Thursday news roundup

Time is tight today, so here are just some quick pointers to the articles that caught my eye today:

• Philadelphia's school principals got to pick more of their teachers under the new contract this year (rather than assignments coming by seniority).
  
  
• The end of the year apparently brings a deadline for many areas to revamp or replace their voting systems, to accord with the Help America Vote Act. It's more about preventing hanging chads than about making sure that voters have a record of their ballot, so unclear whether it will achieve meaningful improvements, even if all the counties can get stuff done.
  
  
• Mayor John Street has officially picked a new education secretary, who just happens to come from the stables of US Rep. Chaka Fattah. (Plenty of fodder there for those looking for alliance-building for 2007.) They hope, in part, to reclaim control of the school system from the state.
  
  
• An Inquirer article points out the dangers of identity theft and suggests simple precautions to keep your information more secure.
  
  
• A Harrisburg legislator is introducing a bill, with Rendell's support, to roll back the "unvouchered expenses" route to an early government pay-raise. Good luck.
  
  
• Santorum continues his feisty book tour, delivering a condemnation of liberals during an appearance at the Intercollegiate Studies Institute (a conservative think-tank) yesterday.