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An alleged associate of a Mexican drug cartel has been charged in a conspiracy that distributed more than 100 kilograms of cocaine in the Philadelphia region, federal prosecutors said today. Prosecutors say it was Jorge Bautista-Banda’s job to launder the illegal drug proceeds, depositing the money in $8,000 increments at Center City banks. By depositing amounts less than $10,000, prosecutors said Bautista could avoid having to file currency transaction reports.

According to one of the tea party's leading voices, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R), who is being challenged by conservative Matt Bevin in Kentucky's Senate GOP primary, is not an "Arlen Specter" Republican."It's not like we're talking about Arlen Specter here," said Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), in an interview with The Washington Post. "Senator McConnell has a longstanding conservative record and for an opponent to beat him, they'll have to prove somehow that he's not a conservative."Specter, the late Pennsylvania senator who left the GOP for the Democratic Party in 2009, was a villain-like figure to many on the...

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Rolling pastures dotted with grazing cows, fields of corn and classic buggies driven by Amish in hats and bonnets — these are the images that attract visitors to Lancaster County, home to more than 30,000 of the Pennsylvania Dutch.Visitors who also bring big money to the state — to the tune of nearly $1.8 billion a year. Which explains why the winning bumper sticker in a contest sponsored by Pennsylvania's Tourism Office didn't feature the Liberty Bell or the battlefield in Gettysburg — but rather, "I Break for Shoofly Pie," an ode to the traditional Amish dessert.But pictures can be...

Editor's note: This story is the second of two parts. A high-ranking official with Veterans Affairs Pittsburgh Healthcare System wanted the agency to keep quiet about a deadly Legionnaires' disease outbreak rather than warn the public, internal emails indicate. ... The email is among nearly 7,000 pages of internal VA emails and documents the Tribune-Review obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request.

Professors Byron Calhoun, of West Virginia University-Charleston’s Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Teresa Collett, of the University of St. Thomas Law School, addressed concerns about women’s health in abortion clinics on the one-year anniversary of the Kermit Gosnell court case. Calhoun said, “Unfortunately, the lack of oversight, regulation and accountability afforded to abortion clinics, abortion providers and the abortion industry remains an inexplicable medical anomaly.” He went on, “No other medical or service industry is allowed to act with such impunity or freedom from external peer review or administrative review.” In his state of West Virginia, there is “no...

Gov. Tom Corbett of Pennsylvania said Wednesday that he would not appeal a judge’s ruling striking down Pennsylvania’s ban on same-sex marriage. With the decision, Pennsylvania became the 19th state, along with the District of Columbia, where same-sex couples are able to marry. Judge John E. Jones III of Federal District Court on Tuesday became the latest judge to throw out a series of state bans around the country, writing, “It is time to discard them into the ash heap of history.” Mr. Corbett, a Republican facing a difficult re-election this year, announced his decision the day after Democratic primary...

It finally sank in for Suzanne Rotondo when Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett announced Wednesday he wouldn't contest a federal judge's ruling striking down the state's ban on gay marriage: She could finally get a divorce. The Keystone State was the last holdout in the Northeast to recognize gay marriage. "It feels like my birthday," said Rotondo, 45, who lives in Philadelphia. "I just feel this excitement. Of course there's no 'Yay, divorce,' but it's a victory for being able to have agency, have a say in your own destiny." Rotondo married her partner a decade ago in Massachusetts on their...

The cascade of same-sex marriage rulings is now a torrent, each more quotable and image-ready than the last. “Let us look less to the sky to see what might fall; rather, let us look to each other…and rise,” district Judge Michael McShane wrote Monday in Oregon. Not to be outdone, district Judge John E. Jones III—a George W. Bush appointee, personally recommended by Rick Santorum—wrote Tuesday in Pennsylvania: “We are a better people than what these [marriage] laws represent, and it is time to discard them into the ash heap of history." Indeed, after Judge Jones threw out his state’s...

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Pennsylvania's governor says he won't appeal a court decision that struck down the state's gay marriage ban. Gov. Tom Corbett's decision Wednesday means that same-sex marriage will remain legal in Pennsylvania, without the threat that a higher court will reinstate the ban. "I have thoroughly reviewed Judge Jones' opinion in the Whitewood case. Given the high legal threshold set forth by Judge Jones in this case, the case is extremely unlikely to succeed on appeal. Therefore, after review of the opinion and on the advice of my Commonwealth legal team, I have decided not to appeal Judge...

It was suggested that one be started so I'll take the lead!

A relatively small Philadelphia union has become the biggest independent source of campaign money in the state. Local 98 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers has poured $25.6 million into political races since 2000, an Inquirer analysis of campaign records found - more than statewide powerhouses such as the trial lawyers, teachers' unions, or Marcellus Shale gas drillers. The donations, financed by members' paycheck deductions, have helped turn the local and its business manager, John J. Dougherty Jr., into a potent and even feared political force --snip-- The money Local 98 spends on politics comes entirely from members' paychecks,...

A federal judge Tuesday struck down Pennsylvania's law prohibiting same-sex marriage, saying it violates the U.S. Constitution. With the ruling, the Keystone State joins a host of others in which judges have struck down existing laws restricting marriage to between one man and one woman. All such decisions have been stayed, pending appeals. "Because these laws are unconstitutional, we shall enter an order permanently enjoining their enforcement," U.S. District Judge John E. Jones wrote of Pennsylvania's same-sex marriage restrictions. "By virtue of this ruling, same-sex couples who seek to marry in Pennsylvania may do so, and already married same-sex couples...

HARRISBURG - A federal judge on Tuesday struck down Pennsylvania's ban on same-sex marriages, a landmark ruling that could clear the way for the Commonwealth to become the 17th state to legalize gay marriage. The decision by U.S. District Judge John E. Jones III marked the first and most significant to date in a series of court challenges to the state's 1996 ban. It was not immediately clear if Gov. Corbett, whose administration had defended the law, would appeal the decision. The lawsuit, Whitewood v. Wolf, was brought by 23 plaintiffs who said Pennsylvania's law violates the state constitution by...

A federal judge Tuesday declared Pennsylvania's ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional, the fourth such ruling on a state ban in the past three weeks. Judge John Jones III ruled in favor of 23 Pennsylvania residents who challenged the law.\ "The issue we resolve today is a divisive one. Some of our citizens are made deeply uncomfortable by the notion of same-sex marriage. However, that same sex marriage causes discomfort in some does not make its prohibition constitutional," he said. The state's Democratic attorney general, Kathleen Kane, announced last July that she would not defend it, saying she could not ethically...

he ACLU says it expects a federal judge will issue his decision Tuesday in its challenge to Pennsylvania’s ban on same-sex marriage, The civil liberties group, which is representing plaintiffs in the closely-watched case, said in a press release that it plans to hold rallies in major cities across the state, including Philadelphia, regardless of the outcome. The ACLU sued Gov. Corbett and his administration last July on behalf of 23 plaintiffs over the state's 1996 ban, which prohibits same-sex marriage in Pennsylvania and does not recognize such marriages performed elsewhere.

A self-proclaimed Satanist who claimed to have killed almost two dozen people could face the death penalty in the killing of a man she and her husband are accused of luring to his death through a Craigslist ad, a Pennsylvania judge ruled Monday.

Few workers would turn down a raise. Union members, however, can have raises turned down on their behalf. Employees of a Pennsylvania grocery store learned this the hard way. Managers at the Giant Eagle grocery in Edinboro, Pa., wanted to reward hard work. So they boosted the wages of two dozen high-performing employees above their union rates. But United Food and Commercial Workers Local 23 was not pleased. The union argued the pay increases violated their contract, took Giant Eagle to court and forced it to rescind the raises. Why did Local 23 oppose higher pay for its members? Because...

In a surprising move, a commencement speaker at Haverford College on Sunday used the celebratory occasion to deliver a sharp rebuke to students who had mounted a campaign against another speaker who had been scheduled to appear but withdrew amid the controversy. William G. Bowen, former president of Princeton and a nationally respected higher education leader, called the student protestors' approach both "immature" and "arrogant" and the subsequent withdrawal of Robert J. Birgeneau, former chancellor of the University of California Berkeley, a "defeat" for the Quaker college and its ideals

Obama’s Internet ID Plot Being Tested in Two States A plot by the Obama administration to impose Internet IDs on Americans is now officially being rolled out, with pilot programs for the controversial online “driver’s license” scheme already beginning in both Michigan and Pennsylvania. According to the White House, the virtual “Identity Ecosystem” being funded and pushed by the federal government is supposed to make the Internet more “secure” and “convenient.” Critics across the political spectrum, however, are warning that the Orwellian scheme only makes it more convenient for the feds to spy on people, control the public, and suppress...