PA in the WSJ

This is a few days late.

This is a list of articles regarding Pennsylvania in this week's Wall Street Journal. Chances are I missed something, but these are the articles that caught my eye.

It should be noted that I routinely do not read the editorials in the WSJ. So any discussions of the state, its elected officials, businesses, or citizens, in editorials will not be mentioned here.

PA Politicians

Bad news for the gov. In “For Clinton, 2000 fund-raising controversy lingers,” by John R. Emshwiller (9/14), the topic is bundler Peter Paul. Here is an excerpt:

In a court filing earlier this year, Mr. Paul said it was “impossible” for the Clinton team not to have known about his felony convictions because he was thoroughly vetted by Secret Service and Democratic Party officials. He also claims he was asked to lie about his role in the Hollywood fund-raiser by Edward Rendell, then chairman of the Democratic National Committee and now governor of Pennsylvania. Gov. Rendell, who isn’t a defendant in the lawsuit, didn’t know about Mr. Paul’s felonies until the Post reported on them and never asked Mr. Paul to lie, says a spokesman.

Citing a 9/17 Newsweek article, “The Informed Reader” on 9/11, mentions that “The Pennsylvania state legislature has appropriated $1 million for a program aimed at bringing African American men into the classroom.”

PA Businesses

From “GE’s environmental push hits business realities,” by Kathryn Kranhold (9/14):

To cut energy use, GE has launched more than 5,000 ‘energy hunts,’ which Mr. Immelt says have saved GE $100 million a year. At its Erie, Pa, locomotive operations, GE switched to natural gas fired power, form oil, saving money and cutting emissions in the manufacturing of locomotive engines.

PNC Bank of Pittsburgh assures us all is well in “Small banks risk catching credit ills,” by Robin Sidel and David Reilly (9/12)

In “Size of new homes starts shrinking as builders battle housing slump,” Kelly Evans (9/12) we find this:

Even Toll Brothers, Inc, known for its sprawling suburban “McMansons,” recognizes that buyers may want smaller homes, Kira McCarron, the company’s chief marketing officer sys Toll doesn’t track home size, but she concedes that there “probably is more demand for 3,000 versus 6,000 square foot” homes.”

“Drops in housing, autos pinch Midwestern jobs,” by Kris Maher mentions that a Michigan-based cabinet maker laid off 400 people in Ohio and Pennsylvania. (9/10)

Brief mentions:

Fox Rothschild of Philadelphia (9/14)
Endo Pharmaceuticals Holdings of Chadds Ford (9/11)

Other PA

On Friday, Sept. 14, the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine has an ad for it’s Alzheimer’s research.

“Legal loophole ensnares breast-cancer patients,” by John Carreyrou tells a heart-breaking story. According to the chart accompanying the article, Pennsylvania is one of the states that follow this pattern.

Ms. Loewe is one of thousands of women who get caught in a loophole in the Breast and Cervical Cancer Prevention and Treatment Act each year. Under the little-known law passed by Congress in 2000, uninsured women under age 65 who are diagnosed with breast or cervical cancer can have their treatment covered by Medicaid, the government-funded health program for the poor, even if they don’t meet all of its eligibility criteria.
But the law gives states an escape hatch. Rather than provide coverage to all comers, states can choose to cover only those diagnosed at clinics that get funding from a federal cancer-detection program.

If the woman in the story had gone to a difference clinic a few miles away her treatment would have been covered.

A study by two Wharton School professors points out that “The bulk of the average private-equity firm’s earnings come fees not from profits. (“It’s the fees, not the profits,” by Tennille Tracy 9/13)

A University of Pennsylvania professor is quoted in “FDA panel vote is a win for Amgen, J&J,” by Anna Wilde Mathews (9/12). Yet another in “A data-storage titan confraonts bias claims,” by William M. Bulkeley (9/12)

Barry Ginsberg, a Doylestown psychologist, is quoted in Sue Shellenbarger’s “Work & Family Mailbox” (9/12)

Lawyer to the stars Billy Martin grew up outside of Pittsburgh. (“For Billy Martin, media skills must match courtroom ability,” by Peter Lattman 9/12)

Mark your calendars. The Real Pirates exhibit will be coming to Philadelphia in 2008 (as noted in “The who, what, where of the Whydah: from slave ship to pirate vessel,” by Stuart Ferguson (9/12)

Other Interesting Tidbits

In presidential politics…

“Edwards tackles Katrina flap,” by Christopher Cooper (9/14)

From “Lights out for old bulbs?” by John J. Fialka and Kathryn Kranhold (9/13):

”It is not inconceivable that over the next 10 to 15 years that may be all incandescent lights will be removed from the global market,” he said. If that happened, he added, the resulting reduction in carbon-dioxide emissions might equal almost three-fourths of the reductions that industrial nations have promised under the Kyoto Protocol to curb global warming.

I wonder what this means for net neutrality? “Is a web bubble bursting,” by Robert Cryan, Mike Verdin, and Simon Nixon says that Internet traffic growth is slowing world wide. (9/15)