Pennsylvania’s longest-running tax dispute pertains to the heavy dependence on property taxes to fund public education.  Persistent public antipathy and active litigation make property taxes for schools the all-consuming controversy.  That does not mean other local tax systems are up to snuff and non-contentious. County commissioners are laying out their 2020 legislative agenda.  Due […]

  Sam Cooke’s 1960 hit song – What A Wonderful World – starts with a series of disclaimers, including these: “…Don’t know much biology; Don’t know much about a science book…Don’t know much trigonometry; Don’t know much about algebra…”  As has been proved billions of times, kindling romance does not require a science text or […]

  “Life is unfair,” famously intoned by President Jimmy Carter (and others), is an indisputable proposition. These days, expressions of unfairness are on the rise.  In public debates of any gravity, someone invariably claims unfairness in framing their grievance.  Ubiquity by no means guarantees equal justification or attention.  Invoked too frequently and casually, it can […]

  High on my list of favorite Christmas movies is Miracle on 34th Street (original version please).  In it is an all-purpose, every season piece of wisdom: “Faith is believing when common sense tells you not to.” Faith in institutions, secular and religious ones, is taking a shellacking these days.  Confidence-measuring polls of public mood […]

  The endorsement by the EU of the UK Withdrawal Agreement is the final step enabling the UK to return to being a sovereign state and a free agent on the world stage, this happened on the 29th January 2020. For 47 years, the UK has seen a European Economic Zone the EEC, similarly based […]

Maybe there has never been a true golden age for running non-profit organizations and charitable groups.  This is certainly not the best of times, with aggressive pushes to cut back on government spending and programs at every level, to impose higher standards of performance, to apply more rigorous tests of accountability, to tighten spending on […]

Trailing only education, health care resembles an endless philosophical and political war, with sharp, persistent disagreements over direction and policy.  The list of disputed matters includes but is not limited to: the merits of public versus private insurance coverage, the fairness of provider networks, the utility of health care subsidies, the considerable costs of technology […]

Since Neil Sedaka released “Breaking Up Is Hard To Do” in 1962, the song has been covered multiple times.  The tune might be experiencing resurgence as the unofficial anthem of the Wolf administration.   There are heated controversies in several Pennsylvania communities over suddenly announced plans to close state facilities.  Luzerne County is facing a double […]

  Thanksgiving is a season when we count our greatest blessings, the family and friends who surround us and those who have gone ahead to their eternal reward. Many of us are fortunate to have a special person who sees hidden qualities in us, who goes above and beyond to guide and inspire us, who […]

  Given our entrenched political and regional differences, Pennsylvania teamwork tends to conjure thoughts of sports rather than governance. Frustrated citizens, commentators, and advocates believe that Pennsylvania rarely embraces substantial reform or change.  In their view, our state moves only in dire crisis, and even then only once the patches have blown and the cans […]