINO Rick Santorum took it upon himself to convict George Zimmerman in the Trayvon Martin case. He said, and I’m paraphrasing slightly: It was a heinous crime and he did a despicable, unjustifiable thing and the Sanford police should have reacted to that immediately. Again, I am paraphrasing a little as I did not have a recorder running to get his exact words, but that was essentially his statement.

On “Face the Nation” Sunday on CBS, Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum explained that his view of the Trayvon Martin shooting differed significantly from the one held by former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.