The state budget that appears to be close to passing includes a tax on tickets for theater, performing arts events and concerts.
Here's the text of a press release from the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance arguing against it.
Personally, my concern is that cultural institutions such as the Strand Capitol will be so hard up that they'll have to start booking acts like this:
So last week, the state House of Representatives was going to pass a resolution designating October as Domestic Violence Awareness Month. No big deal, right? It's not like anybody's going to argue that domestic violence is a good thing.
But apparently state Rep. Darryl Metcalfe, R-Butler, had a problem with it because it promoted a "homosexual agenda." He found this purported agenda in the phrase: "One in six women and one in 33 men have experienced an attempted or completed rape."
Of course, I don't advocate domestic violence in any form. Yet somehow, I can't help hoping that some variation of this scene plays out when Metcalfe goes home to his wife.
Word out of Harrisburg is that Gov. Rendell and the legislative leaders may have finally ... FINALLY ... reached a compromise that will end Pennsylvania's status as the only state not yet to have ratified its budget for the current fiscal year (which began July 1, by the way).
Man, this has just been ... You know what? Rather than trying to describe how torturous this whole process has been, maybe I can find something roughly equivalent to illustrate it.
Missed a day yesterday. Sorry. I'm still working my way through a post-vacation funk.
So we're still waiting on a state budget. It looks like York County commissioners are putting off the decision whether to borrow money or not for a little while, in light of the recent developments.
Personally, I think that's a good call. I was under the impression that the Sept. 15 deadline they originally cited was more of the self-imposed than the do-or-die variety.
