Huskey: Subsidized Housing Not The Answer

Location of Norristown in Montgomery County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Editor’s note:  This is an opinion piece by the editor of the Norristown Times Herald about the new subsidized housing project to be built in the central business district. It was passed by the Norristown Municipal Council but was opposed by MANY residents!

I’ll never forget my first apartment.

It was actually a house I shared with three of my best friends.

And when I say house, I mean it was a massive structure that apparently was built before the idea of insulation ever crossed anyone’s mind.  I swear I actually saw it snowing inside the house one winter.

The landlord also wasn’t one for fixing things.

Read more:   http://www.timesherald.com/article/20130401/OPINION03/130409997/huskey-subsidized-housing-not-the-answer#full_story

New Pennsylvania Turnpike Head Says He’s Ready To Face Down Corruption

Pennsylvania Turnpike/Interstate 95 Interchange Project (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

HARRISBURG – The new chief executive of the troubled Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission says he’s glad a scathing grand jury report is finally out, despite its damning allegations of political corruption and influence-peddling within the agency.

“We all knew it was coming, so there is limited relief that it’s here,” Mark P. Compton said in his office overlooking the toll road, outside Harrisburg.  “Now we can deal with it.”

Supplied with the 85-page report, state Attorney General Kathleen Kane earlier this month filed criminal charges against eight men, including former State Sen. Robert Mellow (D., Lackawanna) and one of Compton’s predecessors, former Turnpike chief executive Joseph Brimmeier.

The grand jury said top turnpike officials solicited contractors for campaign contributions to favored politicians, including then-Gov. Ed Rendell, and took gifts of international travel, sports events, and lavish meals.  In return, the contributors’ companies received multimillion-dollar contracts, even when other bidders were less expensive and more qualified, the report said.

Read more:

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/politics/state/20130401_New_Pa__Turnpike_head_says_he_s_ready_to_face_down_corruption.html

PPG Completes $1.05 Billion Acquisition Of Akzo Nobel Coatings Unit

PPG Place in downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

PPG Industries said today it completed its $1.05 billion acquisition of Akzo Nobel‘s North American architectural coatings business.

The purchase, the second largest in PPG’s history, strengthens the Pittsburgh company’s paint and coating business, which is anticipated to benefit from a revival of the U.S. housing market.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/business/news/ppg-completes-105-billion-acquisition-of-akzo-nobel-coatings-unit-681682/#ixzz2PGEFDIdD

Obamacare Regs Force Medical Business Out Of Downtown Pottstown

Editor’s note:  This sucks!

POTTSTOWN — A medical equipment supply business that has been quietly thriving in downtown Pottstown is set to move the bulk of its operation to Oaks this spring, taking as many as 75 jobs with it.

Royal Medical Supply’s 34 E. High St. location will remain open and return it to its original purpose, a showroom, said Roy Repko, who founded the company in Royersford in 1984 with his father-in-law and brother-in-law.

Even as late as the 1990s, the majority of its business was comprised of referrals from Pottstown Memorial Medical Center, Phoenixville Hospital and the Pottstown Area Visiting Nurse Association.

But now it’s the big providers: Medicaid, Medicare, Blue Cross, Aetna, Cigna and United Health Care.

Read more:   http://www.pottsmerc.com/article/20130401/NEWS01/130409996/obamacare-regs-force-medical-business-out-of-downtown-pottstown#full_story