The LuLac Edition #4, 822, October 6th, 2022

MAX BAER DIES, WILL BE REPLACED BY

 

 FIRST WOMAN TO HOLD CHIEF JUSTICE 

POST

 

Pa. Supreme Court Justice Max Baer (Photo: Philadelphia Inquirer)

Pennsylvania Supreme Court Chief Justice Max Baer, 74, hailed as a longtime advocate for children and families, died at his home near Pittsburgh overnight, just months before he was due to retire, the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts announced Saturday morning. The cause of death was not disclosed.

Justice Debra A. Todd, who like Baer is a Democrat from Western Pennsylvania, becomes the new chief justice, the first woman to lead the state Supreme Court. Of the six other justices, Todd had the longest continuous service on the court, joining it in 2008. She turns 65 later this month.

“This is a tremendous loss for the Court and all of Pennsylvania,” Todd said in announcing the death of the man who had been working to ensure a smooth transition to her leadership upon his mandatory retirement in December, when he would have turned 75.

“Chief Justice Baer was an influential and intellectual jurist whose unwavering focus was on administering fair and balanced justice,” Todd said. “He was a tireless champion for children, devoted to protecting and providing for our youngest and most vulnerable citizens.”

Baer’s replacement on the seven-member court must be appointed by the governor and confirmed by two-thirds of the state Senate. Whether that appointment will be made by the term-limited Tom Wolf, a Democrat, or his successor is not yet known. The state Senate is scheduled to meet only seven more times this year.

 

PASHINSKI: CHILD CARE PROGRAMS CAN CHANGE LIVES

State Representative Eddie Day Pashinski (Photo: LuLac archives)

 Pa. state Rep. Eddie Day Pashinski joined Governor Tom Wolf in Wilkes-Barre to highlight a $25 million child care tax credit program that will help working families better afford care and provide children with more opportunities to succeed.

 

REP. CARTWRIGHT ANNOUNCES $550,000 FOR SURVIVORS OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE IN LUZERNE COUNTY

Representative Matt Cartwright (Photo: LuLac archives)

U.S. Representative Matt Cartwright (PA-08) announced $550,000 in federal funding will be awarded to Wilkes-Barre’s Domestic Violence Service Center to provide transitional housing assistance for area victims of domestic violence and their children. The funds will be disbursed by the Department of Justice Office on Violence and Against Women. 

“No one should feel like they have to stay in an abusive or dangerous situation to keep a roof over their head. The Domestic Violence Service Center is doing essential work to help victims and their children move forward with their lives with a roof over their heads,” said Rep. Cartwright. “I am grateful for their efforts, and I am proud to support this lifesaving funding in Congress.”

“Domestic Violence Service Center is appreciative of this funding, as requests for housing assistance and stability have exploded and lengths of stays expanded due to lack of safe available housing resources,” said Paula M. Triano, Executive Director of the Domestic Violence Service Center. “The pandemic exacerbated an already insidious problem in our communities and funding will allow continuation of housing and support services for domestic violence victims and their children.”

Since 1976, the Domestic Violence Service Center has offered free and confidential services to victims of domestic violence and their children. Their services include a 24-hour hotline, crisis intervention and supportive counseling. The Center also offers court advocacy, community outreach, and life and parenting skills trainings and workshops to empower survivors in Luzerne and Carbon counties.

Administered by the Department of Justice’s Office of Violence Against Women, Transitional Housing Assistance Grants for Victims of Domestic Violence, Dating Violence, Sexual Assault and Stalking Program provides funding to organizations that offer survivors a minimum of six months of housing support as well as support and follow up services.

 

CASEY, KLOBUCHAR, BLUMENTHAL BILL TO PREVENT FURNITURE TIP-OVER INJURY AND DEATH PASSES SENATE

SINCE 2000, MORE THAN 460 U.S. CHILDREN HAVE DIED FROM TIP-OVERS

BILL HAS SUPPORT OF IKEA, ROOM & BOARD, CRATE & BARREL AND WILLIAMS-SONOMA

 Senator Bob Casey  (Photo: LuLac archives)

U.S. Senators Bob Casey Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) announced the Senate passage of the Stop Tip-overs of Unstable, Risky Dressers on Youth (STURDY) Act, legislation to prevent furniture tip-overs resulting in injury or death. The STURDY Act has the support of a robust coalition of organizations, including consumer groups and Parents Against Tip-overs, and manufacturers and retailers like IKEA, the American Home Furnishings Alliance, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Room & Board, Crate & Barrel and Williams-Sonoma. Senators Casey, Klobuchar and Blumenthal reintroduced the STURDY Act in February 2021. It was first introduced by Senator Casey in June 2016.

“Because of inadequate safety standards and testing for furniture tip-overs, families across the country have experienced the unimaginable tragedy of losing a child to a furniture accident. I am proud to see that the STURDY Act has passed the Senate and is on its way to making much-needed reforms to make homes safer for children,” said Senator Casey.

“No family should live in fear that their child could be severely injured or even killed by preventable accidents,” said Klobuchar. “By strengthening our furniture safety standards, the STURDY Act will help protect more children from the risks of furniture tip-overs. Now that this bill has passed the Senate, I look forward to seeing it signed into law.”

“The STURDY Act will enact strong furniture stability standards to prevent deadly tip-overs and protect children. I am pleased it passed the Senate and I will fight for its quick enactment into law so that no more families are forced to grieve the preventable death of their child,” said Senator Blumenthal.

The STURDY Act would change the stability standard for manufacturers of clothing storage units from voluntary to mandatory—requiring companies to ensure their products are tested for safety and stability before being sold. According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), tip-overs cause an average of 25,500 emergency room-treated injuries each year as children are crushed, trapped or struck by furniture, TVs and appliances. Product instability that leads to a tip-over incident can be caused or affected by an unstable dresser design such as a small base and top heavy, use on a sloped or unstable surface such as carpet, not using a restraint device or using a defective tip-over restraint device, heavy objects placed on top of a dresser such as a TV, or multiple dresser drawers open simultaneously. The bill also requires rigorous testing measures for furniture, simulation of real-world use and warning requirements based on the most up-to-date safety standards.

 

GOV. WOLF ANNOUNCES AVAILABILITY OF $5 MILLION FOR ORGANIZATIONS TARGETED BY HATE CRIMES

Governor Tom Wolf (Photo: LuLac archives)

Governor Tom Wolf announced today the availability of $5 million in funding to support security enhancement projects for nonprofit organizations serving diverse communities, and more frequently targeted by hate crimes, throughout the commonwealth.

“Hate has no place here in Pennsylvania,” said Gov. Wolf. “No Pennsylvanian should be afraid to worship with their community, love who they love, or be who they are – that’s why this program is so important to me and I’ve committed $20 million to protecting the diverse communities of this commonwealth.”

Governor Wolf signed HB 859 to create the Nonprofit Security Program in November 2019, one year after the Pittsburgh Tree of Life synagogue shooting that claimed the lives of 11 worshippers. Since then, the governor has invested $15 million in more than 350 projects across the commonwealth that aim to enhance the physical security for churches, synagogues, temples, mosques, and other non-profit organizations which face bias and are subject to hate crimes.

Administered by the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency (PCCD), the Nonprofit Security Grant Program administers grants to organizations that are included within a bias motivation category for single bias hate crime incidents as identified by the FBI’s Hate Crime Statistics publication.

Interested organizations can find the application and information about the program on PCCD’s website. Grant awards can range from $5,000 to $150,000 for a wide variety of eligible items, including safety and security planning and training; purchase of safety and security equipment and technology; upgrades to existing structures that enhance safety and security; and vulnerability and threat assessments.

While Pennsylvania saw an alarming uptick in hate crimes from 2020 through 2021, according to data from the Pennsylvania State Police Uniform Crime Reporting System, the state is on-track for a decrease in the number of total reported hate crimes for 2022.

From 2016 through 2019, Pennsylvania saw an average of 88 hate crimes annually. In 2020, incidents of hate crimes rose by 27% to 112. Just this past year in 2021, there was a shocking 210% increase to 347 crimes. So far in 2022, 182 hate crimes have been reported which is about 30% less based on a monthly average compared to 2021. It is important to note, however, that hate crimes are overwhelmingly underreported. At one point, the U.S. Department of Justice estimated that nearly two-thirds of hate crimes are never reported.

PCCD will accept applications to the program from Friday, September 30, 2022 through Monday, October 31, 2022. Applications will be reviewed by a Commission-established workgroup comprised of representatives of PCCD, the Pennsylvania State Police, and the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security, with awards being announced in December 2022.

Governor Wolf is a leader consistently at work for the people of Pennsylvania. Learn more about how his Priorities for Pennsylvania have fueled the commonwealth’s comeback, leaving Pennsylvania in a much better place than when he arrived.

 

MEDIA MATTERS 

 

WALN TV 

SERVICE ELECTRIC CHANNEL 137

 

BOLD GOLD COMMUNITY FORUM

 This week's guests are Nicole Shapiro and Rocco Genovese from the Lackawanna County Recycling Department.You'll hear the program Sunday at 6 on 94.3 The Talker; 6:30 on The Mothership 1340/1400 am; and at 7:30 on 105 The River

 

BOBBY V’S DOO WOP SOCK HOP SATURDAY NIGHT

 

 1975

Our 1975 logo.

For the first time in American television history, major TV networks declined a request to interrupt programming to broadcast a speech by a U.S. President. The nationwide address by President Gerald Ford was carried only by the ABC Television Network…..Five days after President Ford vetoed an extension of the federal school lunch and nutrition program, both houses of Congress voted to override, 397-18 in the House and 79-13 in the Senate….East Germany and the Soviet Union signed a new Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance, although their 1964 Friendship Treaty still had nine years to run. The 20-year treaty was to run until 1995, although East Germany would end in 1990 and the Soviet Union in 1991…John Lennon, formerly of The Beatles, won the right to stay in the United States after a four-year legal battle to avoid deportation, as a panel of a U.S. Appeals Court ruled 2–1 to reverse an INS order of deportation.Two days later, Lennon would celebrate his 35th birthday and the birth of his son, Sean…..West Germany and Poland signed three agreements in Warsaw, with Poland agreeing to allow 125,000 former German nationals to emigrate to West Germany, in return for two billion deutschmarks worth of credit. Major German cities that became part of Poland after 1945 were Breslau (Wrocław), Danzig (Gdańsk), Stettin (Szczecin), Schneidemühl (Piła), Glewitz (Gliwice) and Thorn (Toruń)…. Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton remarried, with a civil ceremony taking place in the African nation of Botswana. Although their first marriage lasted from 1964 to 1974, the second union would end in 1976….NBC aired the first episode of Saturday Night Live. Comedian George Carlin was the first host, and Billy Preston and Janis Ian were the first musical guests…….  

Bill Clinton, 29, and Hillary Rodham, 27, both professors at the University of Arkansas School of Law in Fayetteville, Arkansas, were married at their home on 930 West California Drive…

  

and the number one song in LuLac land and America this week in 1975 was “Bad Blood” by Neil Sedaka.