PA in the WSJ

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

For the duration I am using discretion in listing articles on the presidential race that mention Pennsylvania but do not focus on Pennsylvania. If I think it is interesting I list it, otherwise no.

Filed from Philadelphia, “Clinton details mortgage plan,” by Amy Chozick and Nick Timiraos (3/25).

“Clinton uses history as Pennsylvania guide,” by Nick Timiraos (3/27)

There are a lot of Pennsylvania quotes in “At the barricades in the gender wars,” by Jonathan Kaufman and Carol Hymowitz,” (3/29) which is filed from Pittsburgh.

PA Businesses

“Alcoa invests near planned mines,” by Devon Maylie (3/24)

Dr. Susan C. Taylor, CEO of Rx for Brown Skin and co-founding director of the Skin of Color Center at St. Luke’s and Roosevelt Hospitals in Manhatten, who has or had a dermatology practice in Philadelphia is the focus of “Building a beauty regimen for dark skin,” by Elva Ramirez (3/27)

“Pep Boys rack up fourth-quarter loss,” by Mike Barris (3/27).

This week’s request Mark Zandi (of West-Chester based Moody’s Economy.com) quote is in “Clinton fears Japan-style malaise,” by Bob Davis and Amy Chozick (3/27)

Brief mentions: Comcast (3/24)

Other PA

Not something I thought would be a problem here. From “Call the pandas: bamboo engulfs defenseless yards,” by Matthew Rose (3/24):

Randy Bothwell, a police detective in Chester, Pa., considered and rejected a number of ways to rid his yard of bamboo: salt, an exorcism, shooting it with his service revolver. When he asked for advice at a local garden center, he says, they laughed hysterically

An executive currently working Harrisburg is the focus of an article on work related moves, “Help increases for partners of relocated workers,” by Erin White (3/25)

Penn State is among the colleges and universities that have, or have applied to, move to direct lending as opposed relying on private lenders for college loans. See “Colleges turn away from private lenders,” by Robert Tomsho (3/25)

Wharton Professor Jeremy Siegel is quoted in “Stocks tarnished by ‘lost decade’,” by E. S. Browning (3/26)

From “Violence roils black funeral parlors,” by Gary Fields (3/26), we find:

Last year, the National Funeral Directors & Morticians Association – a black trade group – held a panel discussion at its 2007 Philadelphia convention about the rising incidence of violence on funeral premises. Among some strategies recommended: increasing security and not publicizing funerals.

Pennsylvania native and pioneering investigative reporter Ida Tarbell is the one of the subjects of a book reviewed in “A reporter at the Ramparts,” by Paul E. Steiger (3/28). The book is Taking on the Trust by Steve Weinberg.

Attorney General Francis Biddle of the Philadelphia Biddles is highlighted in “The World War II effect,” by Douglas A. Blackmon (3/29), which discusses the country’s efforts to stop defacto slavery in the US on the eve of WWII.

Other Interesting Tidbits

In the “things that make my head explode” category, we find this from “American Axle lifts pay of top executive by 9.6%,” by Jeff Bennett (3/25):

American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings Inc., locked in a nearly month-long strike with the United Auto Workers union over proposed pay cuts, gave its chief executive a 9.6% pay raise and stock and options valued at $4 million last year.

In the “things that distress me” category, file “Veterans struggle to find jobs,” by Yochi J. Dreasen (3/25). These paragraphs are near the end:

The Army has long pitched military service as a way for recruits to gain valuable work experience, but the report found that most of the returning veterans were unable to find civilian jobs that matched their previous military occupations.

The only exceptions were the veterans working for private-security firms such as Blackwater or in the maintenance and repair fields, and the report suggested that the government steer veterans to those types of jobs.