Measures

DEAR ABBY: My son, "James," is 25 and has been dating his girlfriend for three years. He has brought her over only five times. This is his first girlfriend, and I think he is getting way too serious and thinking about marriage. While she seems nice, I do not think she's the right girl for my son to marry. James has not talked to me about marrying her just yet, but I think he knows I'm not a fan. My question is, do I talk to my son about how I feel, or just bite my tongue and let him make his own decision, even though I think he'd be making a big mistake?

Maine residents on Tuesday approved same-sex marriage, giving the gay-rights movement a breakthrough victory. Gay marriage is legal in six states and Washington D.C., but those laws were either enacted by lawmakers or through court rulings. In popular votes, more than 30 states had previously held elections on same-sex marriage, with all losing. Maine, Maryland and Washington state held up-or-down votes Tuesday on legalizing gay marriage. Minnesota voted on a proposal to ban gay marriage in the state constitution.

By comfortable margins, Philadelphia voters approved four ballot measures Tuesday, including one that gives an independent body the power to set water and sewer rates. With more than 95 percent of precincts counted, all four proposals were headed for passage. City Council President Darrell L. Clarke pushed for a new water authority after the Water Department in February proposed raising rates 28.5 percent over three years, though that figure has not been finalized. Under the current system, there is a hearing process with input from a hearing officer and a public advocate appointed by Clarke, Mayor Nutter, and City Controller Alan Butkovitz.

The NCAA passed a package of sweeping changes Tuesday intended to crack down hard on rule-breaking schools and coaches. Under the new legislation, approved by the 13-member board of directors, programs that commit the most egregious infractions could face postseason bans of two to four years and fines stretching into the millions, while coaches could face suspensions of up to one year for violations committed by their staffs. The board also approved measures to expand the penalty structure, create new penalty guidelines, and speed up the litigation process.

HARRISBURG, Pa. - Republican U.S. Senate candidate Tom Smith, who made millions in coal mining, ran mines that routinely performed poorly on a federal statistic that measured workers' days lost because of on-the-job injuries, federal mining safety records show. His mines regularly scored above the industry average of nonfatal days lost to accidents or injuries, a statistic that is used as an industry safety benchmark but is not without criticism. In two years, one of his mines reported the number of days lost to be more than 10 times the industry average, according to an Associated Press review of Mining Safety and Health Administration records.

HARRISBURG - Gov. Corbett signed into law Thursday sweeping prison reform legislation aimed at reducing recidivism and lowering the skyrocketing cost of housing the state's inmates. "It's about time we started thinking a little smarter about how we incarcerate people," Corbett said at a news conference. "The answer isn't always building new prisons. " At the heart of the plan, which received bipartisan support in the legislature, is an effort to move inmates out of state prisons where costs are the highest and to help them become productive members of society.

NEW YORK - A Frenchman and an American shared the Nobel Prize in physics Tuesday for inventing methods to peer into the bizarre quantum world of ultratiny particles, work that could help in creating a new generation of superfast computers. Serge Haroche of France and American David Wineland opened the door to new experiments in quantum physics in the 1990s by showing how to observe individual atoms and particles of light called photons while preserving their quantum properties. Quantum physics, a field about a century old, explains a lot about nature but includes some weird-sounding behavior by individual, isolated particles.

Stronger penalties for arson offenses is one step closer to becoming a law, the Chester County District Attorneys office says. A bill, prompted by a series of approximately 70 arsons in Coastesville between 2008 and 2010, has passed the Pennsylvania Senate. The bill was sponsored by Senators John Rafferty and Dominic Pileggi, both Republicans. The proposed legislation creates a new crime, "Aggravated Arson," to be charged when a fire is set with intent to injure a person or if the building is occupied.

TRENTON - A New Jersey Senate committee on Monday again advanced a bill to set up a state-run insurance exchange as a way for uninsured people to compare and buy health plans. The state exchanges are required under the 2010 federal health insurance overhaul. There's not much doubt that the Legislature, controlled by Democrats, will pass the bill, which is similar to one passed earlier this year. But Gov. Christie, a Republican, is indicating that he wants to take his time to decide exactly what form New Jersey's exchange should take.

  Political hair speaks volumes, and at the nominating conventions, every finely combed message is highlighted by the color, cut, and plasticity of the speaker's thatch. Think the subject is superficial? Balderdash. Consider the youthful vigor of John F. Kennedy's thick waves. The reality disconnect in former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich's overblown plumage. And, in his own gonzo category, The Donald. "Look back in history," observed Frank Pinto, a.k.a. Julius Scissor, the Center City stylist who trims Mayor Nutter's goatee.