Recent happenings

Well! All sorts of interesting things brewing at the state level while I'm not watching (or at least not blogging, sigh).

1. Much to my surprise, Pennsylvania passed a smoking ban at the state level! Where did that come from? Harrisburg is a mysterious place.
   
   
2. Recent attempts to reform the effects of lobbying on the state legislature are having some effects, at least in keeping our legislators honest: some lobbying firms are reporting substantial gifts that the recipients conveniently forgot to report. oops!! Revised reports are a good place to start, kids; let's try actually being honest with the voters next time!
   
   
3. There's an anti-gerrymandering bill stuck in committee in the state legislature right now. Chris Satullo suggests that everybody contact their representative to help get it back into the pipeline. Josephs is the Chair of the committee, so her perennial challengers should in particular take heed of this moment.

We now return you to your regular programming.