BillLawrenceOnline

By William W. Lawrence Sr

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Answer to yesterday’s puzzle: Common sense in an uncommon degree is what the world calls wisdom.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge

House Republicans recently unveiled a legislative package aimed at reforming charter and cyber charter school funding in Pennsylvania, reports State Rep. Jim Cox (R-129)

The package includes bills that would:
•     Create a commission to address inequities in the special education funding formula and determine how to fund charter and cyber charter special education students.    
•     Allow deductions for school district pension payments prior to calculating payments to cyber charter schools. This proposal could save $165 million for school districts over the next five years.
•     Change the cyber charter funding formula for non-special education students by permitting school districts to deduct 50 percent of the costs of any cyber program they offer to their own resident students. It also would make additional deductions in calculating their payments to cyber charter schools based on costs that occur in a brick-and-mortar setting, such as extracurricular activities and district pupil services.
•     Permit the Commonwealth to directly pay charter and cyber charter schools, as opposed to school districts. This is intended to address concerns made by charter and cyber charter schools about the timeliness of their payments.
•     Lengthen the charter terms for predictable financing. The current three years initial term of a charter and five years for a renewal will be lengthened to five years for an initial term and 10 years for renewals. This will allow charter schools to more easily secure predictable financing for their operations.

The Independence Hall Tea Party Association will be among the participants in a “Workout with Dom” 1 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 9 at the AFC, 601 Righters Ferry Road, Bala Cynwyd, Pa. 19004, featuring WPHT talk show host Dom Giordano.

For information call 610-664-6464.

The group will also be participating in peaceful demonstration to protect the right to keep and bear arms, 10 a.m., Feb. 8 at the State Capitol, 125 W. State St., Trenton, N.J. sponsored by the New Jersey Second Amendment Society.

Courtesy of Cathy Craddock

 

As a first step in the annual budget process, Governor Tom Corbett will present his proposal for the 2013-14 fiscal year before a joint session of the General Assembly tomorrow, Feb. 5, reports State Rep. Jim Cox (R-129)

The governor is expected to roll out plans for funding transportation and pension reforms in conjunction with the budget proposal.

Lawmakers will make it a priority to adopt an on-time, fiscally responsible budget for the third consecutive year.

In the weeks following the budget address, both the House and Senate Appropriations committees will hold hearings to closely examine the details of the spending plan. House hearings begin the week of February 18, with the Department of Revenue and the Independent Fiscal Office among the first to testify.

The budget address will be streamed live on Cox’s website beginning at 11:30 a.m.

By William W. Lawrence Sr

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Answer to yesterday’s puzzle: To man belong the plans of the heart, but from the Lord comes the reply of the tongue.
Proverbs

Here is the one had by Saint John Bosco.

Here is the one had by Saint Mary Faustina Kowalska

And here is an entire book of them by Dr. Maurice Rawlings, a noted cardiologist who was President Eisenhower’s personal physician.

By William W. Lawrence Sr

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Answer to yesterday’s puzzle: This is one time where television really fails to capture the true excitement of a large squirrel predicting the weather.
Phil Connors

The Defense Department is expected to rule that military families living more than 40 miles from a military treatment facility or base closure site will no longer be allowed  Tricare Prime, which is the military’s managed health care option, reports VFW magazine.

Tricare Prime participants pay an annual enrollment fee of $269.28 for an individual or $538.56 for a family.

About 171,000 retires and dependents will be affected. They will have to move Tricare Standard under which there is no enrollment fee but participants must cover 25 percent of allowable charges along with a $150 deductible for individuals or $300 for families. Out-of-pocket cost are capped at $3,000 per family.

Groundhog Day can be traced to an ancient German tradition of using badgers to predict the weather.  It was adopted by Christians as part of the festivities concerning  Candlemas, which is today, Feb. 2.

The Germans who migrated to Pennsylvania apparently didn’t feel like dealing with badgers so they substituted a groundhog and hence the American tradition.

The earliest reference to a groundhog making a prediction regarding the length of winter might be a Feb. 4, 1841 dairy entry by Berks County storekeeper James Morris who noted it as part of the Germans Candlemas traditions from two days earlier.

Regarding a clear day meaning a longer winter, there is an old English poem:

If Candlemas be fair and bright,
Winter has another flight,
If Candlemas brings cold and rain,
Winter will not come again.