March 3 – March 16

March 18 – April 3

April 8 – May 12

As the year draws to a close, the reporters at WITF and PA Post been looking back at some of the state politics stories that have shaped it.

From legislative fights over guns and the minimum wage, to the closure of Three Mile Island, to election angst, to the return of hemp farming, we have you covered.

Lawmakers spent a packed four days in Harrisburg before leaving town for the holidays. Here’s what they did.

Last week was a big one in Harrisburg. The House and Senate both convened for an unusual four-day session and passed a lot of bills—so many that we weren’t able to file stories on all of them.

But in this episode, we recap some of the biggest ones.

A long fight to overhaul Pennsylvania’s statute of limitations on child sexual abuse may be over, thanks to the legislature passing a package of bills that drastically expand the amount of time people abused as children have report that abuse.

Plus, after years of pressure from advocates, lawmakers are moving to stop…themselves…from accepting so many expensive gifts.

The state House spent several hours debating, then passing, a controversial bill that would require medical facilities to bury a fetus after a miscarriage or an abortion. It wasn’t the only abortion-related bill on the docket—both chambers worked together to send a measure to Governor Tom Wolf’s desk that would ban abortions that are performed on the basis of a Down Syndrome diagnosis.

Wolf has said he would veto both.

In addition, a group of pro-natural gas legislators got together to tell Wolf he went too far in ordering the commonwealth to join a regional effort to cut power plant emissions, a moderate Democratic state senator left his party, and we bring you an update (from outside the Capitol) on election officials experimenting with new post-election audits.

And more.

This week, we’re re-airing five stories you should hear.

In one, Governor Tom Wolf learns the FBI is looking into his administration’s environmental permitting practices.  Plus, reporters in Philadelphia look into badly contaminated drinking water in a charter school, PA Post reports on a proposed community college in Erie, WITF follows up on problems with the state unemployment compensation system, and StateImpact Pennsylvania takes a trip to Scotland to track some of the commonwealth’s shale gas.

Also, here’s a reminder that NewsMatch is ongoing — it’s a matching gift campaign for independent, nonpartisan newsrooms like PA Post, running now until the end of the year. Every dollar is matched three times, so a $10 donation nets $40 for PA Post. If you like this podcast and the work of the entire PA Post team, please take a moment to make a contribution.

The last week was exceptionally busy both in and outside the Capitol—from major election reforms passing the legislature to big, controversial court decisions on constitutional amendments.

This week, we have all the big stories you should get caught up on.

First, Marsy’s Law—the proposed amendment meant to enshrine victims’ rights in the state constitution. A judge ruled last week that Pennsylvania’s Department of State can’t count the votes on Marsy’s Law after voters make their decisions November 5th. But that situation is still fluid—the attorney general’s office is appealing, and the state Supreme Court could reverse the decision before the election. Because things are changing so quickly, we’re referring readers to our online reports for updates.

We’re also highlighting stories on voting overhauls, major bills on remote medical care and pension reform, disgraced Penn State football coach Jerry Sandusky, and a facility in Berks County that detains undocumented immigrants.

The House and Senate were both in session last week, resulting in a number of notable developments on issues our newsroom follows closely—from long-awaited election reforms to controversial abortion proposals.
We’ll also bring you the latest on a proposed constitutional amendment being challenged in court, the one-year anniversary of a major shooting in Pittsburgh, and the commonwealth looking to give out money to people who grow craft-brew-friendly crops.
If you have questions or comments about these stories, or any others, shoot us a note through our Listening Post tab. And don’t forget to subscribe to our free daily newsletter, The Context.

This week we’re focusing on a topic that has come up a lot lately, and with good reason: Marsy’s Law. If you’re not familiar, Marsy’s law is a proposed amendment to Pennsylvania’s constitution that will be on the ballot for a statewide referendum on November 5th.

Versions of the proposed law have been adopted in a bunch of states. In Pennsylvania’s case, it would basically insert an existing bill of rights for crime victims into the state constitution.

As it stands, that bill of rights already does a lot for victims. It gives them the ability to make impact statements, to almost always be present at trial, and to be notified if a perpetrator gets out of prison. Putting those rights in the constitution is designed to give a victim more recourse if they feel they’ve been mistreated. They would be able to motion a court for a new or extended trial if, say, they weren’t given time to make an impact statement.

But the American Civil Liberties Union is adamantly opposed to Marsy’s Law—saying it’s too broad, too vague, and could set up conflicting rights between victims and the accused. The state chapter of the ACLU is also bringing a lawsuit, arguing Marsy’s should be multiple amendments, and is unconstitutional in its current form.

WITF’s morning show Smart Talk, hosted by Scott Lamar, recently had on several of the people who have been most vocal on Marsy’s. So in the interest of spreading the word on this potential amendment as much as possible, we’re re-broadcasting a particularly informative part of that episode.

In recent weeks, there’s been a lot of talk in Harrisburg about what the legislature might do to reform statute of limitations laws. It’s a discussion that’s been especially active in the last year, in the wake of a massive report on abuse and cover-ups in the commonwealth’s Roman Catholic dioceses.

We bring you two angles on that this week: a look at some of the people who have used church-provided compensation funds, from WHYY’s Laura Benshoff, and a story explaining why some abuse survivors can’t do that, from WITF’s Brett Sholtis.

We’ll also bring you stories about redistricting, the impact climate change might have on Pennsylvania’s birds, and a new development that affects a contentious proposed constitutional amendment.

Continue reading "Episode 46: Air quality, child abuse, and the Sacklers’ Pa. resort"