Author: mwilson

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Episode 44: The senator has resigned

Former state senator Mike Folmer vacated his seat last week after an arrest for alleged child pornography possession. We discuss what happens now.

Late last Tuesday, the state attorney general released a statement saying the office had arrested state Senator Mike Folmer and charged him with possession of child pornography. By the next afternoon, the Republican had left office.

The episode shook the Capitol. It also left a hole in one of the Senate’s highest-profile committees. As head of the Senate State Government Committee, Folmer had been intricately involved in negotiations on a major push to overhaul redistricting, and had been helping piece together a package of significant changes to state election law.

This week, PA Post reporters Ed Mahon and Emily Previti join us to explain how Folmer’s abrupt resignation affects those initiatives.

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Episode 38: What a state-run insurance marketplace means for you

Pennsylvania is officially on track to take over the online marketplace that sells health insurance as part of the Affordable Care Act.

It’s a move that will give the commonwealth more control of the exchange, and the state is predicting lower premiums, too.

WITF health reporter Brett Sholtis joins us this episode to explain how it’s all going to work.

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Episode 2: Prisons, drugs and inmates’ rights

A look back at a month of changes for the PA Corrections Department.

Segments: Corrections Secretary John Wetzel, ACLU PA Legal Director Vic Walczak, and one man who has been experiencing the new rules firsthand, as a visitor to his incarcerated fiancée.

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Episode 1: The Fall Session Begins

After a long summer recess, the House and Senate are officially returning to Harrisburg on Monday. There won’t be much time for lawmakers to tie up all their loose ends before the session ends and all bills have to be started from scratch. However, there are a couple things that are high on the agenda.

John Baer of the Philadelphia Inquirer Daily News and Marc Levy of the Associated Press join us to explain two bills that have a real shot at passing: one that would increase protections for domestic violence victims, and another that would make it easier to sue sexual abusers of children.

Plus, the PLS Reporter’s Stephen Caruso fills us in on some of the more overlooked initiatives he’s come across during his last few months keeping tabs on the largely-vacant Capitol.

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