The minimum wage in Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania borders six states:  New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, West Virginia, and Ohio.  The federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour, but every one of those six states mandates a higher minimum wage than the federal government.  That’s right, even West by God Virginia.  

Pennsylvania, however, sticks to the federal level.  Remember when Pennsylvania was one of the more progressive states?  Neither can I.

Scott Wagner discovers zero-based budgeting

In the 1980s a buzzword in government circles was “zero-based budgeting.”  It was said to be the answer to government red ink.  Instead of starting with last year’s budget and adding or subtracting, you began at a zero base and budgeted proposed funds as you felt they were needed.  Of course, any manager of any agency would look at what his or her department did last year and adjust up or down accordingly.  The idea was great in theory, but in practice not so much.

Now Republican gubernatorial candidate Scott Wagner, not generally considered the sharpest knife in the drawer, says that the Pennsylvania legislature has “money lying around.”  He will fix it by zero-based budgeting.

This is the majority leader of the Republican Senate.  The Republicans also control the Pennsylvania House of Representatives.  Why is that money lying around?  

I’ll tell you who is “lying around.”  It is Scott Wagner  If you are a Republican, vote for Mango.

White House Correspondents' Dinner

The Dinner, held this evening, is an annual celebration of a free press in America.  

Unfortunately, the free press is under attack from various sides.  Our president says the press is an enemy of the people.  Fox “News” makes a mockery of reporting.  The Sinclair network pushes propaganda instead of news on hundreds of radio stations.  And newspapers have fewer and fewer readers.  As a consequence advertisers are abandoning papers, and reporters are being laid off across America.

Here’s some good news.  “Report for America,” a nonprofit organization, hopes to install 1000 journalists in depleted newsrooms by 2022.  The organization is in its beginning stages, but has already placed three reporters in Appalachia, and will have nine more in place by June.  

For the nine slots, 85 newsrooms applied.  There is a hunger for local news well-reported.  It is why I subscribe to the Times News and the Morning Call.  While I often don’t agree with the Times News editorial policy, it is the only paper that reports local government news in Carbon County.  I need that.

Information on “Report for America” was taken from Nellie Bowles, “A New Way Newsrooms Can Get Help,” New York Times, (April 16, 2018), p. B1, B32.

The Avengers: Infinity Wars

It’s a great title, since that’s about how long it seemed to last.  Some of these superhero movies are fun, like “Guardians of the Galaxy” or “Thor-Ragnarok.”  They have some wit, some intelligence.  This one consists mostly of guys throwing each other around, or shooting at each other, or giving pretentious speeches.  

I thought “Rampage,” which I saw last night, was more enjoyable.  Plus it only lasted 90 minutes.

Here be dragons

In medieval times a large portion of the world was unknown, so mapmakers would sometimes label those areas “Here be dragons.”

Evidently the same thing applies to the woodlands of Pennsylvania.  The Penn State Outing Club, founded in 1920, almost 100 years ago, announced that the University will no longer allow the Club to organize outdoor trips led by students.  The hiking and camping the Club did are just too risky, according the the offices of Student Affairs and Risk Management.

You must have heard the criticism that our kids are growing up coddled, watched over at all times, not allowed to be independent.  I believe it.

Mike Mulvaney, tool of crooked bankers

Mike Mulvaney, former congress member from South Carolina, hated the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and did his best to kill it.  That is the Bureau inspired by Elizabeth Warren that worked to protect us from businesses like payday lenders.  Trump put him in charge of the agency, where he has frozen all new investigations, restricted the Bureaus’s access to bank data, and scaled back efforts to go after payday lenders.  

Mulvaney was addressing 1300 bankers and lending industry officials at the American Bankers Association conference in Washington.  He explained how he behaved as a member of Congress:  “If you’re a lobbyist who never gave us money, I didn’t talk to you.  If you’re a lobbist who gave us money, I might talk to you.’  

Mulvaney received almost $63,000 in financial contributions from payday lenders.

When is the swamp draining going to start?

Information for this post came from Glenn Thrush, “Watchdog Bureau’s Leader Mounts Charge Against Agency,” New York Times, (Aug. 25, 2018), p. B-1.

Blooming apricots

I hire my neighbor Richard Graver, the most knowledgeable orchardist I know, to prune my quince, apricot, mulberry, and apple trees each spring.  I have no idea how to prune fruit trees, and please don’t tell me I can get a tutorial on that on the internet.

Anyway, I asked Richard why we never get any apricots.  He said it was very hard to grow them in this part of Pennsylvania because they bloomed early, often before a killing frost.  Today I noticed how pretty the apricot tree looked with its blossoms.  It is now April 24.  

Any bets on whether or not we will have at least one more killing frost.