Day: October 29, 2012

Historical Tidbit Of The Day

Ulysses Grant’ and his wife, Julia, were invited to join President Lincoln’s party at Ford’s Theater on April 15, 1865. They turned it down and went to Burlington, N.J. instead.

Julia, it was learned, had been stalked by John Wilkes Booth and the Grants were likely targets of assassination as well. 

Pa. Makes It Easier For Military Voters

Gov. Corbett signed into law, Oct. 24, The Uniform Military and Overseas Voters Act — which was introduced as  Senate Bill 1255 and is now Act 189 — the mandates of which include that the Pennsylvania Secretary of State establish an electronic transmission system through which military voters may apply for and receive voter registration materials, military-overseas ballots and other information.


It also mandates the Secretary to make available to military voters information about voter registration procedures and procedures for casting military-overseas ballots, along with standardizing the absentee-voting materials.

The bill was introduced on Sept. 20, 2011, passed unanimously by the Senate on June 11 and referred to the House the next day where it sat in State Government Committee until Oct. 3 before being moved down the line to its eventual unanimous passage on Oct. 16.

First Obama Ad

Just saw my first Obama ad. I guess Pennsylvania is now officially in play.

Book By Volpe Describes Chicago Corruption

Mike Volpe, the reporter who broke the story on Anna Chacko and the Pittsburgh VA Hospital, has a book out about how, Chuck Panici, an influential Republican in the Chicago suburbs was railroaded by federal prosecutors in the early ’90s.

It’s called  Prosecutors Gone Wild: The Inside Story of the Trial of Chuck Panici, John Gliottoni, and Louise Marshall and can be found on Amazon.
Shades of Curt Weldon and Ted Stevens. It’s funny how things like this never seem to happen to big-government Democrats.
Anyway, Volpe tells us that Dr. Chacko has been fired from the Pittsburgh VA and has been having trouble getting new work. Her LinkedIn profile has her living in Montana while describing herself as a “Professor of Radiology at University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.”

Pa. Takes On Fish Poachers

The governor signed into law a bill introduced in the House to protect high-value fish and other aquatic life from poachers, reports State Rep. Jim Cox (R-129). 

House Bill 2293 creates a new category of offenses within the Fish and Boat Code for serious unlawful takes and significantly increase penalties for poaching. Prior to this new law, poaching was graded as a summary offense punishable by a fine of $50. A serious unlawful take would be graded as a second-degree misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of no less than $500 and no more than $5,000. 

The law also addresses the taking or possession of fish or other aquatic life by any means other than what is specifically authorized by law. Further, a person found guilty of violating these offenses would be assessed the costs incurred by the Fish and Boat Commission to replace the threatened or endangered species involved in the violation. 

In addition, the new law also makes other changes to the Fish and Boat Code, including increasing the duration of time for which the Fish and Boat Commission can revoke a person’s fishing and boating privileges, increasing summary offense fines for the first time in more than a decade and increasing the severity of offenses for performing certain acts while a license, permit or privilege is suspended or revoked. 

Weather Report Of The Minute

It’s raining.