Vilsack Confident Farm Programs will Help Pennsylvania

Pittsburgh Tribune-ReviewMeeting with regional anti-poverty strategists at the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank in Duquesne, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack shrugged off mounting Congressional criticism of his farm programs while applauding local efforts to feed tens of thousands of hungry Pennsylvanians.Flanked by his wife, Christie, Vilsack, a former Iowa governor, also told the planners that the federal government was prepared to spend heavily to prop up the price of milk but declined to say how much he thinks a Congress reeling from budget deficits should buy. With Pennsylvania dairy farmers now getting less than $1.25 for...

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Pa. Newspapers' Layoff Notice Called 'Procedural'

Associated Press PHILADELPHIA — Employees of Philadelphia's two major newspapers have been sent a letter warning of possible layoffs, but the lenders who won the newspapers at a bankruptcy auction last month say the notice is "procedural" and no such action is planned.The letters, sent Friday on letterhead of The Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News, say the new owners "will continue as the employer of all employees" but also note that the letter would serve as notice under a federal law that requires employers to give 60 days' notice in the event of mass layoffs."The letter is a procedural letter. It was agreed they would send...

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Philadelphia Hosts Nation's Finest Young Legal Eagles

Philadelphia InquirerAfter the witnesses had been grilled, the evidence entered, and the defendant himself had taken the stand in a dramatic, if theatrical, bid to win acquittal, it all came down to closing arguments.Prosecutors contended a web of circumstantial evidence led inescapably to the conclusion the defendant had committed aggravated assault when a flash mob gathered on Independence Mall. The defense attorney countered that the charges against high school student Maddox Hale were more guesswork than police work."It is the prosecutor's task to prove a crime beyond a reasonable doubt - what you saw today was only doubt," said Matt Caponigro,...

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Pennsylvania Fireworks Store Owner Recalls Bombing-Suspect

NY Times  Around 12:30 on a Monday afternoon about seven weeks ago, Faisal Shahzad pulled into the parking lot at the Phantom Fireworks store in Matamoras, Pa., said Bruce Zoldan, the owner of the company.Mr. Shahzad hopped out of his vehicle and walked into the 20,000-square-foot store, Mr. Zoldan said, offering an account of Mr. Shahzad’s visit based on a review of security videos and conversations with employees.The company requires every customer to register with a database, used for marketing purposes. Mr. Shahzad showed a clerk his Connecticut driver’s license, but, when signing a registration form, he inverted the order of his...

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Pennsylvania Races Clock to find 30,000 Jobs

Philadelphia InquirerAt Keepsake Carpets in North Philadelphia, technician Robert Ringgold binds mats. His boss wants to hire a sales force through Way to Work, which could lead to permanent jobs for them. As enticements go, bottled water and oatmeal raisin cookies, even very good ones, don't seem too alluring. But Patrick Bokovitz, the executive director of the Chester County Workforce Investment Board, had something better than refreshments to offer 35 local employers crammed into a meeting room Thursday outside West Chester:Expand your workforce now, Bokovitz told them, and the federal government will pick up most of the tab.Starting next...

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