Public Policy

New Jersey's Office of the Child Advocate is starting a citizen complaint office to investigate allegations that children have been placed at risk of abuse or neglect because of government action or inaction. Calls to the office could concern the juvenile justice system, the Division of Youth and Family Services, schools, group homes, or any other entity that deals with children's well-being. Child Advocate Kevin Ryan told the Assembly Family, Women and Children's Services Committee yesterday that the Bureau of Citizen Complaints would be staffed by lawyers and social workers in his office.

The new U.S. ambassador to Nigeria, Walter Carrington, was honored by Lincoln University at a reception Tuesday at the Afro-American Cultural and Historical Museum in Philadelphia. Carrington, a specialist in African affairs, is a member of Lincoln's Center for Public Policy and Diplomacy Advisory Board. He was confirmed by the Senate in August.

Keino Robinson thought he wanted to pursue a career in urban government. However, the Haverford College senior and West Philadelphia native knew little about the positions available to him. Jose Huizar, a senior at the University of California at Berkeley, knew he wanted to push for social change in his native East Los Angeles. But he was unsure how his activism could ever have a real impact on the community. Because of their uncertainties, Robinson and Huizar might well have passed up careers in public affairs for better publicized opportunities in law or business.

David Barol of Glenside in Abington Township will run for the 153d District seat formerly held by Montgomery County Commissioner Jon D. Fox. Barol, 34, made the announcement at the Feb. 26 meeting of the Abington- Rockledge Democratic Committee. This is the first political office for which Barol has run, although he said he had worked on various political campaigns for other candidates. He will be running against Abington Commissioner Martin L. Laub, a Republican who has the party backing, as well as former Abington Commissioner Bud Hannings, who lost the endorsement to Laub.

TWO MONTHS after a 5-year-old girl was abducted from her West Philadelphia school, City Council on Thursday held a hearing to examine the school district's policies for early dismissal. "For every bad thing, something good can come of it. What I hope comes of this is good public policy," said Councilman Curtis Jones Jr., who arranged the hearing. "It's a teaching moment, and all of us are paying keen attention to this issue. " The girl was taken Jan. 14 from Cullen Bryant Elementary, at 60th Street and Cedar Avenue, by a woman who was dressed in Muslim garb and posed as the girl's mother before signing her out of school.

Serving the public and stretching the tax dollar is the job description that first comes to mind for David O'Brien when he talks about his new position as the township's municipal manager. "What attracted me to Eastampton and this position is that it is a very hands-on kind of job in a tight-knit community," O'Brien said. "That means there is a lot of contact with the public, and I like that. " O'Brien took over the $44,000-a-year job this month after Michael Spurgeon, who held the position for three years, resigned in the spring to become business administrator in neighboring Pemberton Township.

When beliefs and policy collide The letter "So-called skeptic can't serve" (May 13) claims that objections to a "global-warming skeptic" on the Board of Public Utilities are akin to persecution of religious dissent from "orthodoxy. " I don't know the specific viewpoint of the board member in question, but as a rabbi with a background in science, I find this argument deeply flawed. The fact that scientific ideas are widely accepted does not render them "orthodoxy. " Differences in religious doctrine are not subject to proof or disproof.

EL PASO, Texas - A Texas lawyer and former Carnegie Mellon University trustee pleaded not guilty Thursday to laundering more than $600 million for a Mexican drug cartel. Marco Antonio Delgado waived his arraignment Thursday, essentially entering a not-guilty plea, during a hearing in federal court in El Paso. One of his lawyers, Ray Velarde, asked Judge Norbert Garney to postpone the bond hearing for Wednesday. His other lawyer, Jose Montes, said they would seek Delgado's release on bond next week.

By Marc F. Bellemare When world leaders assembled in New York to discuss development policy last week, there was a lot of noise about rich countries' failure to attain the Millennium Development Goals, which were adopted by the United Nations' member states in 2001. Chief among the goals is halving the proportion of people who are extremely poor - that is, living on less than a dollar a day - by 2015. The other goals involve primary education, gender equality, child mortality, maternal health, HIV/AIDS, malaria, and environmental sustainability.

Our national motto, "In God we trust," is something we should teach our children, just as we teach them the origin of the Constitution, the United States flag, and our national anthem. That's why I have written legislation in the state House of Representatives to permit all Pennsylvania public school districts to display the "In God we trust" motto in each classroom, school cafeteria and school auditorium if they so choose. My bill, known as the National Motto Display Act, is not a mandate.

TO STU Bykofsky: I generally like your columns, so I am disappointed by this one. It is important and good to expose the corruption and ineptitude of the city government. They certainly deserve it. What I do not like is the general "can't do" attitude that is an epidemic in Philadelphia. This city needs something to be proud of other than just its past, and it needs significant modernization. Hosting the Olympics can do both, along with being really fun (that should not be overlooked)

TWO MONTHS after a 5-year-old girl was abducted from her West Philadelphia school, City Council on Thursday held a hearing to examine the school district's policies for early dismissal. "For every bad thing, something good can come of it. What I hope comes of this is good public policy," said Councilman Curtis Jones Jr., who arranged the hearing. "It's a teaching moment, and all of us are paying keen attention to this issue. " The girl was taken Jan. 14 from Cullen Bryant Elementary, at 60th Street and Cedar Avenue, by a woman who was dressed in Muslim garb and posed as the girl's mother before signing her out of school.

EL PASO, Texas - A Texas lawyer and former Carnegie Mellon University trustee pleaded not guilty Thursday to laundering more than $600 million for a Mexican drug cartel. Marco Antonio Delgado waived his arraignment Thursday, essentially entering a not-guilty plea, during a hearing in federal court in El Paso. One of his lawyers, Ray Velarde, asked Judge Norbert Garney to postpone the bond hearing for Wednesday. His other lawyer, Jose Montes, said they would seek Delgado's release on bond next week.

By Jennifer Donahue President Obama and Mitt Romney have made their cases to the American public through grueling daily campaign events, three televised debates, and the conventions. The result is a tie, and voters on the left and right won't break it. That will fall to a small group of people who don't vote regularly, but will be moved to head to the polls next week. This race will likely be decided by a fence-sitting 5 percent of the electorate in just nine swing states. The key to these undecided voters' late-breaking decisions - and the election - won't be the campaign promises the candidates have made.

When beliefs and policy collide The letter "So-called skeptic can't serve" (May 13) claims that objections to a "global-warming skeptic" on the Board of Public Utilities are akin to persecution of religious dissent from "orthodoxy. " I don't know the specific viewpoint of the board member in question, but as a rabbi with a background in science, I find this argument deeply flawed. The fact that scientific ideas are widely accepted does not render them "orthodoxy. " Differences in religious doctrine are not subject to proof or disproof.

The debate about who should decide the legal status of same-sex marriage, now unfolding in New Jersey and nationwide, is as old as the Constitution. Should the people decide in a referendum, as Gov. Christie maintains? Or should the Legislature or the courts settle it? While New Jersey ponders that question, Washington's state Legislature is poised to pass a bill allowing same-sex marriage. For anyone keeping score, that will bring the number of states that have permitted gay marriage by legislation or court order to seven.

The Corbett administration claims it doesn't agree with the extremist viewpoints of a former welfare policy adviser. However, recent edicts reflect the adviser's opposition to public support of health care for children, food for the poor, and day care. Robert Patterson, a policy adviser with the state Department of Public Welfare, resigned from his $104,470 job after Inquirer reporters Angela Couloumbis and Amy Worden asked about his side job as an editor at a conservative journal, Family in America, which opposes abortion, homosexuality, and women in the workforce.

A Professional and Personal Memoir By Dick Cheney with Liz Cheney Threshold Editions. 565 pp. $35 Reviewed by Frank Wilson Wikipedia may not be the last word when it comes to finding information, but it does make a useful distinction regarding memoirs, namely, that they "are structured differently from formal autobiographies . . . focusing on the development of [the author's] personality. " Whether former Vice President Dick Cheney thought about this or not, the fact remains that he has called his book a memoir and as such it ought to be judged.

Another venerable video store bit the dust in my neighborhood recently, announcing it would close by the end of this month. I'd call it "Chestnut Hill's beloved TLA Video," but apparently my neighbors and I didn't love it quite enough. Or maybe we just loved the price or convenience of mail-order DVDs, online streaming, and video on demand from Comcast or Verizon even more. It's more than a coincidence that TLA is closing at the same time that Comcast plans to close on its takeover of NBC Universal, the $30 billion deal that won approval last week after a painstaking, yearlong review by the Federal Communications Commission and the Justice Department.