Free Republic

"he listens to men screaming at night being raped....he smells blood all the time.....he described to me one night he heard what sounded like a butter knife being thrust into a piece of meat to find out that the man next to him had just been stabbed in the neck by another inmate!" "Karen" on Facebook recounts her Saturday June 2nd visit with Greg Burleson at Allenwood Federal Prison in Pennsylvania. Greg Burleson was convicted in the first Bunkerville Standoff trial and sentenced last July to 68 years in prison. The exculpatory evidence proving Burleson's innocence was successfully hidden by...

Not to distract from the eye-popping salaries of top energy executives, but there is something else eye-opening about comparing oil and gas CEOs to the average oil and gas worker. The median workers at these companies, at least the ones producing most of natural gas in Pennsylvania, are doing quite well. Yes, they still might earn 100 times less than their CEOs, but just try sneezing at these median compensation numbers. •CNX Resources: $129,390 •Range Resources: $123,500 •Chesapeake Energy: $118,761 •Southwestern Energy: $108,458 •EQT: $102,470 •Cabot Oil & Gas: $75,891 With about 8,500 employees among them, these Marcellus Shale operators...

PAC Worldwide is looking to fill more than open positions at its Middletown and Sharonville facilities. The company is a manufacturer of customized, flexible packaging. It manufactures a variety of products, including but not limited to bubble mailers, flat poly mailers, automated systems, and cold chain packaging that are primarily used in the e-commerce world. Founded in Seattle in 1975 as PAC National, the company started out as a broker of corrugated shipping containers to its first customer, Airborne Express, according to Ryan Jones, PAC Worldwide’s regional human resources director. As the overnight courier industry grew, so did PAC National,...

Donald Trump was wanted by two pro Baseball teams. Not only does Trump know how to play hardball in the business world and as president of the United States, but it turns out he could play with the best of them in the baseball world. President Donald Trump was heavily scouted and wanted by two pro teams when coming out of his high school military prep academy to be a pro prospect. The Boston Red Sox and the Philadelphia Phillies were keen to sign up the first basemen from NY Military Academy before he went off to college at Fordham...

Rep. Ryan Costello (R-Pa.) said that he is leaving Congress in part because all he is ever asked about is President Trump, according to CNN. "No matter what I say or do, I feel all I do is answer questions about Donald Trump rather than health insurance or tax policy," Costello told CNN. Costello announced in March that he would not run for reelection, blaming the partisan political environment, including the actions of Trump. "I feel, increasingly, that if you're a member of Congress, they assume that you're not good," Costello told CNN. "They assume that you're not telling the...

<p>HARRISBURG, Pa. — A Pennsylvania appeals court is upholding the conviction of former attorney general Kathleen Kane for leaking secret grand jury information and lying about it.</p> <p>Superior Court, on Friday, rejected arguments made by Kane, a Democrat sentenced in 2016 to 10 to 23 months but out on bail.</p>

HATBORO >> The borough has joined a small but steadily growing list of municipalities across Pennsylvania that has done what the state government, so far, has been unable to do — extend discrimination protections to members of the LGBTQ community. In a 4-3 vote Monday night, borough council approved an ordinance making it unlawful in Hatboro to discriminate against a person in matters of employment, housing, commercial property acquisition and public accommodations on the basis of that person’s sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression. The state’s Human Relations Act, however, does not extend protections to include actual or perceived...

POTTER TWP. — Shell Chemicals is hiring 40 production operators who will help run the company’s $6 billion ethane cracker plant once it’s operational early next decade. Spokesman Joe Minnitte said Tuesday that the job postings are the “first grouping” aimed at local residents who are interested in working at the plant in Potter Township. The production operators will monitor and control equipment and will also be expected to work in other operations there, according to the job posting. The posting noted that the production operator shifts will vary while the plant is starting up operations. For instance, operators will...

An Orbital ATK Antares rocket will launch a commercial Cygnus cargo spacecraft to the International Space Station from Virginia's Eastern Shore before dawn on Monday, and the launch could be visible to potentially millions of spectators along the U.S. East Coast. The Antares rocket is scheduled to launch at 4:39 a.m. EDT (0839 GMT) on Monday (May 21) and should be highly visible across the East Coast of the United States, weather permitting. The mission, called OA-9, will launch from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia to deliver more than 3 tons of supplies to...

Some Southwestern Pennsylvanians say it every day. But to the state Republican Party, jagoff is a profanity. The party blurred out the word in a tweet posted Wednesday showing a picture of a T-shirt that John Fetterman, the Democratic Party's nominee for lieutenant governor, sold during his campaign. The Pennsylvania Primary Election determined John Fetterman as the Democratic candidate for Lieutenant Governor; Fetterman is endorsed by Bernie Sanders and his rise included selling t-shirts with profanity-laced attacks on President Trump!MORE: https://t.co/1kOou24P7N pic.twitter.com/l6M7zUJivR — PA GOP (@PAGOP) May 16, 2018

A Democratic mayor from Pennsylvania has resigned nearly a month after he was arrested for allegedly soliciting a woman for sex — a woman who turned out to be a police informant. Bloomsburg Mayor Eric Bower, 36, initially claimed the accusations were made up because of his “political position.” He was arrested on April 20 after investigators said he showed up at a Hampton Inn with condoms and $200 in cash. According to the attorney general’s office, the woman, whom Bower solicited for sex that day, was “a Pennsylvania State Police confidential informant.”

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — A North Philadelphia election worker has pleaded guilty to election fraud during a 2017 special election for a state House seat in the city. Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro says 59-year-old Thurman George, a machine inspector at Poll 43-7, pleaded guilty on Wednesday to frauds by election officers. George, along with three other election workers, was accused of harassment and intimidation against voters who wanted to vote for candidates of their choice, but not the candidate being pushed by the city’s Democratic Party machine. Minority inspector Calvin Mattox previously pleaded guilty to not meeting the qualifications of...

The soggy spring and delays in obtaining the necessary environmental permits may push back the completion date of work to reconstruct Interstate 70 between Beau Street and the Route 519/Eighty Four interchanges. “We are behind schedule,” Scott Faieta, assistant construction engineer for the state Department of Transportation, said Tuesday. “We met last week with the contractor, and it may be necessary to push it back to summer of 2021. It was supposed to be done November 2020.” The contractor for the $117 million project is Lane Construction Co. The work includes widening the highway to three lanes in each direction...

In Spring Hill, early 20th Century houses look out over cinematic views of downtown Pittsburgh. The front of 36-year-old resident Randal Miller’s home appears fine, but the back is a mess. Part of it was slammed by a landslide this February. Landslides have always been an issue for the city due to its steep hills, clay soil and narrow valleys, but they usually occur in late spring and early early summer. Winter is typically Pittsburgh’s driest period, which is good, because the soil at that time is very wet as plants have yet to sprout and pull water from the...

Republican Tim O’Neal cracked the 4,000-vote threshold in Washington County’s 48th Legislative District, according to unofficial returns from the Washington County elections office, and declared victory. O’Neal, a veteran of the Afghanistan War who earned a “V” for valor and a Bronze Star, advertised this in contrast to that of Mitchell, an attorney, whom he portrayed playing the video game “Call of Duty.”

Republican Tim O’Neal cracked the 4,000-vote threshold in Washington County’s 48th Legislative District, according to unofficial returns from the Washington County elections office, and declared victory. O’Neal continued to hold his lead with 4,534 votes to Democrat Clark Mitchell Jr.’s 3,743. Libertarian Demo Agoris trailed with 135.

Democrat Helen Tai defeated Republican Wendi Thomas in a special election to represent Pennsylvania's 178th District in Harrisburg. The 178th district includes Northampton, New Hope, Upper Makefield, Wrightstown and Solebury. The special election was held to determine who will finish out former state Rep. Scott Petri's remaining term for the rest of the year. Tai, the chair of the Solebury Township Supervisors, flipped the seat to the Democrats. Petri, a Republican, resigned at the end of 2017. Tai defeated Thomas, a former member of the Council Rock School Board. According to unofficial vote totals, Tai won by 96 votes. She...

Pennsylvania Primary Election Results By THE NEW YORK TIMES

Pennsylvania candidates will face off for the first time under the state’s new congressional map in primaries on Tuesday, as Democrats eye several seats they believe can deliver them the House majority in November. Pennsylvania’s state Supreme Court struck down the old map in January, just months ahead of the May primaries, ruling that the districts were gerrymandered by Republicans. The new lines imposed by the court present several opportunities for Democratic pickups, especially around Philadelphia’s suburbs. Tuesday also offers an opportunity for female candidates to make inroads and potentially get one step closer to breaking into Pennsylvania’s all-male congressional...

A Democrat running for a US House seat in Pennsylvania offered praise for then-President-elect Donald Trump, called on Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel to resign and said progressives "are the least tolerant of anyone who disagrees with them" in a series of now-deleted tweets. Northampton County District Attorney John Morganelli is running to replace retiring Republican Rep. Charlie Dent in what is now Pennsylvania's 7th District. Morganelli, who is a centrist Democrat running in a crowded field of six primary candidates, is backed by United Together, a group with reported ties with the bipartisan organization No Labels, and longtime Clinton associate...