RandomNumbers
RandomNumbers's JournalPUC suspends PA American Water rate increases pending investigation
https://www.wfmz.com/news/area/lehighvalley/public-utility-commission-suspends-pa-american-water-rate-increases-pending-investigation/article_582e9fae-3d7c-4a85-a1a7-d7f7e9e354b1.html...
The Commission voted 5-0 to investigate PAWC’s proposed overall increase of $168.7 million (approximately 14.6%) in total annual operating revenues for water and wastewater service.
As proposed, PAWC customers would have seen the following rate changes:
* For a typical residential water customer using 3,263 gallons a month, an increase ranging from $2.73 per month to $27.77 per month, an increase between 9.8% and 41.14%, depending on their service area.
* For a typical wastewater customer using 3,164 gallons a month, an increase ranging from $0 per month to $26.29 per month, an increase between 0% and 54.14%, depending on their service area.
* For customers with combined stormwater and wastewater systems, an increase of approximately $20 per month.
The rate increase request is now suspended for up to seven months from the proposed effective date of Jan. 13, 2026 based on Thursday's vote by the Commission, and will be assigned to the PUC’s Office of Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) for investigation and recommended decisions, according to the release.
Everyday People - Playing for Change (great song for family gathering!)
This is a great song for sharing at Thanksgiving, because it is showcasing all kinds of kids of all ages. 
NPR: Judge says Education Dept. partisan out-of-office emails violated First Amendment
https://www.npr.org/2025/11/08/nx-s1-5602859/education-department-out-of-office-emails-rulingA federal judge ruled that the Trump administration violated the First Amendment rights of Education Department employees when it replaced their personalized out-of-office e-mail notifications with partisan language blaming Democrats for the government shutdown.
"When government employees enter public service, they do not sign away their First Amendment rights," U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper wrote in his decision on Friday, "and they certainly do not sign up to be a billboard for any given administration's partisan views."
(snip)
... on the shutdown's first day, the department's deputy chief of staff for operations overrode staffers' personal messages and replaced them with this partisan autoreply:
"Thank you for contacting me. On September 19, 2025, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 5371, a clean continuing resolution. Unfortunately, Democrat Senators are blocking passage of H.R. 5371 in the Senate which has led to a lapse in appropriations. Due to the lapse in appropriations I am currently in furlough status. I will respond to emails once government functions resume."
While the message was written in the first person, multiple employees told NPR they did not write it and were not told it would replace the out-of-office messages they had written.
...
PA Supreme Court (Dem judges) retention - looking good
Okay only 14% counted but looking very good so far. ( >80% yes for retention)
Track it here -
https://whyy.org/articles/pennsylvania-2025-election-results/#Supreme
Oh and Larry Krasner is KICKING ASS in the Philly AG race. (not surprising of course)
Is there a list somewhere, as a credible source? (possibly answered my own question ...)
I know what you say is true, but it would be handy to be backed up with a quick reference to the entire list, with credible sources.
Oh wait -
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_granted_executive_clemency_in_the_first_Trump_presidency
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_granted_executive_clemency_in_the_second_Trump_presidency
State murder of a black man. Or, why I oppose the death penalty.
Alabama executes man on death row by controversial nitrogen gas method
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/oct/23/alabama-execution-nitrogen-gas-anthony-boyd
(emphasis added)
Anthony Boyd, 54, was sent to the death chamber at the William C Holman correctional facility on Thursday evening.
...
Boyd has always protested his innocence. The prosecution case depended on the testimony of an eyewitness with no forensic evidence connecting Boyd to the crime.
“I didn’t kill anybody. I didn’t participate in any killing,” Boyd said when he phoned in to a recent press conference held by his supporters.
His death sentence was handed down by a jury vote of 10 to two. Alabama and Florida are the only states that allow people to be sent to death row on the basis of a non-unanimous jury verdict.
Maybe he helped burn that man alive ... perhaps the excruciating method of execution seems deserved, then?
But, what if he DIDN'T ??
Red Dirt Girl - Emmylou Harris and Mark Knopfler
One thing they don't tell bout the blues
When you got em
you keep on fallin'
cause there ain't no bottom
there ain't no end
Chairman Trump: has the US turned its back on free-market capitalism? (The Guardian)
I know most of us here are not in love with (grossly unregulated) free-market capitalism, but perhaps this article should be shared with so-called conservatives. And especially the picture at the top. (if I knew how to make the image appear here I would. I tried the link to the image but it did not work.)
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/aug/30/chairman-trump-us-economy
Chairman Trump: has the US turned its back on free-market capitalism?
Callum Jones
in New York
...
While Chairman Mao Zedong, founder of the People’s Republic of China, had been fundamentally opposed to free markets and capitalism, Reagan argued that societies which enjoyed “the most spectacular progress” were the ones where people had been “permitted to think for themselves, make economic decisions, and benefit from their own risks”.
What would Reagan make of a country that, in a matter of weeks, became the largest shareholder in a microchip manufacturer; demanded a cut of firms’ overseas sales in exchange for export licenses; and fired a statistics official after government data embarrassed its ruling party?
In just the past week, senior government officials in the country have pushed to exert control over its central bank; ordered a tech giant to strike a deal with a supportive media conglomerate; and successfully urged a restaurant chain to reverse a rebrand.
This is not China. It is the United States, under a Republican president, in 2025.
...
Saving your 100K+ household $ on the backs of the disadvantaged.
Okay then.
Great for you, but not everything that benefits you personally is necessarily good policy, right?
https://govfacts.org/explainer/how-the-one-big-beautiful-bill-impacts-social-security/
And how will you feel with a 20 - 25% benefit cut starting in 2032?
https://www.fool.com/retirement/2025/06/29/social-security-benefit-cuts-are-coming-timeline/
(ignore the ads, this article has some good analysis from a site that is credible for this type of info)
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