Thursday news round-up

• State news
  
  
  
  • Pennsylvania's two US Senators, Santorum and Specter, often vote alike, but they find themselves on opposite sides of the immigration debate; in particular, Santorum opposes measures to grant current illegal immigrants a path to legitimacy and citizenship.
    
    
  • Gubernatorial hopeful Lynn Swann is charging that the state's welfare rolls are "bloated," but welfare agencies say he's speaking from outdated information. Additionally, Swann had no prescriptions for the situation.
    
    
  • In a move that I seem to have missed over the weekend, State Sen. Vince Fumo joined other regional reps in voting to take away from city pols any control over where casinos end up. Trying to stay away from a hot potato? Selling out the efforts of the Street commission and others after the fact? Hard to say, but it sure doesn't sound like an effort in making sure that constituents are being best served...
    
    
  • I gotta say I'm underwhelmed with the new PA bumper-sticker motto. Perhaps a symptom of my being a transplant, but shoo-fly pie conjurs the South for me...
  
  
• Local/city news
  
  
  
  • Philadelphia's budgets must get cleared by a state advisory board, which yesterday approved the latest 5-year plan submitted by Street. Their approval did require the cut in some expenses, and came with some mutterings about rosy projections of potential revenue streams...
    
    
  • An Inquirer piece speculates that next year's mayoral candidates may have to campaign on slim funding, between the new contribution limits and uncertainty about the size (and identity) of the final field. Fewer ads, more door-knocking; seems ok to me!
    
    
  • SEPTA is facing another possible labor dispute, this time with Regional Rail workers, who have been working without a contract for nearly a year. The major difference is over wages.
    
    
  • DN columnist Ronnie Polaneczky admits that schools czar Paul Vallas may be a handful, but opines that we'd be crazy to let him go. I agree that a lot of his promise is still unrealized, but his presence has given a lot of people hope for the first time in many years.
    
    
  • An Inquirer editorial points out recent evidence to indicate that second-hand smoke is even more of a hazard than previously recognized, concluding that City Council's recently enacted smoking ban is coming none too soon. They urge the Mayor to sign it without delay.
    
    
  • A Daily News opinion piece says that while "stop-n-go" nuisance bars are a serious problem, the court was right in thinking that the attempt to put City Council in charge of licensing wasn't the right solution -- that we can find a route that doesn't eliminate due process.
    
    
  • The new CityPaper has as its cover story the anti-war grannies and their demonstration at military recruiting headquarters on Broad St. A number were arrested and will go to court late this fall.
    
    
  • Another CP story looks at the activities of the mayoral exploratory committee of US Rep. Chaka Fattah and its undeclared but busy fundraising and idea-gathering. In particular, they've been holding hearings on a variety of issues with experts and agencies working on those questions; perhaps they'll put together some great plans for the city's future.
    
    
  • A new online service offers city-goers a glimpse of restaurant menus from a whole range of types of places. Seems great for visitors and residents alike, and a boon for new businesses as well.