Laws

  Former Philadelphia School Reform Commission Chairman Robert L. Archie Jr. violated state ethics law when he voted to ratify a contract that benefited his firm, a state ethics panel announced Tuesday. Archie was cleared of multiple other infractions. In 2009, Teach Productions Inc. - the production company responsible for a Tony Danza reality show shot at Northeast High - agreed to pay the Philadelphia School District's legal fees related to the show. Those legal fees ultimately went to Duane Morris L.L.P., where Archie is a partner.

WASHINGTON - A new study finds insurance companies will have to pay out an average of 32 percent more for medical claims on individual health policies under President Obama's health-care overhaul. That could mean higher premiums for at least some Americans - those who are uninsured or who buy policies directly from an insurance company. But for those with an employer plan, like most workers and their families, odds are they won't have much to worry about. The administration is questioning the Society of Actuaries' study, saying that it doesn't give a full picture - and that costs will go down.

A new report on Pennsylvania's charter and cyber charter schools helps make the case for long overdue reforms in how they operate. Released Tuesday by State Rep. James Roebuck (D., Phila.), the 41-page report details instances of fraud, financial irregularity, mismanagement, and cheating at charters statewide. Solomon Charter School of Philadelphia, which opened in September, recently had its charter revoked by the state. Licensed as a cyber charter, Solomon was teaching students inside a Vine Street building and providing bus tokens for them to get there.

HARRISBURG - A legislative panel on Monday endorsed a revamped version of Gov. Corbett's liquor-privatization bill that would give existing beer distributors first crack at liquor and wine licenses and expand beer and wine sales to grocery stores. In a 14-10 party-line vote, the House Liquor Committee backed a bill that would potentially phase out the existing state-controlled stores as the number of private operators grows. Both the GOP governor and Rep. John Taylor, the Philadelphia Republican who chairs the committee, called the amendment a "first step" that would lead to scrutiny of the complicated legislation not only on the House floor but in the Senate.

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court will struggle this week with the validity of an Arizona law that tries to keep illegal immigrants from voting by demanding all state residents show documents proving their U.S. citizenship before registering to vote in national elections. The high court will hear arguments Monday over the legality of Arizona's voter-approved requirement that prospective voters document their U.S. citizenship in order to use a registration form produced under the federal "Motor Voter" voter registration law that doesn't require such documentation.

When on March 26 the Supreme Court hears oral arguments about whether California's ban on same-sex marriages violates the constitutional right to "equal protection of the laws," these arguments will invoke the intersection of law and social science. The court should tread cautiously, if at all, on this dark and bloody ground. The Obama administration says California's law expresses "prejudice" that is "impermissible. " But same-sex marriage is a matter about which intelligent people reasonably disagree, partly because so little is known about its consequences.

A group of 30 area mothers will travel to Washington, DC., on Wednesday to lobby for "common-sense gun laws" as part of an event organized by Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America. About 200 mothers from over 30 states are expected to attend the "Moms Take to the Hill" event which includes a White House briefing, a press conference and meetings with congressional representatives. Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America was founded by Shannon Watts, of Zionsville, Ind., on the day after the Sandy Hook shootings.

LAST MONTH, former Gov. Ed Rendell challenged Pennsylvania's U.S. lawmakers in these pages to answer a series of questions on gun-control measures making their way through Congress. We have published responses from Sen. Bob Casey and Rep. Chaka Fattah, and today publish responses from the rest of the members of Congress. Rep. Bob Brady 1. Will you support mandatory universal background checks? "Absolutely. " 2. Will you support stronger laws to stop straw purchase gun-traffickers?

William F. Hyland, a New Jersey attorney general in the 1970s who argued the Karen Ann Quinlan "right-to-die" case before the state Supreme Court, fought back challenges to Atlantic City gaming in its nascence, and wailed on clarinet with Benny Goodman, died of complications of a stroke on Saturday, March 2, in Moorestown. He was 89, with a brimful resumé in public service. During a career exceeding 50 years, Mr. Hyland moved in and out of private practice. Those occasions often were commas in a lengthy list of Democratic Party posts, an elected office, and several gubernatorial appointments of increasing gravitas.

When a Chester County man shot and killed his neighbors' Bernese mountain dogs, which he said were threatening his sheep, the uproar led to criminal charges against the farmer. And the case also could lead to changes in state law. State Sen. Andrew Dinniman (D., Chester) plans to introduce bills that would fine-tune legal language to address the question of when deadly force against domestic pets is justified. Dinniman said one of the bills, which would be introduced before the end of next week, was directly inspired by the Chester Springs shootings, in which FedEx driver and sheep farmer Gabriel Pilotti shot and killed dogs belonging to his neighbors Mary and William Bock.