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Would budget pass if leaders didn’t get paid?

When will Pennsylvanians get fed up? The Pennsylvania General Assembly is among the highest-paid legislatures in the country. The lowest is New Hampshire, where a lawmaker pulls in just $100. The highest paid? Neighboring New York at $142,000. But the Keystone State is close to the top, with a salary over $106,000. That’s more than double the average resident’s salary and 50% more than the median household income. Likewise, Pennsylvania’s governor takes home more than most other top state executives. Once again, New York is the highest at $250,000 a year. It’s the ...

Disparities in justice another reason to defend Second Amendment

With former President Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden resurfacing in the news in recent weeks, it’s worth a few moments to consider a far less known name: Alexander Ledvina. Ledvina, as Reason magazine recently detailed, was convicted in 2023 of failing to disclose his past drug use when purchasing a firearm. For this, he was sentenced to four years and three months in federal prison. If the nature of his crime sounds familiar, it likely is because Hunter Biden violated the same law — but didn’t serve any sentence after his father granted him a presidential pardon. Our point ...

Congressional districts under SCOTUS review

Get ready for what could be another landmark Supreme Court case. Last Friday the Justices agreed to consider whether majority-minority Congressional districts drawn to comply with the Voting Rights Act are compatible with the Constitution’s equal protection guarantee. In June the Court announced it would rehear a redistricting challenge (Louisiana v. Callais) in the term that begins in October. On Friday they broadened the case by asking parties to address the question of whether the state’s creation of a second majority-minority Congressional district violates the Fourteenth or ...

Labor Department oversight necessary

Requiring a school-approved work permit for teens between the ages of 14 and 17 seems like an antiquated notion halfway through the 2020s. In addition to a work permit signed by a school, current state law requires a parent or guardian to provide a written statement that the teen is able to work. Rep Dan Moul, R-Gettysburg, wants to end the school approval for a work permit and instead let the statement of a parent or guardian provide authority for a teen who wants to enter the workforce. Instead of a work permit, Moul proposes requiring a written statement from the youth’s parents ...

Who is at fault when unlicensed nurse is hired?

The state of Pennsylvania makes it easy to figure out if your hair stylist or architect or real estate agent or any other licensed professional is able to work legally. The Department of State’s website can answer your questions about permits and authorizations. The Pennsylvania Licensing System Verification Service allows access to information on everyone and every business with a certification from the Bureau of Professional and Occupational Affairs. It takes less than a minute to input the name, location and type of license into the website and have it spit out the pertinent ...

The right to bear arms also makes it a responsibility

A violent attack in Traverse City, Mich., would not have been prevented by any of the myriad proposals for more intrusive “gun control” — the attack, in which 11 people were viciously stabbed, was carried out with a folding knife. Instead the first gun at the scene of the attack, which authorities are seeking to define as terror- ism, was carried by a law-abiding citizen, who helped defuse the situation and coax the alleged perpetrator into surrendering. The citizen, a retired Marine bearing arms in concordance with the Second Amendment rights we frequently defend in our ...