Shopping for a conservative loved one this holiday season? Why not give the gift that keeps on giving: a firearm! Apparently, plenty of Pennsylvanians have doing just that in the wake of the presidential election ... reprising the run on guns-and-ammo that took place after Barack Obama was first reelected. I'm tempted to launch into a screed about why nothing is going to happen on gun-control in the next four years either ... but City Paper supports small businesses, and who am I to deprive gun stores of revenue?
Hey, did you know your county tax rate may be going down pretty soon? It's true -- thanks to "anti-windfall" provisions intended to offset rising property values resulting from the reassessment. Meanwhile, Allegheny County council is also considering a cost-of-living pay raise for some employees ... and the stage may be set for yet another fracas between county executive Rich Fitzgerald and county controller Chelsa Wagner. Stay tuned!
News that might be more important than it seems: A Pennsylvania Congressman, Bill Shuster, will be the House transportation committee next year. At least in theory, that could position PA for a bit of an infrastructure-spending windfall ... though we live in post-earmark times, so it won't be like the good old days.
OMFG THE PERFIDY OF PITTSBURGH POLITICS KNOWS NO BOUNDS! ONCE AGAIN WE HAVE SEEN THE DEPTHS TO WHICH POLITICAL CRONIES WILL SINK TO MAINTAIN THEIR STRANGLEHOLD ON POWER. Or then again, maybe we haven't. For a brief time yesterday, some intemperate tweeting about alleged last-minute changes in council district boundaries led to an internet tempest. There was concern that a council majority had ratified changes proposed by councilwoman Theresa Kail Smith -- over the objections of Bill Peduto and his allies, and (so it seemed) without any public comment. Turns out that really isn't so. A preliminary look at the numbers suggest the changes would be a (probably modest) net loss for Natalia Rudiak, who is up for re-election next year (and of course, who's to say that a potential rival wouldn't have just been drawn into her district?). But the changes, which amount to the shifting around of a handful of districts citywide, won't be made without votes from council and a public-comment period. But it sure was exciting there for awhile. And this little episode might be sort of a preview of what the coming mayoral election -- the first in which Twitter is fully engaged in the local political discussion -- will be like. Might be a little bumpy, but we'll get there in the end.
In case you were worried ... outgoing US Rep Jason Altmire has a found a new job -- in the healthcare sector! Wonders never cease.
Ousted Penn State University President Graham Spanier earned $3.3 million last year -- including $2.5 million in severance pay because of the Sandusky scandal. Maybe that seems high to you, but if Penn State is paying him for fucking up the worst scandal in collegiate history ... at least he did a thorough job of it.
As the Post-Gazette reported yesterday, Democrat John Hanger, former head of the state's Department of Environmental Protection, is running for Governor in 2014.
He officially announced his campaign today. He'll also host a launch event at CAPA High School Downtown tomorrow at 11 a.m.
In a phone call with reporters this afternoon, Hanger slammed Gov. Tom Corbett for "mismanaging the natural gas boom."
He criticized Corbett for "refusing to enact a reasonable tax" on drillers tapping into natural gas deposits in the Marcellus Shale formation which lies under the state; and not encouraging other forms of alternative energy. He rolled out his own plan for dealing with the booming and controversial natural gas industry, which includes:
1. Supporting a "reasonable drilling tax" with revenues dedicated to local communities, education and the environment. "Pennsylvania stands alone among major energy producers without [a tax]," he said. He did not offer more specifics.
2. Creating an ombudsman office to receive citizen complaints about gas drilling. "The tone of governor Corbett and his administration leaves the impression, at least among many opposed to gas drilling, that they won't be listened to
when they have specific complaints," Hanger said.
3. Developing the state's alternative fuel infrastructure. "I am committed to creating a Pennsylvania where in 10 years every Pennsylvanian, when buying a vehicle for his business or his family, could weigh the benefits of switching to a vehicle that runs on natural gas or electricity or biofuels or sticking with gasoline," he said.
Environmental groups are urging Congress to extend two tax-credit programs regarded as crucial to the continued growth of wind power. The latest is PennEnvironment, which this morning held a press conference in breezy Point State Park to announce its new report about the environmental benefits of wind power in Pennsylvania.
According to the report, wind energy in Pennsylvania, by replacing power generated by fossil fuels, “displaces as much global warming pollution as taking 218,000 cars off the road per year.” It also reduces soot and the pollutants that cause smog.
Because coal- and gas-fired power plants also use massive amounts of water for cooling, wind power also “saves enough water to meet the needs of 20,600 Pennsylvanians,” according to the report, “Wind Power for a Cleaner America.” Here's the report: PA_Wind_v7_screen.pdf.
The report, presented by PennEnvironment’s Erika Staaf, says that continued growth in wind capacity here would nearly double those beneficial impacts over the next four years alone.
“Wind offers us a welcome short-cut on the road to environmental sustainability and energy independence,” said Titus North, president of Citizen Power, who joined Staaf at the event. Locally based Citizen Power offers an affordable all-wind-energy option for Duquesne Light customers, and North said nearly 1,000 have signed up, generating demand equivalent to the production of two wind turbines.
But growth in wind power is unlikely if the wind-power tax credits are left to expire.
The federal incentives — the Production Tax Credit and the Offshore Wind Investment Tax Credit — helped spur a recent boom of wind in Pennsylvania and elsewhere. But both are set to expire on Dec. 31. Over the years such tax credits have expired and been renewed several times, and new wind capacity rises and falls accordingly.
Joining Staaf was Dan Lagiovane, spokesman for locally based wind-energy company Everpower. Lagiovane said uncertainty over the tax credits has already resulted in cancellation of at least three wind-power projects planned by other firms in Western Pennsylvania.
Some of the nation’s governors are also urging extension of the credits.
Other Pennsylvania-based groups calling for the extension of the credits include Penn Future.
Opponents of renewable-energy mandates and incentives are led by the fossil-fuel industry and some fiscal conservatives.
Wind advocates are asking citizens to contact U.S. Senators and Congressional members and tell them to extend the credits. While Sen. Bob Casey and Reps like Mike Doyle and Mark Critz are generally backers of wind power, Sen. Pat Toomey typically opposes tax credits for renewable energy.
Supporters of renewable-energy subsidies note that fossil-fuel exploration and extraction is also heavily subsidized, by things like tax credits and by below-market leases on federal land for coal companies. Nuclear power is also far more heavily subsidized than renewable energy.
Tags: wind power , Penn Environment , renewable energy , tax credits
This week my colleague Al Hoff reports on a book that is the alleged authority on zombie films.
To put that claim to the test, I grabbed her copy of Zombie Movies: The Ultimate Guide (Chicago Review Press, $24.95), flipped to the index and searched for The Resurrection Game. Sure enough, there is was on page 359 under the heading “Rare, Obscure and Less Important Titles.”
I was overjoyed to see this film included in this book — although just by title — but a little bit offended by the “less important” part of the headline. And I don’t just say this because I made my motion picture debut in this film.
Everyone knows Pittsburgh’s important place in zombie movie history. But in 2000, there weren’t any zombie movies coming out of this city and the zombie apocalypse craze that we know now was still several years off. I was a writer at the former In Pittsburgh News Weekly when I got a call from the film’s director Mike Watt.
Basically the film’s plot involved a world infested by zombies but the undead were more of an annoyance that were dealt with by calling an exterminator like you would for rats or cockroaches. Except a new breed of zombies were being created by a shadowy company and the world’s domination by the zombie race was going to be inevitable.
Watt was making the movie on a shoestring with his wife, Amy Lynn Best and good friend, special effects wizard and fellow Pittsburgh Filmmakers’ alum Bill Homan. Watt invited me out for a day of shooting in a huge space above the American Buyers Discount Mattress store in Homestead.
Homan put me in makeup and I hung out all day talking with the actors and the group from Watt’s production company Happy Cloud Pictures. I found they were a great bunch of folks who really cared about the film they were making even if it would eventually be labeled as allegedly “less important.” For all we know this film may have helped re-energize the zombie genre. At least that's what I like to think.
You can still buy the film along with all of the films Watt has done since Resurrection Game by visiting Happy Cloud’s website.
If you buy the movie, look for me in one of the movie’s final scenes — I’ll be the big zombie in the green plaid shirt eating a security guard.
Tags: zombies , Resurrection Game , Mike Watt , Amy Lynn Best , Happy Cloud Productions , Image
Looks like Lamar Advertising is going to need a lot more billboards: City council voted unanimously in favor of a billboard tax whose co-sponsors, Natalia Rudiak and Darlene Harris, have been punished with a series of attack billboards put up by the outdoor-advertising giant. As you might expect, Lamar is promising a court fight, and has also challenged Rudiak with an ethics complaint: Apparently, Rudiak once said her property would be worth more if the billboard near her house would be removed. Not sure that's going to fly, but if nothing else, it's fodder for another ad.
The Regional Asset district board, which determines how to spend proceeds from a 1 percent countywide sales tax, unanimously approved a plan to turn over $3 million to the Port Authority. Doing so will lock down a plan to shore up the authority's finances, at least for the next year -- which is all that the board has signed on for. Arts groups and Mayor Luke Ravenstahl had raised concerns about the plan, and its possible impact on long-term funding for cultural groups and other civic assets, which the tax was created to support.
Frenzied natural-gas drilling is supposed to be an economic boon, but it's been hurting the coal-mining business. And that, in turn, is tax revenues for municipalities where coal production is dropping. Just an idle thought here, but maybe this problem could be addressed by having the gas industry pay more in taxes than the sweetheart deal they are getting now?
Chapter 3,419 in "This is Philadelphia's state: the rest of us just live in it": Allegations of ticket-fixing in the City of Brotherly Love may cause an earthquake in the state Supreme Court.
The Sandusky case is prompting calls for an overhaul of state laws to end child abuse. One of the key changes proposed by a state legislative panel: Requiring the people who actually witness such abuse to report it directly, rather than kicking it up the chain of command.
First there was Black Friday, then there was Small Business Saturday, then there was Cyber Monday. How's about we combine them all for Shop Online But Only at Local Shops Tuesday? That's what Localism is about!
First stop: Christmas cards. How about some aliens-and-robots cards, courtesy of Alternate Histories?
(Here are some more traditional handmade Christmas cards, for what it's worth.)
This print is a pretty awesome mod-looking design from local designer superstars StrawberryLuna. (They, by the by, have a holiday sale going on for many of their items.)
There's a new issue of Ker-bloom!, the letterpress-printed zine created by Pittsburgher Artnoose — who doesn't want a zine for the holidays?
Given the way the season is going, you might want to get this for your child.
And what better way to combine the gift-giving holidays with the real Western Pennsylvania holiday season — deer season — than stud earrings made from Winchester bullets?! Or Mossy Oak camo baby togs?
More to come in the weeks ahead, but I think that should be enough to keep you busy and spendy for now.
Last year, it seemed most of America tumbled hard for Downton Abbey, but I found another British small-screen import more to my tastes. The Hour — a six-hour mini-series about a fledging TV news team in 1956 — packed plenty into its short run: the tug-of-war between reporters and power brokers; romance (illicit and otherwise); wry comedy; international affairs (the Suez Canal crisis); and the omnipresent paranoia of the Cold War. The Hour was part Mad Men, part Newsroom, part John le Carre novel and part history lesson — and yes, at times, it was as confusing to follow as that all sounds.
But I like a challenge and I'll watch good actors like Romola Garai, Ben Wishaw and Dominic West in anything.
Season 2 starts Wed., Nov. 28; it airs at 9 p.m. on the BBC America cable channel. You can set your DVR to record Season 1, which airs prior to the premiere of Season 2. It's also available on DVD.
LGBTQ mental health wellness center Persad Center will present The State of Your Estate this week. The forum will address same-sex marriage issues, estate planning, healthcare directives, domestic partner agreements, health, Medicare and other issues facing LGBT people as they age.
The free event will be held at 6 p.m. Thurs., Nov. 29, at Rodef Shalom, 4905 Fifth Ave., Oakland. The event features local attorney Kathleen Schneider and licensed insurance provider Carole Ann Schubert.
Participants will receive a $100 voucher to use toward the preparation of a will or medical/financial power of attorney.
To register, call 888-873-7723 ext 310.
As I noted earlier this morning, Jeanne Clark wasn't going to have the field in District 8 all to herself for long. In fact, she didn't even have it to herself when I hit the "post" button: While I interviewed her last night, and posted the story from home this morning (I was blogging old-school, in my jammies and robe), another candidate had fired off his official announcement at 6:01 this morning.
So it's official: Dan Gilman, longtime aide to Bill Peduto, is in the running to replace his boss; not coincidentally, his campaign manager is Matt Merriman-Preston, a longtime Peduto ally. His press release is below:
Here's some sobering news for Mayor Luke Ravenstahl's 2013 re-election effort. Even if he wins the Democratic primary, he could end up facing one of his sharpest critics on city council next year.
Jeanne Clark, a longtime activist and East End political veteran, will be running to fill the council seat left vacant by Bill Peduto, who is challenging Ravenstahl for the mayor's office.
Clark says she's held off making an announcement until the presidential election was over and Peduto made his own plans clear. But the announcement has been a long time coming. "People were getting more and more insistent that they wanted me to consider a run," she says. "I've spent my whole life trying to get other women to run for office, so did I really have the right to say no?"
Clark, of Shadyside, has been an activist on behalf of feminist and LGBT causes for more than three decades; she currently works as director of communications for environmental group Citizens for Pennsylvania's Future (better known as PennFuture). Within the local blogosphere, however, Clark may be best known for her strident attacks on Ravenstahl, whom she has called out for promoting police officers previously accused of domestic abuse. In August, she wrote a widely circulated blog post detailing an altercation she and Ravensthal had on the issue during a "cookie cruise." Mayoral spokesperson Joanna Doven later called Clark "crazy". But in district 8, which includes liberal hotbeds like Squirrel Hill that have never embraced Ravenstahl, such criticism may help Clark far more than an endorsement.