Loophole

A voter-ID mutiny launched by Democratic-controlled Montgomery and Allegheny Counties showed signs of spreading across the state Friday, as Philadelphia and a handful of other local governments said they, too, would consider issuing poll-ready identification cards through county-run nursing homes and colleges. Despite the bitter partisan debate surrounding the controversial Pennsylvania law, state Republicans voiced little opposition Friday to the counties' new plans. "I don't think anyone contemplated the possibility of a county nursing home becoming an issuer of an identification document that could be used to satisfy the voter-ID requirement," said Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi (R., Delaware)

A Philadelphia man who received a Florida permit to carry a gun after Philadelphia police stripped him of his Pennsylvania gun permit was sentenced to prison Thursday in the shooting death of a teen in the city's Olney section. Marqus Hill, 29, was sentenced by Common Pleas Court Judge Glenn B. Bronson to eight to 20 years in prison in the September 2010 killing of 18-year-old Irving Santana. Santana was allegedly one of three teens who broke into Hill's car in the 300 block of East Gale Street.

Last year, the Pennsylvania legislature closed many loopholes in the Rendell-era Taxpayer Relief Act, also known as Act 1, with lawmakers and Corbett administration officials proclaiming that, finally, residents would get more say on school-tax increases. But one year in, that has not happened. Act 1, passed in 2006, calls for voter referendums on proposed property-tax increases that exceed an annually set education inflation rate, called the "index. " For 2012-13 budgets, the index is 1.7 percent.

How much longer are Pennsylvania leaders going to treat thousands of casino, tavern, and other workers like second-class citizens when it comes to protecting them from deadly secondhand smoke? Some 3 ½ years after the state enacted its indoor smoke-free law, those employees continue to be exposed to cigarette smoke on the job at 2,800 workplaces that weren't covered by the 2008 ban. It's time to close the loopholes, which the smoke-free law author - State Sen. Stewart Greenleaf (R., Montgomery)

In an election year, it's no surprise that President Obama's proposed changes in business taxes have been rudely received by congressional Republicans. Once again, the public's eagerness for bipartisanship is ignored. But Obama knew the likely reception he would get, so he is being accused of playing politics, too, by offering the opposition something they had to refuse or risk being seen as cooperating with a president they are trying to convince voters isn't worthy of reelection.

WASHINGTON - President Obama rolled out a corporate tax overhaul plan Wednesday that lowers rates but also eliminates loopholes and subsidies cherished by the business world. A long-shot for action in an election year, the plan nevertheless stamps Obama's imprint on one of the most high-profile issues of the presidential campaign. The president's plan to lower the corporate tax rate to 28 percent came on the same day Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney called for a 20 percent across-the-board cut in personal income tax rates, underscoring the potency of taxes as a political issue, especially during a modest economic recovery.

Pennsylvania regulators are taking steps to begin safety checks of some natural gas pipelines in the Marcellus Shale regions - hiring inspectors and drafting new rules that will bring the state in line with the rest of the nation. But a dispute continues over whether the state oversight goes far enough. The new safety-inspection and construction regulations still will not apply in the most rural areas of shale country, the hotbed for new pipeline projects, with up to 25,000 miles being built or on the drawing boards.

Bob Martin is a retired Inquirer editor and writer If the anomalies of Pennsylvania politics and government need a human face, here are six: Michael Helfrich, Francis "Shorty" Schultz, Stephen Rambler, Terry McGirth, Deborah Shelton Griffin, and Pete Cianci. All six were convicted of felonies, yet held - or now hold - political office. Yet the Pennsylvania Constitution and subsequent court rulings render felons ineligible to serve. All took an oath to support, obey, and defend the constitution of Pennsylvania, then immediately violated it by taking office.

It's one of the disturbing mysteries in the case against Linda Ann Weston, an ex-offender accused of imprisoning four intellectually challenged adults in a Frankford basement and stealing their benefits: Why did the Social Security Administration allow her to collect their money? As investigators try to answer that, U.S. Sen. Bob Casey (D., Pa.) is proposing a bill that would close a loophole in the Social Security system to prevent an ex-offender like Weston from bilking victims. Weston was convicted in 1984 of third-degree murder for starving to death her sister's boyfriend.