Harrisburg

The Chester High basketball team stood together last night in the hallway, all with heads bowed, all mumbling the same word to each other: "Ugly. " It was so ugly, one of Chester's assistant coaches bolted out of the locker room and slammed the door behind him as Clippers coach Fred Pickett was still addressing his team. But here's the twist - Chester beat Harrisburg, 61-51, in the PIAA Class AAAA second-round state playoff game at Reading High's Geigle Complex to advance to the state quarterfinals Saturday.

HARRISBURG - In just three days last week, the General Assembly tackled tort law, welfare, gun rights, school vouchers, a bill that empowers big builders, and another that some say would trounce abortion rights. If there was any lingering doubt about who is in charge in the Capitol, the conversation in Harrisburg's halls of power last week put it to rest. Republicans, who control the legislature and the governor's office, are pushing through an increasingly conservative agenda, the likes of which has not been seen here in decades - certainly not under Gov. Ed Rendell, a Democrat, or even Republican predecessors such as Tom Ridge and Dick Thornburgh.

Southwest Airlines Co. said Friday that its AirTran Airways subsidiary would stop operating at six U.S. airports - including Allentown and Harrisburg - on Aug. 12 as it merges routes of the two carriers. The other cities losing AirTran service are Lexington, Ky., Huntsville, Ala., Sarasota, Fla., and White Plains, N.Y. Southwest, which acquired AirTran in May, previously announced that it would end AirTran flights at Atlantic City International Airport this month. AirTran President Bob Jordan said in a statement the company was discontinuing service in markets where it could not fly profitably because of fuel costs.

Relax, Philadelphia! Gov. Corbett's got this. Sure, those dire headlines and the protests in the street might lead you to think city schools are careering down a seemingly endless fiscal mine shaft. But thanks to an update this week on Corbett's Twitter feed, we now know otherwise: "the number one priority in the #pabudget is education. " The most remarkable thing about this statement is that, technically, it's true. Corbett's otherwise parsimonious budget does include a minuscule increase in K-12 funding (higher ed, not so much)

LA Weight Loss said it is closing 22 locations in the Philadelphia and Harrisburg regions, a move that will cost 55 people their jobs. That includes 16 stores and 45 employees in the Philadphia area. The Toronto company said it would encourage its 1,500 clients to use its online and telephone support program. The company blamed "changing client behavior and a lingering recession" for the decision to close the stores, which officially closed Monday, but will remain accessible this week to customers who meet with their weight-loss consultants to set up a transition plan.

Ridley High, the team that most figured had outlived its usefulness in the PIAA state tournament, isn't through just yet. The Green Raiders, all but counted out last night in the first half by a confident Harrisburg team, staged a miraculous rally to win in a breeze, 69-62, in the Class AAAA quarterfinals at Reading High. Ridley (27-5), the No. 2 seed in District 1, will face Carlisle, which defeated Williamsport, 55-46, last night, in the Eastern final tomorrow at a site and time to be determined.

THEY HAVE BEEN the Butler, Murray State and Virginia Commonwealth of the U.S. Open Cup. Just as those schools have knocked off bigger college programs in the NCAA men's basketball tournament, Harrisburg has advanced in American soccer's version of March Madness. In the winner-takes-all format of the U.S. Open Cup, the City Islanders have been Cinderella, knocking off a pair of MLS teams to make the quarterfinals — New England and New York; the former saw Harrisburg come from 3-0 down to win in penalties.

Too little, too late. To listen to the mayor and his finance director, the state's contributions to Philadelphia budgets are often far too little and usually too late. From some of the folks in Harrisburg, you hear a vastly different tune. There is a report now circulating in the state capital that the flow of money from Harrisburg to local governments across the state actually works to Philadelphia's benefit, at the expense of virtually every other community in the commonwealth.

A suggestion for William DeWeese: Put down the thesaurus and get a grip. Harrisburg is buzzing about a nasty letter the House Democratic leader sent to one of Harrisburg's top lobbyists, blasting him for hiring Mr. DeWeese's ex-wife. Mr. DeWeese, a man deeply in love with 10-cent words and 19th-century diction, called lobbyist Stephen R. Wojdak an "abject, ignoble, mendacious knave," among other things, while claiming the lobbyist broke a promise not to hire Holly Kinser, Mr. DeWeese's ex. It's like a scene from Jerry Springer - as told by Henry James.

BACK ABOUT the time of the first Detroit automotive bailout, in 1980, folksinger Tom Paxton penned the lyrics of a popular song, sung by Arlo Guthrie, called "I'm Changing My Name to Chrysler. " The first chorus was as follows: I am changing my name to Chrysler I am going down to Washing- ton, D.C. I will tell some power broker What they did for Iacocca Will be perfectly acceptable to me I am changing my name to Chrysler I am headed for that great receiving line So when they hand a million grand out I'll be standing with my hand out Yessiree, I'll get mine . Fast-forward 30 years, and we're doing it again.