The LuLac Edition #3174, March 24th, 2016

PENNSYLVANIA ON DECK

 (Logo: WFMZ TV)

Hey folks, the Pennsylvania primary will count for something this year. Especially on the Republican side. Scranton as usual is the epicenter of LuLac land.
Bernie Sanders’ campaign opened its first official Pennsylvania local campaign headquarters in Scranton this week. Meanwhile, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, has started phone banking at the same time. That happened at a Scranton Law office as part of a statewide network coordinated by the Clinton effort.
Sanders’ campaign headquarters is located at 207 N. Washington Ave. across from the county courthouse.
There is a Sanders office in Wilkes Barre but it is strictly a volunteer operation.
The office is open 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday.
The Pennsylvania primary election is April 26.
No word yet on plans from the representatives of Donald Trump, Sen. Ted Cruz and Gov. John Kasich. There were efforts to get Trump here for St. Patrick’s Day dinners but that went nowhere.
The primary is on April 26th. (Citizen's Voice, LuLac)

CRUZ/RUBIO PAIRING???

 Marco and Ted in more spirited times. (Photo: Fox News.com)

There is talk that Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio may try to pair their delegates together to run as a ticket if Donald Trump gets near 1,000 delegates. Rubio has said he will enter private life but there is pressure on him to change his mind. While the “establishment” is not thrilled wioth Cruz, they see him as the lesser of a big evil. More to come on this.

GOV. TOM WOLF WILL LET STATE BUDGET CLOSURE PACKAGE TAKE EFFECT WITHOUT HIS SIGNATURE

Governor Tom Wolf (Photo: PCN)

Well someone had to be a grown up and a statesman and I’m glad it was Governor Tom Wolf. Gov. Wolf announced that he will let a Republican-backed, $7 billion budget closure package take effect without his signature. This was something that could have been done last year but the GOP House escalated the budget war.
But there is more work to be done.
The governor and state lawmakers will have to have a new budget - one in which the governor is seeking election-year tax increases to balance - in place by July 1 for fiscal 2016-17.
Wolf’s decision stops potential problems around the Commonwealth. Now schools will not close their doors and there will be no closure of the famed Penn State agricultural extension services. (Philly.com and LuLac)

SESTAK CALLS OUT TOOMEY OR WHAT YOUR REPUBLICAN SENATOR DIDN’T DO IN WASHINGTON

U.S. Senate candidate Joe Sestak. (Photo: Sestak for Senate)

Although Toomey claims in his new TV ads to be an advocate for gun safety and a friend to law enforcement, his actions in the Senate speak louder than his ads’ words.
Despite his claims in his commercials, Toomey has voted against billions of dollars to benefit local law enforcement and correctional officers, voted against health care for 9/11 first responders after refusing to even meet with sick heroes from Ground Zero, and has voted against reinstating the assault weapons ban and closing loopholes that allow suspected terrorists to buy guns.
“For far too long, Pat Toomey has said one thing in Pennsylvania, and voted the exact opposite in D.C.,” former Admiral and Congressman Joe Sestak said. “The people of Pennsylvania deserve a Senator who cares about their hopes and concerns all the time, not just when he’s in an election year.”
Pat Toomey’s Votes Against Gun Control & Law Enforcement
1. As he has said multiple times, Toomey’s “idea of gun control is a steady aim” – which is reflected in his votes on gun safety and commonsense reforms.
One day after the San Bernardino shooting, Pat Toomey voted to allow suspected terrorists to purchase firearms.
After Toomey’s bill to expand background checks for firearms purchases failed in 2013, he said the issue was “resolved” and gave up all efforts to fight for gun safety – but even after nearly 30 votes to repeal or gut the Affordable Care Act, Toomey keeps fighting to take away people’s access to healthcare.
On the same day the Toomey-Manchin background check bill failed in 2013, Toomey also voted:
Against making gun trafficking a federal felony
Against a high-capacity magazine ban
Against reinstating the 1994 ban on assault weapons
2.Although Toomey’s ad claims he is the “the voice of hard working law enforcement families in Washington,” he has repeatedly voted against measures to help local police departments.
He has voted three times against funding for community oriented policing services such as $10 million for the Drug Enforcement Administration to carry out anti-methamphetamine-related activities and $7.5 million for competitive grants to law-enforcement agencies across the country, including Pennsylvania, to investigate illicit drug activities and methamphetamine traffickers.
He has voted three times against about $1 billion in state and local law enforcement grants, contracts and cooperative agreements, including:
$376 million for the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant program, which helps local police departments combat criminal activity through training programs and purchasing general equipment
$14.2 million for victim services programs for victims of trafficking
$40.5 million for drug courts
$8.2 million for mental health courts and adult and juvenile collaboration program grants
$20 million for sex offender management assistance
$8 million for an initiative relating to children exposed to violence
$22.5 million for the matching grant program for law enforcement armor vest
$1 million for the National Sex Offender Public Website
$8.5 million for competitive and evidence-based programs to reduce gun crime and gang violence
$48.5 million for grants to states to upgrade criminal and mental health records in the National Instant Criminal Background Check System
$4 million for a veterans treatment courts program
$750,000 for the purposes described in the Missing Alzheimer’s Disease Patient Alert Program
$7 million for a program to monitor prescription drugs and scheduled listed chemical products
$2 million to operate a National Center for Campus Public Safety $12.5 million for the Office of Victims of Crime for supplemental victims’ services and other victim-related programs and initiatives, including research and statistics, and for tribal assistance for victims of violence
$75 million for the Comprehensive School Safety Initiative
•Toomey has also voted three times against funding for the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to provide laboratory assistance to state and local law enforcement agencies with or without reimbursement.
3.Toomey also voted against the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act in December after publicly refusing for months to support extending health care benefits to the American heroes at Ground Zero, because he said it was too expensive to care for them.
•In June, he even refused to meet with the 9/11 first responders suffering from cancer and other serious illnesses who came to his office asking for help.
•The bill that Toomey voted against expands federal health monitoring and treatment through 2090, giving our brave 9/11 first responders certainty that their commitment to saving lives on 9/11 is matched by our national commitment to provide them care for the illnesses they contracted as a result.
4.Between 2012 and 2014, Toomey also voted against a total of more than $8.6 billion to protect correctional officers and make prisons safer.
•Toomey voted against $2.9 billion for federal prison security and administration. This money would be used to better protect prison guards in 2014. This reflects an $86 million increase from 2012.
•Toomey voted against $2.7 billion for federal prison security and administration in 2013.
•Toomey voted against $2.8 billion for federal prison security and administration in 2012.
•Toomey voted against $67.1 million in federal prison modernization and repair in 2014. These upgrades and fixes allow prisons to protect and handle more inmates, more quickly, which also keeps prison guards safe.
•Toomey voted against $71.7 million in federal prison modernization and repair in 2013.
•Toomey voted against $67.1 million in federal prison modernization and repair in 2012.
(Sestak website). 

IF THE POLLS ARE TO BE BELIEVED, PETERS IS THE GUY

STATE-WIDE AG POLL: 74% OF GOP VOTERS UNDECIDED, 75% WANT A CAREER PROSECUTOR

Scranton’s Joe Peters. (Photo: LuLac archives).

 In the first poll in the GOP primary for Attorney General, Republican primary voters overwhelmingly declared they prefer a career prosecutor such as Joe Peters to a career politician such as 13-year State Senator John Rafferty.
GOP voters said by a 77-5% margin that they prefer a career prosecutor as the GOP nominee for Attorney General; in fact overall 67% of Republican voters strongly prefer a career prosecutor as AG. Joe Peters began his law enforcement career as a cop, served as the state’s top drug prosecutor and served two presidents as a top official in the White House Drug Czar’s office. As a federal Mafia prosecutor, Peters helped put away Philadelphia Mob boss Little Nicky Scarfo and his gang.
When voters were given a brief positive background of both candidates, they supported someone with Peters’ background by a 62-11% margin.
Q. Candidate A for attorney general started his career as a cop, spent 17 years in the attorney general’s office and became the state’s top drug prosecutor, served as a federal mafia prosecutor who put away Philly Mob boss Little Nicky Scarfo, and served two presidents in top positions in the White House Drug Czar’s office. Candidate B has served in the state Senate for 13 years and chairs the Transportation Committee, worked for three years in the attorney general’s office and operates a private law practice. Are you more likely to support candidate A or candidate B?
Results: 62% prefer Candidate A (Peters) while just 11% prefer Candidate B (Rafferty), while 27% are undecided.
Further, when given specifics about some of Rafferty’s votes in the Senate and his supporters, Republican voters, by a 75-11% margin, are negative.
Q. If you knew that a candidate for Attorney General had supported Gov. Rendell’s billion dollar state tax increase, opposed Paycheck Protection and taken tens of thousands of dollars from the Trial Lawyers lobby and big union bosses, would that make you more or less likely to vote for him?
Results: 66% much less likely to vote for this candidate; 9% somewhat less likely, 11% more likely, 14% undecided.
Rafferty has received tens of thousands of dollars in contributions from the Trial Lawyer’s association, as well as from UFCW-1776 and IBEW-98.
In the head to head question, asked first in the poll, 10% of GOP voters said they would support Joe Peters of Wyoming County while 16% said they would support John Rafferty of Montgomery County; 74% of voters were undecided.
“The Republican primary for Attorney General is wide open,” said Peters, “but voters overwhelmingly say they prefer a career prosecutor like me rather than a career politician like Sen. Rafferty. I am the most qualified and experienced person in this race as I am the only candidate — of either party — who has local, state, national and international law enforcement experience,” said Peters.
The PA GOP cannot risk a repeat of last year, when the Democrats swept the judicial races, stated Peters. “I am pro-life, pro-2nd Amendment and unlike Sen. Rafferty I support common sense reforms such as Paycheck Protection,” said Peters.
The IVR poll, conducted by Eagle Consulting Group of Harrisburg on March 9th, surveyed 230 likely Republican voters, those who had voted in at least one of the past four primaries. The margin of error is +/- 5.55%.
Joe Peters began his long career at the Office of Attorney General (OAG) as an intern and later rose to be the state’s top drug prosecutor, as the first Executive Deputy Attorney General of the Office’s Drug and Organized Crime Division. He served state Attorneys General and U.S. Presidents from both parties, who sought him out because they wanted the best and brightest, not a political crony. By contrast, his GOP opponent Sen. John Rafferty, spent just a few years in the OAG’s office working Medicaid fraud cases back in the late 1980’s.
Joe oversaw the country’s 26 High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) programs and their budget of $250 million, and he represented the White House with police, prosecutors, governors, mayors and non-governmental organizations during his time there as Assistant Deputy Director for State & Local Affairs in the Drug Czar’s office.
As a Federal Prosecutor, Joe’s accomplishments include the convictions of Philadelphia Mob Boss “Little Nicky” Scarfo, his underboss, and 16 mob soldiers. This trial, conducted by Joe and several other Federal Prosecutors, resulted in one of the most significant Mafia family convictions in U.S. history. As a result, he received the United States Department of Justice’s John Marshall Award. The Associated Press called Joe and his fellow prosecutors the “Modern Day Untouchables.”
Joe has presented to law enforcement officials from around the world, and has trained military and civilian personnel in Panama and consulted with law enforcement in Italy, the UK, Dubai, Kuwait and Qatar. A native of Lackawanna County, Joe’s expertise on these issues has been recognized by Fox News, CNN and television networks as far away as London and Italy which have asked for his expert on-air commentary. Additionally, for many years, Joe hosted his own radio show, “Tough Talk with Joe Peters.”
Joe graduated from King’s College and later the Dickinson School of Law. He is a member of the E. B. Jermyn Lodge #2 Fraternal Order of Police and has been honored by the PA Chiefs of Police Association by being named a Life Member. He is an associate member of the Pennsylvania District Attorney’s Association and a member of the International Association of Chiefs of Police, where he sits on its Terrorism Committee. Joe is the oldest of five children of Gene and Peg Peters and is the proud father of his son Max; his father served two-terms as a GOP Mayor of Scranton. In 2004 Joe was the Republican nominee for Pennsylvania Auditor General. (Joe Peters website)

MEDIA MATTERS

TOPIC A ON WYLN TV 35

Join us this week as we sit in with WYLN TV 35’s Gary Perna on Topic A. The show can be seen on Service Electric Channel 7 in Wilkes Barre and Hazleton. Air and date times are: Friday March 25th, 7:00PM, Saturday March 26th, 5:30PM, Sunday March 27th at 9:00AM and Tuesday March 29th at 5:00PM.

ECTV

ECTV Live hosts David DeCosmo and Rusty Fender tackle the dangerous and potentially deadly habit of Distracted Driving during the week of March 28th. April is Distracted Driving Month and Eileen Woelkers Miller, who has been campaigning for stronger laws since her son was killed in a Distracted Driving accident, will be their guest on the program. 

ECTV Live is Directed by Mark Migilore and can be seen on Comcast channel 19 (61 in some areas) at Noon, 6pm, and Midnight throughout the week.

BOLD GOLD COMMUNITY FORUM

State Representative Aaron Kaufer will discuss the passage of a state budget Sunday morning. The show airs at 6 am on 94.3 The Talker; 6;30 on The Game Sports Radio 1400/1440 am and 106.7 fm; and at 7:30 am on 105 The River.

SUNDAY MAGAZINE

This Week on Sunday Magazine
Brian Hughes speaks with local country music sensation Dani-elle Kleha about her career and her "Positive Youth Tour" for high school students.
This Week in Harrisburg examines the end of Pennsylvania's 9 month budget stalemate. State Rep. Karen Boback weighs in. Some Senate Democrats are working on legislation to make Pennsylvania's water safer from lead contamination, and GOP legislation to combat illegal immigration.
And Brian speaks with Dr. Rick Sheff, author of the book "Joyfully Shattered, A Physician's Awakening at the Crossroads of Science and Spirituality".
Sunday Magazine, Sunday morning at 5am on NASH-FM, 93.7, 5:30am on 97BHT, 6am on 97.9X and Sports Radio 590, WARM & 6:25am on Magic 93.

SUE HENRY’S SPECIAL EDITION

Tune in to Sue Henry's "Special Edition" this week as Sue recaps the week's news. Special Edition is heard Saturdays and Sunday on these Entercom stations, WILK FM Saturday at 2pm Sunday at 6 am on Froggy 101 Sunday at 7 am on The Sports Hub 102.3 Sunday at 7 am on K R Z 98.5 Sunday at noon on WILK FM 103.1.

BUDDY RUMCHEK

Want to hear some great parodies on the news? Tune in to WILK Radio at 6:40 and 8:40 AM on Mondays. As Ralph Cramden used to say, “It’s a laugh riot!”

KAREL ON THE STREET

Tune in Wednesdays on WILK Radio for Karel on the Street. Hear some of the funniest and heartwarming comments on the issues of the day on Webster and Nancy with Karel Zubris.

BOBBY V’S DOO WOP SOCK HOP!!!!!

The Doo-Wop Sock Hop can be heard every Sunday night from 6P to 9P on “105 The River (104.9 FM) Host is the incomparable Bobby V. www.105theriver.net www.doowopsockhop.net

1971

Our 1971 logo.

The Ed Sullivan Show airs its final episode……Here's one of the classic performances

U.S. Army Lieutenant William Calley is found guilty of 22 murders in the My Lai Massacre and sentenced to life in prison (he is later pardoned)but not before becoming part of American pop culture that year

A Los Angeles jury recommends the death penalty for Charles Manson and 3 female followers……in Pennsylvania Senator Richard Schweiker says that the Nixon administration has to begin to de-escalate the Vietnam War……in Wilkes Barre plans are underway for the celebration of the city’s Centennial and 45 years ago the number one song in LuLac land and America was “Me and Bobby McGee” by Janis Joplin.