Pennsylvania
Weather threatens NHL Winter Classic
League may have to delay annual New Year's Day outdoor game because of mild temperatures, rain
Pittsburgh is warming up to the Winter Classic, and that could be a problem for the NHL.
Forecasters are predicting moderate temperatures and rain showers for the Capitals-Penguins outdoor game Saturday, conditions that possibly could result in the game not starting as scheduled at 1 p.m. EST. The NHL is prepared to play the game as late as 8 p.m. if the weather improves.
The NHL could delay the game to Sunday but prefers not to because the NBC’s telecast would oppose NFL games on CBS and Fox.
The forecast for Friday’s team practices and the Capitals-Penguins alumni game featuring Mario Lemieux is cloudy with temperatures in the 50s.
Temperatures well above freezing should not affect the ice, but rain poses a risk to players.
Rendell: Ignore Obama primary talk
The Pennsylvania governor tells Salon no serious progressive contender will take on Obama in 2012
Ed Rendell and Barack Obama With talk bubbling up this week of a progressive primary challenge against President Obama in 2012, one prominent Democrat is having none of it: Outgoing Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell told Salon in an interview this afternoon that he does not think “there’s any chance of a serious contender mounting an effort against the president.”
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Justin Elliott is a reporter for ProPublica. You can follow him on Twitter @ElliottJustin More Justin Elliott.
Pennsylvania school nixes Biden’s rally for Democrat Lentz
Lentz campaign manager Kevin McTigue believes Republican officials are to blame for cancelation of event
A Democratic congressional candidate says a Philadelphia-area school district is playing politics by canceling a rally headlined by Vice President Joe Biden.
Biden is set to campaign Wednesday for Democrat Bryan Lentz in the home stretch of a close race for an open congressional seat.
Lentz, a state representative, is facing Republican Pat Meehan, a former U.S. attorney.
Lentz’s campaign manager says he signed a deal Friday to hold the rally at Radnor High School, only to have the plan unravel. Campaign manager Kevin McTigue believes Republican school officials are to blame.
A call to the district’s superintendent was not immediately returned Tuesday.
The event will instead be held at a township-owned gym.
Pennsylvania woman stabbed 45 times in home attack
Also killed were the victim's father, grandfather and neighbor who ran to their house after hearing screams
A Pennsylvania coroner says a woman suffered 45 knife wounds in an attack that also killed her father, grandfather and a neighbor who ran to their home after hearing screams.
Northampton County Coroner Zachary Lysek says 39-year-old Denise Merhi tried to defend herself as she was fatally stabbed June 26 inside her home.
Lysek testified Tuesday at the preliminary hearing for Merhi’s former boyfriend, 37-year-old convicted murder Michael Eric Ballard. He is charged with stabbing Merhi, her 62-year-old father, 87-year-old grandfather and a neighbor.
Lysek says all four victims were stabbed multiple times. Merhi’s grandfather was found dead in his wheelchair.
At the time of the killings, Ballard was on parole for a 1991 murder in Allentown and was living in a halfway house there.
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Information from: The Morning Call, http://www.mcall.com
Bloggers upset over Philadelphia tax
If a blog takes money for advertising it must pay for a business license: $50 a year or $300 for a lifetime
Bloggers in Philadelphia are up in arms about what they’re calling an unfair tax.
The city’s so-called business privilege license costs $50 a year or $300 for a lifetime.
If a blog takes money for advertising, or sells photographs or other goods, it’s a business and must pay for a license — no matter how little it makes — plus taxes on profits.
A spokesman for Mayor Michael Nutter says it’s is nothing new and it applies to any revenue-making enterprise, from large corporations to neighborhood pizza joints and mom-and-pop businesses.
Some bloggers are complaining that the fee would impinge on their free speech and would discourage dissent. They also say it’s unfair to require business to pay taxes if they’re making only $25 or $50 a year.
Police: Woman gives son to stranger on bus
A Pittsburgh resident is facing charges for leaving her 6-year-old while she was being arrested for shoplifting
A Pittsburgh woman faces charges after she allegedly left her 6-year-old son with a stranger on board a bus while she was being arrested on a shoplifting charge. Police said Portia Scoggins had two children with her Friday when she boarded a bus after taking items from a pharmacy, but just one when they pulled it over and arrested her.
Officers said Scoggins left the older child on board, giving a stranger the address for one of the boy’s friends and instructions to drop him off there.
Police later learned the boy had been on the bus and found him at the address Scoggins supplied to the stranger.
Online court records don’t detail the charges against Scoggins. A phone listing for her could not be located Monday.
The children are in the custody of county social workers.
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