Pennsylvania Terminates $170 Million Project With IBM Over Failure To Deliver Computer System It Promised

After seeing a technology project fall $60 million over budget and 42 months behind, state Labor and Industry Secretary Julia Hearthway has decided it’s time to pull the plug on a contract to modernize the state’s unemployment compensation computer system.

This decision announced at a news conference on Wednesday followed a $800,000 study by Carnegie Mellon University’s Software Engineering Institute that found the problems with the IBM Corp.-developed system to be unsolvable.

Spending any more money on trying to make the system, originally slated to cost $106.9 million, would have been a waste, Hearthway said.

The state now estimates the cost of the project has grown to $170 million but some payments have been withheld, a department official said.

Read more:  http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2013/07/pa_terminates_contract_with_ib.html#incart_m-rpt-2

Hotel Sterling Demo Could Change More Than Just The Landscape

English: Hotel Sterling, Wilkes-Barre (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

WILKES-BARRE, PA — Ali Kazimi’s arrival at work was memorable Tuesday because the seven-story Hotel Sterling next door was almost entirely demolished.

“It was strange. You can see the eagles on the Market Street Bridge from our property.  We have a riverfront view,” said Kazimi, the third-generation owner of M. Abraham Importer on West Market, which opened by the once bustling Sterling in 1927.

Kazimi looks forward to losing that view to new development on the 4-acre Sterling parcel.  City officials condemned and demolished the former hotel and plan to seize the cleared lot from its nonprofit owner, CityVest, so the site can be marketed and sold to a private developer.

Read more:   http://www.timesleader.com/news/local-news/715688/View-from-River-and-Market-is-optimistic

Gilberton Suspends Police Chief Kessler For 30 Days Over YouTube Video

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Schuylkill County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

GILBERTON, Schuylkill County — If Mark Kessler wants to make any more bombastic YouTube videos, he has time to work on them.

Thirty days, to be exact.

That’s how long he’ll be off the job as Gilberton police chief for using the tiny coal town’s guns in a profanity-laced video that went viral after he posted it on the Web.

With people outside carrying semiautomatic guns and heckling one another over gun rights, Borough Council voted Wednesday night to suspend Kessler without pay.

Read more: http://www.mcall.com/news/breaking/mc-gilberton-police-chief-council-20130731,0,4092001.story#ixzz2agR6Yg3L
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Investigators: Man Caught Dealing Heroin Along Route 209 In Poconos

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Monroe County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A Dingman’s Ferry man has been charged with dealing heroin in the Poconos after detectives caught him selling the drug and trying to sell more, investigators said.

Steven A. Kern, 30, was spotted the night of July 18 getting into a vehicle outside a closed business on Route 209 in Smithfield Township, east of East Stroudsburg, Monroe County investigators said.

A county detective recognized Kern as the man who had sold 10 bags of heroin to undercover members of the county Drug Task Force earlier the same night, investigators said.

Detectives talked with Kern and the vehicle’s driver and determined they were planning another drug transaction in which Kern was to be the middle man, investigators said.

Read more: http://www.mcall.com/news/breaking/mc-n-poconos-heroin-arrest-kern-20130801,0,2253639.story#ixzz2agP6UAdd
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Video: Eagles WR Riley Cooper Wants To ‘Fight Every [N-Word] Here’

A video of Riley Cooper using a racial slur at a Kenny Chesney concert has gone viral.

Earlier today, www.CrossingBroad.com posted a video of an agitated Cooper yelling, “I will jump that fence and fight every (N-word) here, bro.”  It appears that teammate Jason Kelce was trying to calm Cooper down in the video. Obviously, this is not good for anybody.

From a football standpoint, Cooper was viewed as Jeremy Maclin‘s most logical replacement after Maclin was lost for the season with a torn ACL.  In fact, Nick Foles referenced exactly that in his post-practice press conference.  “I think Riley Cooper is stepping into a role,” Foles said.  “He’s out there playing for (Maclin).”

Shortly after the video surfaced, Cooper took to Twitter to issue the following apology:

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/pattisonave/Video-Eagles-WR-Riley-Cooper-wants-to-fight-every-N-word-here.html#vPhy6z0uiwDRWoKc.99

Legislators: Montco, SE Pa. Need More Transportation Funding

SEPTA logo with text (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Editor’s note:  This is obvious.  Just try and drive to work in Montgomery County. Traffic is horrendous!

WHITEMARSH ­­— The House Democratic Policy Committee held a two-hour Wednesday morning at the township building to draw attention to the need to increase transportation funding in the region.

The general consensus among the experts offering testimony was that Pennsylvania, and Southeastern Pennsylvania in particular, needs more state funding for mass transit, road and bridge repairs.

State Rep. Mary Jo Daley, D-148th Dist., said Whitemarsh is a center of transportation with major roadways including Germantown Pike and Ridge Pike and six train stations on the regional rail lines.  Daley moderated the hearing.

“I have been a SEPTA rider my entire life,” Daley said. “I’m not sure what it would be like to not have public transportation.  It is a really flexible system that benefits the area.”

Read more: http://www.pottsmerc.com/article/20130731/NEWS03/130739823/legislators-montco-se-pa-need-more-transportation-funding#full_story

Phoenixville Hospital Furloughs Come On Heels Of $4B Acquisition Deal

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Chester County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Editor’s note:  Thanks for going there, Evan!  I was complaining about this very thing today.  They have billions to spend on buying more hospitals but then turn around and cut jobs.  Makes no sense to me!  You would think the time to buy would be if you were flush with cash.  Now they will own two hospitals in Lancaster once this deal goes through as well.

PHOENIXVILLE — One day after Pottstown Memorial Medical Center furloughed 30 employees for 90 days, The Mercury has confirmed that similar furloughs occurred at Phoenixville Hospital.

Phoenixville Hospital spokesperson Lori Cunningham confirmed Thursday that the full-time equivalent of 24 employees in “clinical, non-clinical support and administrative departments” have been furloughed.

News of the staff reduction occurs at the same time that the company that owns both hospitals, Tennessee-based Community Health Systems Inc., is planning a $3.9 billion purchase of Florida-based Health Management Associates Inc., which also operates hospitals around the country.

Cunningham said the furloughs at Phoenixville, which she described as “not scheduling a small number of employees in various departments,” have “no definitive time line.  As always, staffing is dependent upon patient volume and clinical needs.”

Read more:   http://www.pottsmerc.com/article/20130731/NEWS01/130739803/phoenixville-hospital-furloughs-come-on-heels-of-4b-acquisition-deal#full_story