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

No PA politicians, but some politics in PA.

From “McCain appears to lag slightly in key battlegrounds,” Sara Murray (6/19):

Pennsylvania voters continue their trend to leaning Democratic, giving Sen. Obama a solid lead of 52% to 40%. The Democrat dominates among women, 57% to 34%, but Sen. McCain leads among men. Among white voters, Sen. Obama leads by a narrow margin, 47% to 44%.

PA Businesses

Hershey is the focus of “Can Hershey survive candy wars?” by Julie Jargon (6/18) and is mentioned in “Cadbury warns that sales, margins will thin in 2nd half as costs rise,” by Michael Carolan (6/20)

The requirement to charge car-rental tax is increasing the cost a two-hour rental from Zipcar in Pittsburgh from $18 to $22, according to “If your Zipcar is costing more, the taxman may be to blame,” by Sarah Nassauer (6/19)

“Investor group to take over Philadelphia wi-fi venture,” by Andrew LaValle (6/18) points out that former mayoral and potential gubernatorial candidate Tom Knox is one of the investors involved.

Pittsburgh-based consultant Richard Wellins of DDI, is quoted in “Packed calendars rule over executives,” by Carol Hymowitz (6/16)

Berner International Corp of New Castle, PA is mentioned in “Tackling the energy monster,” by Raymund Flandez and Kelly K. Spors (6/16)

Other PA

The high costs of gas hits home. The Palisades School District in Pennsylvania will start charging students extra for field trips to cover the cost of filling up the tank on school buses. The cost of school lunches will also go up. “Yellow buses put schools in the red,” by Anne Marie Chaker (6/19).

Penn State professor of counselor education, Spencer Niles is quoted in “Grad tidings: can a test steer you to the ideal career?” by Sue Shellenbarger (6/18)

Bucks Countian Robert Costa describes his encounters with Tim Russert in “Russert’s career advice: just do it” (6/16)

Other Interesting Tidbits

From “Guarantee gamble: developers dread return of recourse,” by Lingling Wei (6/18):

As loans for commercial projects have become difficult to come by in this credit crunch, borrowers are being forced to consider loans that would give the lenders “recourse” to the borrowers’ personal fortunes – terms that led many a developer, including Donald Trump and William Zeckendorf Jr., to near ruin in the real-estate crash of the early 90s.

I don’t know much about commercial loans or the real estate market, but aren’t most of us required to offer up collateral for a loan? And if we can’t repay aren’t our personal accounts liable?

The description of American soldiers working with Iraqi citizens in “After battle in Afghanistan villages, Marines open complaint shop,” by Michael M. Phillips (6/18) reminded me of some of the passages in Patrick Murphy’s book Taking the Hill.

“American turn to web for unfiltered political news,” (6/16) describes a new Pew Internet and American Life Project report which states that nearly 30% of adults have used the Internet to find information on political campaigns.