Last week saw the beginning—and end—of a brief whirlwind of activity in the state House and Senate. On this week’s podcast, we’ll recap two of the major developments: Republicans staking out a plan of action on guns, and the governor saying he wants to legalize marijuana. The gun conversations stretched over several days in both … Continue reading "Episode 45: Guns and weed and government regulation"

Former state senator Mike Folmer vacated his seat last week after an arrest for alleged child pornography possession. We discuss what happens now. Late last Tuesday, the state attorney general released a statement saying the office had arrested state Senator Mike Folmer and charged him with possession of child pornography. By the next afternoon, the … Continue reading "Episode 44: The senator has resigned"

If a person is given a life sentence in Pennsylvania, they can be fairly confident that—barring a commutation—they’ll be behind bars until they die. In the commonwealth, life in prison always means life without parole. And if a person is found guilty of non-capital first-degree or second-degree murder, life without parole is the only sentence … Continue reading "Episode 43: Without parole"

a   The commonwealth’s lawmakers are still on their summer recess for another month. But a few are already laying out plans for their return—some more ambitious than others. One of those ambitious legislators? Frank Ryan. He’s a second-term Republican who represents part of Lebanon County and wants to get rid of property taxes once … Continue reading "Episode 42: The never-ending quest to kill property taxes"

Much of this week’s political conversation has been dominated by questions about guns. Questions like, who should be able to use them? What characteristics should we should allow them to have? And is it ever OK for the government to be able to take them away? The weekend of August 3rd saw two major shootings. One … Continue reading "Episode 41: Pennsylvania’s big gun debate"

The 2020 election is still more than a year away, but Pennsylvania’s eighteen congress women and men are already well into the fundraising that they hope is going to get them another two-year term. This week, we took a look at the quarterly reports the commonwealth’s incumbents and challengers have been filing to see how … Continue reading "Episode 40: Congressional cash"

By just about every measurement you can make, Pennsylvania is particularly susceptible to gerrymandering. At least, that was PA Post reporter Emily Previti’s conclusion after taking an extremely detailed look at the factors that lead to gerrymandering in various states. Pennsylvania is one of the only states that doesn’t have standards like compactness or contiguity … Continue reading "Episode 39: There’s a reason PA’s congressional maps are weird"

Pennsylvania is officially on track to take over the online marketplace that sells health insurance as part of the Affordable Care Act. It’s a move that will give the commonwealth more control of the exchange, and the state is predicting lower premiums, too. WITF health reporter Brett Sholtis joins us this episode to explain how … Continue reading "Episode 38: What a state-run insurance marketplace means for you"

Pennsylvania officially has a budget for the new fiscal year, and it was—mostly—signed into law two days ahead of deadline. As far as budgets go in Harrisburg, it was a breeze—after all just four years ago, an impasse over funding dragged on for nine months. But still, there were some hiccups this year. An argument … Continue reading "Episode 37: The (sometimes tumultuous) path to passing PA’s budget"

It’s been a busy time in Harrisburg. State lawmakers are hoping negotiations on next year’s budget are wrapped up before the end of this week—and that means in the meantime, there are a lot of balls in the air. On Thursday, Governor Wolf stopped by WITF for a live show produced by Keystone Crossroads, in … Continue reading "Episode 36: We ask the governor your questions"