Glad to hear it. I hope his recovery has gone smoothly.

People are allowed to be sick. If it looks like he'll be back to work soon, then I want him to keep his seat. I like Fetterman and want him to be my Senator. If it looks like it'll be a long road to recovery, I want him to step down. His health is more important than trying to do a job that someone else could do just as easily.

Defense Minister was just fired. Guess we know whose next.

But it's all about protecting kids, right?

"She was sentenced to House arrest despite multiple term violations, and was permitted to go to the Renn Faire not once, but twice."

Hmm, I wonder white she was allowed to do that?

As someone who used to go to school in Harrisburg and had class mates who lived in Philly and commuted, do not do this. Yes it is possible. No job is worth four hours on a train per day (two hrs each way). Maybe if its a once a week kinda thing, but every day? Don't torture yourself like that.

Four years of time, I guess?

Lower tuition costs- Many people want to go into teaching but are unwilling to take out a 100k loan in order to do it.

Raise teacher's salaries- The higher the pay, the more applicants. Pretty simple economics here.

Vote in school board elections (and really all elections) to elect pro-education candidates- Across the State and the country, right wing anti education nut jobs have been running in off year, low turn out school board elections and are winning. Their ridiculous policies are causing teachers to leave in droves. This isn't just isolated to local elections either. In Florida, teachers are quitting in droves due to the disgusting policies of Ron Desantis. It breaks my heart seeing all those photos of bookshelves empty or covered up.

Continue to fight the pandemic/sickness in general/embrace scientific consensus in public health policy/law- Schools (especially elementary and younger) are giant petri dishes, and many teachers have quit due to the fact that they just keep getting sick. If we get vaccination rates up, wear masks during cold and flu season, promote hand washing, avoiding crowds, etc, then teachers will be less likely to call out sick or quit due to illness.

Figure out a more equitable way to fund our public schools- Recently, the PA Supreme Court struck down the current way PA schools are funded, which essentially has been keeping schools from wealthy districts well funded and inner city schools underfunded. This is only half the battle. We need to rebuild the way we fund our public schools in a more equitable way to ensure that inner city schools have the funds they need, considering that these are the schools most desperate for teachers.

New Hope PA is a very lovely town with a small yet vibrant LGBT culture if you're looking for towns to move to.

Zabel's defense here seems to be "I was drunk". So yeah not a great excuse.

https://6abc.com/democratic-rep-mike-zabel-lawmaker-resigns-sexual-harassment-delaware-county/12929639/

After looking into the district profile, the current version of it leans pretty heavily Democrat. Its not a done deal that a Dem will win the special election, but its far from a massive risk they're taking here.

I'm sure he was a fine representitive and served his community well, but that's not really the point. It doesn't matter how good you are at your job, if you commit sexual abuse, you don't deserve to hold public office.

This is a seat that the GOP held from the 1970s until 2018. Oh boy.

"That "When they go low, we go high" bullshit gets you curb stomped in elections because the general public doesn't care about this and it blows over fast."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_United_States_Senate_special_election_in_Alabama

Because Dems need to hold themselves to a higher standard?

I've heard Luna Azteca is decent. But it probably doesn't hold a candle to whst you're used to.

School Boards across the state are being taken over by the ultra-right wing who want to make the next generation of students as dumb as they are, and making teacher's lives Hell in order to do it. Just look at that High School librarian in Bucks County who the school board demanded take down a poster of an Elie Weisel quote. If we want to fix the teacher shortage, we need to ensure good people win school board elections and stop this non-sense.

Does the PA House have a motion to vaccate?

There are still a few republicans who opperate in good faith. That's how Rozzi got the job in the first place.

A widow's succession would not be a good idea here. John Fetterman is almost certainly not leaving the Senate, but if he does it would likely be Conor Lamb to replace him, as that's who the Democratic establishment wanted in the first place.

I DNFed at 100 pages. It was the densest novel I ever attempted to read.

Didn't Shapiro lift Wolf's notoriously strict gift bans on day one?

I emailed Brian Fitzpatrick about the Sunlight Protection Act. Needless to say, he did not respond.

He's definitely one of my favorites as well. The audiobooks narrated by Scott Sowers are excellent.

The process for replacing a US Senator is the same in every state. Governor appoints a temporary replacement, special election must occur within two years. If the term is less than two years from ending, special election is not necessary. Shapiro could appoint anyone, and at one point in time appointing the wife of the Senator who stepped down or died was extremely common, but these days its unheard of. Shapiro would probably appoint Conor Lamb or Malcolm Kenyatta or somebody like that.