Free Republic

Will a hyperloop work in Pennsylvania? That’s the question officials from legislative and executive branches, statewide agencies, organizations and departments, as well as a handful of private business leaders are trying to answer. Fifty people, invited to a workshop at Dixon University in Harrisburg on Wednesday, met to talk about the possibility of building a hyperloop system in the commonwealth. The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission has until April 2020 to complete a $2 million state-legislative commissioned study on its viability. Media wasn’t permitted to attend the invitation-only meeting. According to the turnpike’s research, a hyperloop combines a magnetic levitation train and...

New arts program will connect student artists to PA Turnpike New partnership, Art Sparks, will develop public art created by local students HUMMELSTOWN, PA. (March 30, 2017) — Today, the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (PTC) and Pennsylvania Council for the Arts (PCA) announced a new partnership that connects student artists with art being developed for stops along the PA Turnpike. The new program, called Art Sparks, will utilize the PCA’s Arts in Education residency program to develop student-created, original pieces of art for Turnpike service plazas across the 550-mile system. These public art pieces will be on display in service plazas...

Delaware River Turnpike Bridge to Reopen Late Tonight Crossing was closed for seven weeks as fractured truss member was repaired. Officials from the PA Turnpike Commission (PTC) and the New Jersey Turnpike Authority (NJTA) today announced that they expect to reopen the jointly owned Delaware River Bridge sometime late tonight. The 1.25-mile-long bridge, which carries traffic between the two states, first closed Jan. 20 when a complete fracture was discovered in the superstructure beneath the westbound lanes on the Pennsylvania side in Bristol Township, Bucks County. “Many people were greatly inconvenienced by this closure over the last seven weeks, and...

Susquehanna Township resident Carl Shuman was heading home from a business trip in Pittsburgh Monday night, and after a pleasant drive, he pulled up to the toll booth at the Carlisle exit, ready to pay his toll. There, he was stunned by something that in his more than four decades of driving and in his professional life as an employment-law attorney, he had never encountered -- not like this, anyway, he said. As the car in front of him left the booth, Shuman noticed the toll collector shaking his head and smirking. "He said something very close to, 'Them black...

Is it possible that a toll road could price itself right out of its market? That's essentially what the Pennsylvania Turnpike is prescribing for itself. Last week the Turnpike Commission informed us that tolls will go up a ninth consecutive year in 2017 — and stay on a steadily upward trajectory until 2044. And of course, there's no guarantee after that. By then, we can only hope, the turnpike will have morphed into a giant solar-powered car-train — for self-driving cars, of course. "Unsustainable" is an overused word these days, but it applies to the toll road's future. The turnpike...

Slam on the brakes. That's what state lawmakers want to do to increasingly frequent instances of motorists skirting payment of Pennsylvania Turnpike tolls. The problem wouldn't be nearly as prevalent had many of those same legislators years ago taken a detour around the lame-brain idea that directly resulted in turnpike travel becoming significantly more costly. How costly? Pretty soon only Saudi Arabian sheiks will be able to afford the outrageous tolls, though those guys probably prefer to fly their personal planes from Pittsburgh to Breezewood. Those lacking private jet transportation sidestep the tolls in renegade fashion. They fly through toll...

LOS ANGELES (BP) -- The "Family Guy" animated comedy series increasingly jokes about sexual violence against children and teens, with nearly 80 percent of all such scenes in the past three years perpetrated against that population group, a Parent Television Council (PTC) study found. Jokes or humorous depictions of rape, statutory rape, molestation or pedophilia against children were included in 91 percent of the series' scenes depicting sexual violence in the 2014–2015 season, up from 75 percent in 2012-2013, according to the PTC study. "Why would we ever want to be in the position to laugh at humanity's wors[t] offenses...

A computer system that allows speeding trains to be slowed remotely – potentially averting deadly derailments – was installed in the section of track in Philadelphia where Tuesday’s fatal Amtrak crash occurred but had not been turned on, congressional sources tell U.S. News. “The PTC was installed in the section of track where the Philadelphia accident occurred, but for whatever reason had not been turned on, the PTC in that section,” Rep. Charlie Dent, R-Pa., tells U.S. News, referring to "positive train control." His account was corroborated by Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md. “The tracks had PTC, the train had PTC,”...

...Here are some other PTC tidbits that those smooth-talking AWEA hucksters won’t be mentioning… A one year extension of the PTC will cost taxpayers over $12 Billion — how is that a good idea? All that $12+ Billion will increase our deficit — how is that a good idea? Almost all of that $12+ Billion will be borrowed from China — how is that a good idea? A large part of that $12+ Billion will go to foreign conglomerates — how is that a good idea?

Karl Rove threw his support behind renewing wind energy tax credits during an appearance at the annual Windpower 2012 conference in Atlanta. Rove called the renewal of the renewable energy Production Tax Credit (PTC) a "priority."

Hopes that a near-term extension of the production tax credit (PTC) for wind power would be included in legislation to extend the payroll tax cuts through the remainder of this year are nearly extinguished, as NAW has learned that congressional leaders have reached a tentative framework agreement on the payroll tax cut - but it does not contain a PTC extension. A House-Senate conference committee is expected to approve the deal, which will then go to the House and Senate as soon as today. Sources, who wished to remain anonymous, told NAW that both legislative bodies are expected to quickly...

The NFL apologized today for rapper M.I.A.’s super inappropriate Super Bowl gesture. But her flashing of the middle finger during the halftime show wasn’t the only display that had a parents watchdog group up in arms last night. This year’s commercials, which began airing at 6:30 pm, a time when millions of children could be tuning in, were racier and more sexually suggestive than ever, according to the Parents Television Council.

This probably won’t shock most people because we live in an age where the envelope has been pushed so far it’s disappeared over the horizon.  According to the Daily Mail, pink and leopard-print thong panties with no crotches sized to fit a seven-year-old were being sold at Kids N Teen in Greeley, Colorado.  The panties were yanked after a mortified mother complained. As one writer put it: “It’s a new kind of memory: A daughter’s first pair of crotchless panties.” It’s also a sign of the times when a retailer decides there’s nothing wrong with selling sleazy leopard-print thong panties...

The Parents Television Council has put out an action alert to members asking them to make it clear to the Obama Administration that it wants the Justice Department to appeal the Fox profanity decision, in which a lower court ruled the FCC's profanity decision against Fox, and its indecency enforcement regime in general, was unconstitutionally vague. Justice has twice sought extensions on filing that appeal (the latest deadline is April 21), and an FCC source told B&C that Justice had still not made the call on appealing the decision. The FCC has pointed out that without more direction from the...

Last week, the PTC warned parents that MTV’s new show Skins – which debuted last night at 10:00 p.m. ET, only 9:00 p.m. in the Central and Mountain time zones – was “the most dangerous program ever” for children. The first episode proves we were right! And this content was paid for by Taco Bell. Here are just two brief examples of the dialogue from last night’s episode: Stanley: "It's totally normal for a kid of 16 not to have had sex." Tony: "It's embarrassing, Stan. So we go to a party and get some girl racopiously spliffed up, in...

LOS ANGELES, November 12, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) - In the wake of warnings that TV profanity would increase following the July 2010 court decision that struck down the Federal Communications Commission's broadcast standards, a study by the Parents Television Council (PTC) has found that television profanity increased 69 percent in the past five years.In July, the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals struck down the FCC’s policy regarding offensive language as being "unconstitutionally vague" and effectively abolished the Commission's enforcement powers.In the case, Fox v. FCC, the networks claimed that the law should allow them increased leeway in the use of...

NEW YORK – On-air promos for a sexual threesome on an upcoming episode of "Gossip Girl" have spurred the Parents Television Council to ask affiliates of the CW network to pre-empt the show. Airing the teen tryst, which is being teased in an ad as a "3SOME," is "reckless and irresponsible," said PTC president Tim Winter in a statement Wednesday. The threesome involves three main characters in the show but they are not identified in the promos. The PTC has urged CW affiliate stations not to air the episode, scheduled for Nov. 9. In a letter to the affiliates, Winter...

Family Guy – talk about a misnomer. The animated Fox television series crossed sexual, moral and religious boundaries on Sunday evening when it aired content inappropriate for its young target audience. The controversial material was not limited to one subject, or isolated in a single scene. Images of gay men kissing, a baby eating semen, physical abuse, sexual touching and a half naked male were just a few of the disturbing images viewers were treated to in the March 8 episode. The Parents Television Council has issued a press release regarding the indecent content. Tim Winter, President of the...

The Parents Television Council is commending NBC for announcing its commitment to the so-called "family hour." NBC has promised to show family-friendly programs during the family hour, which will run from 8:00-9:00 p.m. (Eastern). The network recently unveiled a 52-week schedule of primetime programming for advertisers and marketers. NBC's family-hour programs next fall will include such programs as Chuck, Biggest Loser, Knight Rider, and Deal or No Deal. Melissa Henson, with the Parents Television Council (PTC), says while her organization has not previewed all of the new shows that have been announced, it is refreshing that one of the major...

Shattering all its previous records, the U.S. wind energy industry installed 5,244 megawatts (MW) in 2007, expanding the nation’s total wind power generating capacity by 45% in a single calendar year and injecting an investment of over $9 billion into the economy, the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) announced today. The new wind projects account for about 30% of the entire new power-producing capacity added nationally in 2007 and will power the equivalent of 1.5 million American households annually while strengthening U.S. energy supply with clean, homegrown electric power. “This is the third consecutive year of record-setting growth, establishing wind...