Letter to the Editor: What We Can Learn From Flight Delays

Meredith Small, field director for Pennsylvania Fair Share, thinks this warrants some notice: Congress got something done in less than a week.

After the deep, across-the-board sequester cuts crippled air traffic control, flights were delayed, which was highly irritating and inconvenient. Congress caved quickly to airlines and travelers. While I'm all for on-time planes, flight delays are just one of the most immediate problems the sequester causes — another is the devastating cuts to education. Millions of kids will lose access to Pre-K and after-school classes, and tens of thousands of educator jobs will be lost. Rather than just addressing one small immediate issue, Congress should cancel the sequester outright and make no further cuts to education. Every child in this country should get a chance, and that starts with a quality education. I believe our future as a nation …

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Sequestration in Montgomery County

Sequestration: A Cut for Montco's Seniors

Part Two of a Four-Part Series: How budget cuts may impact local senior citizens.

Another 24 hours is lost, and Congress has yet to agree on a plan that would stop sequestration. The automated budget cuts will deliver a hit to Montgomery County programs, including those designed to assist area senior citizens. In a recent Wall Street Journal op-ed, House Speaker John Boehner said the cuts would be a product of Obama's "failed leadership." "Most Americans are just hearing about this Washington creation for the first time: the sequester," Boehner writes in his column. "What they might not realize from Mr. Obama's statements is that it is a product of the president's own failed leadership. There is nothing wrong with cutting spending that much -- we should be cutting even more -- but the sequester is an ugly and dangerous …

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Violence Against Women Act Supports Laurel House, Montco Organizations

Congress must pass VAWA in order for funding to be maintained. Casey supporting the Act.

Last year, 530 adults were turned away from a shelter in Bucks and Montgomery counties due to lack of room, said a report on PhillyBurbs.com. "Should Congress fail to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), which pays for programs that help victims of domestic violence, U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., said it would encourage 'a terrible, horrific betrayal of who we are as a people' and make it more difficult to help victims," said the article. VAWA, according to WhiteHouse.gov's fact sheet, is credited with decreasing domestic violence against women by 67 percent from 1993 to 2010. The fact sheet calls the Act a "landmark federal legislation’s comprehensive approach to violence against women combined tough new provisions to hold …

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Melissa Treacy

2:54 pm on Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Thank you to our readers. State Rep. Brendan Boyle has also sponsored a resolution in the State House calling on Congress to reauthorize the VAWA. For more read his post here: http://www.pahouse.com/boyle/PAHouseNews.asp?doc=28782   more ›

Letter to the Editor: Fiscal Cliff an Artificial Crisis

Former Green Party presidential candidate Cheri Honkala claims the fiscal cliff isn't about the reducing the deficit, it's about cutting social programs.

To the Editor: The fiscal cliff is an artificial crisis created by Congress as a ploy to dismantle safety net programs the American people have built up and relied on for generations. In their own words, corporations want to "use the fiscal cliff as an opportunity" to push for tax cuts for themselves and benefit cuts for the rest of us.  On December 10, community leaders all across the country held vigils and rallies outside Congressional offices to defend the safety net and protest the so-called fiscal cliff negotiations in Washington, DC. It was part of a coordinated national campaign on International Human Rights Day, the 64th anniversary of the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Among other provisions, the …

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Get Real

Realtors Heading to Washington, D.C. Rally

The Rally to Protect the American Dream has real estate agents telling Congress that home ownership matters

The National Association of Realtors has a planned event today in Washington, D.C. known as the “Rally to Protect the American Dream.” Most people don’t know about the extra efforts many realtors put forth for their industry, livelihood, and most importantly, clients.  Realtors across the country are gathering on Capital Hill to tell members of Congress that home ownership matters to people, to communities and to America. The goal of the rally is to make Congress aware that Realtors are focused on homeownership, housing and real estate issues amidst the election year rhetoric.  The aim is to fight obstacles that make it more difficult for people to buy, own, and invest in real estate.  The obstacles that many in the real estate industry …

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linda spreeman

6:27 pm on Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Maybe home ownership could be a little more financially friendly to the potential buyer by lowering or eliminating some of the outrageously high closing costs which are inclusive of many fees, transfer taxes, and other charges. The practice of mortgage companies requiring a year's worth of taxes/insurance is another practice that seems ridiculous. There is no need to require that much in escrow …   more ›

GOP's Redistricting Plan Carves up Montgomery County

Montgomery County is further splintered in the congressional redistricting map put together by Republicans in the Pa. General Assembly.

The Republicans released their proposed map for the redistricting called for by the 2010 census on Tuesday and Montgomery County is getting the chop. According to Phillyburbs.com, the new map features significant changes because the state's congressional delegation is losing a seat for the 2012 election thanks to the 2010 census. Pennsylvania will go from 19 to 18 seats, with each new district representing about 705,000 people. (In the 2000 census, Pennsylvania lost two seats, moving from 21 Representatives in Congress to 19.) In the new map, Montgomery County is divided among five representatives — Mike Fitzpatrick (R-8), Allyson Schwartz (D-13), Bob Brady (D-2), Jim Gerlach (R-6, which includes Norristown) and Pat Meehan (R-7). Democrats…

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Congress Introduces 'Healthy Food Financing' Bills Based on Successfull Pa. Program

The bipartisan bills are intended to create jobs and cut dietary diseases.

According to a release issued by research institute PolicyLink, a bipartisan coalition in the House and Senate yesterday introduced bills (S. 1926, H.R. 3525) that will invest $125 million to reduce the number of low-income Americans living in areas with inadequate access to healthy food, helping combat the childhood obesity crisis nationwide and potentially creating or preserving thousands of permanent and construction jobs. The re-introduction of this well-supported legislation from the 111th Congress will establish a Healthy Food Financing Initiative (HFFI) at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The HFFI legislation would direct the USDA to designate (through a competitive process) a Community Development Financing Institution (…

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Dziewit: 'I Wanted The American Dream'

Marine Corps veteran Ronald Dziewit speaks about the events leading up to his standoff with police on Oct. 4.

If someone had asked West Norriton resident Ronald Dziewit if he ever anticipated being in a three-hour armed standoff with police, he would have certainly said "no." Yet that's exactly where he found himself after a six-year foreclosure battle came to a head on the morning of Oct. 4. "I wanted the American Dream," said Dziewit, in a recent interview with Norristown Patch. The interview was organized by Ruth Miller and Dan Amato, concerned local citizens and bloggers who support Dziewit's cause. Miller and Amato invited Norristown Patch to attend a meeting with Dziewit and several neighbors helping the former Marine to tell his story. The 20-year veteran of the United States Marine Corps barricaded himself in his former home after …

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