Pennsylvania's day of reckoning over its multibillion-dollar pension promises to government employees and teachers has been pushed back for the better part of the past decade.

But long-expected increases in costs are scheduled to kick in three years from now, and meeting those retirement obligations could cripple state government and school boards.

Depending on what happens in the stock market, taxpayers could soon find themselves stuck paying more than $5 billion in additional annual payments.

The figure is a moving target. But in a March presentation to a state House panel, the state's two large public-sector pension plans estimated that the $821 million a year they currently get in "employer contributions" - the vast majority of it from taxpayers - will need to grow to $5.7 billion a year by 2012.

Even more frightening is that those numbers involve assumptions that could be overly optimistic. For example, the state government pension system's numbers assume it will earn 8.5 percent this year, but its 2009 investments are currently about 6 percent in the red.

Gov. Ed Rendell's administration received a cool reception from Republicans yesterday when he took the first step toward legalizing video poker in bars as a way to raise up to $550 million for college students in the state.

"We have an immediate need for tuition relief for college students," Kathleen Shaw, a deputy secretary of education, told a House panel during the initial public hearing on the legislation. "Incredible educational benefits would come to our state if the Tuition Relief Act is passed."

She said many families are racking up debt of $40,000 or more to meet the rising costs of college, and the state needs to help them.

But critics, such as Rep. Curt Schroder, R-Chester, attacked the proposal, which would put up to 70,000 video poker machines in 14,000 bars and clubs around the state that have state liquor licenses.

"Video poker is one of the most addictive forms of gambling," he said. "It will be destructive of our neighborhoods by turning thousands of bars and restaurants into mini-casinos."

Stephen Drachler, executive director of A United Methodist Witness, also was critical, saying video poker "is the crack cocaine of gambling. It is a bad bet for Pennsylvania."

The state House has narrowly defeated the latest attempt to force Pennsylvania drivers to put down their cell phones while behind the wheel.

After three-plus hours of often raucous debate, the chamber voted 100-95 Wednesday against an amendment that would have required drivers to replace hand-held cell phones with hands-free devices.

Later, the House voted to impose an additional $50 fine on those caught driving carelessly if they also were using a hand-held cell phone or were text-messaging.

Pittsburgh officials begged the state yesterday for stricter gun rules, but instead they saw the political firepower of gun owners aimed at them.

In the wake of the April 4 killings of three police officers in Stanton Heights, City Council unanimously passed a resolution asking the General Assembly to allow municipalities to pass their own gun laws and to join the city in requiring that owners report loss or theft of guns.

Not so fast, said state Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, R-Cranberry, who offered a different idea: legislation to make municipalities pay groups that successfully challenge local gun ordinances in court.

He said his bill is meant to "financially deter and/or punish" municipalities that "blatantly violate" state law. The state code doesn't let localities "regulate the lawful ownership, possession, transfer or transportation of firearms."

"This is ludicrous," said city Councilman Bruce Kraus, when informed of Mr. Metcalfe's effort.

"This is just an attempt to bully municipalities into submission."

Last week, Mayor Luke Ravenstahl joined Gov. Ed Rendell in urging Congress to reinstate a lapsed ban on assault weapons and asked the General Assembly to pass a lost-and-stolen gun reporting law and allow local firearms regulation -- just what council sought yesterday.

Attorney Paul Wright of Seattle-based Prison Legal News was stunned when he filed a right-to-know request with the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections and was told the department didn't have the information he sought.

Wright wanted records on lawsuit settlements. The department responded that it isn't required to create records.

"I call it the 'Right to Know Nothing Law,' " Wright said of Pennsylvania's open records statute.

Pennsylvania's updated law was supposed to start an era of transparency Jan. 1, but it has raised troubling issues along the way.

On the upside, public interest is heightened, said Terry Mutchler, director of the Pennsylvania Office of Open Records, who is swamped with inquiries and appeals from denials. Mutchler said citizens, not journalists, have led the way, filing more than 90 percent of the nearly 300 pending appeals.

Pennsylvania's state government may not be open and accountable enough as it handles federal stimulus money, the state's fiscal watchdog warned in a letter to federal officials that The Associated Press obtained Monday.

Auditor General Jack Wagner's letter to a U.S. Government Accountability Office administrator warned that internal controls are so weak that information about how stimulus funds are spent will be unreliable without oversight from an independent audit agency.

"We are extremely concerned about the potential for a lack of statewide government transparency and accountability in the use of these vitally important funds," Wagner wrote to Phillip R. Herr, the federal agency's director of physical infrastructure issues.

Wagner listed Medicaid, low-income heating aid and weatherization assistance as examples of federally funded programs administered by the state that have "significant internal control weaknesses." He said a significant issue was the limited scope of information provided for the audits his own office has performed.

Last year, a Lehigh County constable turned in expense reports for 76,000 miles of travel in one year. The constable averaged, he claimed, 208 miles in his car every day.

In Northampton County, a constable billed for 1,800 travel miles in one day -- an average of 75 miles an hour for each of the day's 24 hours.

Constables' mileage -- billed at 48.5 cents a mile in both counties in 2007, when both bills were submitted -- are usually paid by defendants but often fall to county taxpayers when defendants can't cover them.

The alleged overbilling here and a number of other billing and conduct problems across Pennsylvania highlight what state and county officials say is an ongoing problem with the county constable system: lack of oversight.

Now State Supreme Court Chief Justice Ronald Castille has teamed with a state legislator from Berks County and they are poised to introduce the first set of reforms to a system they have called outdated and unwieldy.

''We would like to bring some organizational structure and professional control over their activities to make them more efficient and less costly,'' said Castille, who is working to institute one set of standards for all constables statewide.

The state House is gearing up for a fight over a bill that would ban discrimination against gays, lesbians and the transgendered.

And even as its architect scrambles to build support among skeptical lawmakers, opponents are readying a mountain of amendments they hope will sink the proposal.

Caught in the middle are Pennsylvania's gay and lesbian residents, who say they're just looking for the same protections as everyone else.

''I have friends who are moving to places like Colorado'' because they've heard people there are more progressive, said Alex Reber, 23, who is gay and lives with his partner in Harrisburg.

Even the governor's support might mean little in an effort to strengthen gun-control laws in Pennsylvania, legislators said Tuesday.

Gov. Ed Rendell plans to urge state and federal legislators today to take action on gun control in response to the fatal shootings earlier this month of three Pittsburgh police officers, he said during a visit Downtown. He declined to give specifics until today.

"Our police all over the state, not just in Philadelphia anymore, are simply outgunned," Rendell said while announcing state grants at the Allegheny County Courthouse. "The amount of firepower that the deranged person in Pittsburgh had was stunning. If the AK-47 hadn't jammed, we might have had a lot more dead than just the three officers."

However, even powerful Democratic supporters of gun control in Harrisburg said there likely aren't enough votes to pass any measures. The governor's specifics will be delivered just days after a leading national advocate, Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, said she plans to wait before pushing federal legislation.

Pennsylvania homeowners outside of Philadelphia will for the second year receive at least $200 in property-tax reductions from slot-machine gambling revenue, Gov. Rendell said yesterday.

Speaking at a news conference in Pittsburgh, Rendell said that despite the recession, the amount of gambling revenue available for tax relief has remained stable, because the state's casino venues have proved to be competitive with neighboring states', including New Jersey.

He said the troubled economy makes property-tax rebates even more important to struggling homeowners this year.

"The national recession makes our property-tax relief law more valuable than ever for senior citizens on a fixed income and for families who may be suffering due to a layoff or a cut in working hours," said Rendell. "And property-tax relief will also benefit our small businesses, since the $770 million that Pennsylvanians will save this year is money that will be reinvested in the local economy."

From our friend John Micek:

Rep. Daryl Metcalfe may have just cemented his rep as the Legislature's most conservative member.

Appearing in the pages of the Tribune-Review this morning, the Butler County Republican says he's no fan of legislation that would ban workplace discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender orientation.

"I think it's a direct attack on family values by people who just want to force their sinful choices on the rest of us," Metcalfe told the newspaper.

More worryingly, Metcalfe appeared to suggest that a social group often picked out for discrimination, or, worse, violent attacks, wasn't entitled to any greater protection under the law than the rest of us.

"I think for somebody to choose the lifestyle of a homosexual, that's their choice," he said. "This shouldn't be considered a civil right. These individuals want special rights."

It now appears that Metcalfe and other conservatives are looking to weigh down the bill sponsored by Rep. Dan Frankel, D-Allegheny, so that it collapses under its own weight, the Trib' reported.

We're not encouraging our readers to call Rep. Metcalfe to register their displeasure. But if they were to do something like that, they could most likely reach his district office on (724) 772-3110, or in Harrisburg at (717) 783-1707.

In addition to politics and food, Gov. Ed Rendell has a third burning passion: Sports.

The Patriot News reports that Gov. Rendell is interested in becoming a sports commissioner.

Maybe you've heard Rendell breaking down the Philadelphia Eagles' offense or questioning coach Andy Reid's fourth-down decision-making as a regular on the "Eagles Post Game Live" show on Comcast.

Or maybe you saw Rendell at the Philadelphia Phillies' opening game Sunday. He likes to hang out at Citizens Bank Park with his friend and fellow Penn alum, Dave Montgomery, who happens to own the Phillies.

But when it comes to what the 45th governor of Pennsylvania wants to do after he's out of office in 2010, here's something maybe you haven't heard.

Rendell wants to be the next National Football League commissioner or commissioner of baseball.

So much for that wild rumor that Rendell might run for the U.S. Senate. And so much for the governor's proclamations about becoming a beach bum.

The Rendell administration appears to be going out of its way to block public access to government documents. At least that is the impression left on the state's new open-records czar.

Terry Mutchler, executive director of Pennsylvania's Office of Public Records, has written to Gov. Rendell questioning whether top administration officials share the view that government should be open and transparent.

In the three-page letter, obtained by The Inquirer, Mutchler revealed a list of her concerns over how the administration has dealt with her and her staff - as well as individual records requests - since she was tapped to lead the open-records office in June.

According to her letter, the situation has gotten so bad that lawyers in Rendell's office have put representatives of every state agency on notice not to even take her calls. Everything has to be in writing, the lawyers insist.

The killing of three Pittsburgh police officers will renew gun control efforts in the Pennsylvania Legislature, but the outlook for enacting laws remains doubtful because the National Rifle Association has "a stranglehold" over lawmakers, a key House member said Tuesday.

"You know how this place is," said House Judiciary Chairman Thomas Caltagirone, D-Reading. "The Western Pennsylvania Democrats, let alone the Western Pennsylvania Republicans -- you can't budge them" on gun issues, he said.

Despite a Democratic-controlled Congress and an administration that favors reinstating an assault weapons ban, there is little movement to enact tougher gun laws in Washington, said Paul Helmke, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.

Helmke blamed the NRA for "fear mongering" that leads people to believe the government is coming for their guns, as friends said Richard Poplawski feared. Police said Poplawski killed two of the officers with a shotgun and used an AK-47 to exchange gunfire with SWAT team members and other officers.

House Republicans on Monday proposed a package of ethical reforms for state government including limits on staff campaigning and use of nonprofit organizations by public officials -- activities that figured into high-profile criminal prosecutions of Democrats in the Legislature.

"The status-quo mindset, the corruption and the general lack of good judgment must end," said House Minority Leader Sam Smith of Punxsutawney. "Everything government does is suspect anymore, so cleaning up the mess must be our first step."

Some of the GOP proposals have merit but some are redundant, said Brett Marcy, a spokesman for House Majority Leader Todd Eachus, D-Wilkes-Barre. He said the House adopted a rule in 2007 preventing lawmakers' involvement in nonprofits.

"We welcome Republicans to the fold of reform," Marcy said. "We've been a backer of reform efforts over the past two years. Certainly, accountability and transparency are something we should all strive for."

Since the Bonusgate corruption probe was launched two years ago, Rep. Bill DeWeese has adamantly and repeatedly denied knowing that taxpayer money secretly had been used to underwrite political campaigns.

But records turned over to defendants in the case by Attorney General Tom Corbett appear to paint a different picture of the onetime House Democratic leader, who has not been charged in the ongoing investigation.

Documents show that in 2006, facing a stiff challenge in an election that DeWeese nearly lost, his campaign tapped a state-paid computer consultant - a key figure in the Bonusgate probe - to perform a long list of political tasks.

Among other duties, that consultant crafted fund-raising invitations and sent out blast e-mails to constituents in DeWeese's district in the southwestern corner of Pennsylvania.

The documents, provided to The Inquirer by a defendant, also indicate that the Greene County Democrat exchanged campaign-related messages with his legislative staffers on state e-mail accounts.

"I love it," DeWeese responded in September 2006 to a legislative aide of his who had just drafted a letter for a constituent to send to the local newspaper supporting the representative's campaign.

"Great work," DeWeese wrote with 44 exclamation points when told by campaign operatives in April that party canvassers had knocked on nearly 600 doors.

The Green Party of Pennsylvania has called for the resignation of John Hanger, acting secretary of the state Department of Environmental Protection, citing his statement that the value of the natural gas in the deep Marcellus shale formation outweighs the environmental damage the drilling may cause.

Mr. Hanger, in a story on the Reuters wire last week, said the drilling into the 5,000- to 8,000-foot-deep shale formation that underlies much of the state will "inevitably" result in environmental damage, including possible contamination of water supplies.

Tim Reim, Erie County Green Party chairman, said in a Thursday release that Mr. Hanger's "willingness to sacrifice the rights of some Pennsylvanians to clean water from their own wells ... so the natural gas industry can profit privately" contradicts the DEP's mission.

It was a rough week for Mr. Hanger, who was criticized by conservative Republican lawmakers at a Pennsylvania Senate confirmation hearing in Harrisburg Wednesday.

Mr. Hanger, a former executive director of Citizens for Pennsylvania's Future, a more mainstream statewide environmental group, said it was a "typical week." He said he has no plans to resign and rejected Mr. Reim's and the Green Party's positions as inaccurate and extreme.

Thousands of unionized state workers can breathe a little easier because Gov. Ed Rendell has decided not to use "rolling furloughs" as a way to ease the state's budget deficit.

At least not for the next 15 months.

For the last several weeks he has been negotiating with three state employee unions about whether to require their workers to take unpaid leaves or furloughs -- two days per month, up to a total of 29 days -- to help the state save $90 million on labor costs. It was part of his plan to deal with a projected $2.3 billion deficit by the end of June.

But Mr. Rendell yesterday unveiled a tentative agreement with union leaders on another option for saving more than twice as much money by temporarily reducing the state's contributions to an employee health benefit fund.

Mr. Rendell said the state would save $200 million over the next 15 months by reducing the contributions, which he said won't affect employees' health care benefits. He said the fund now has $248 million in reserves and will remain "fiscally sound" even with the proposed 20 percent reduction in state contributions.

In the wake of a funding scandal centered on a Beaver County nonprofit group, state Sen. Jane Orie is demanding that a state economic development agency reform its procedures for monitoring the use of state funds.

And two other Republican senators, including freshman Elder Vogel of Beaver County, want to prevent any senators from creating, controlling or influencing nonprofit community groups that get state money.

In recent years, two Democratic senators, who have now left the Legislature, had roles with such nonprofit development groups -- Sen. Vincent Fumo with a South Philadelphia group and Sen. Gerald LaValle as co-chairman of the Beaver Initiative for Growth, the one Ms. Orie is targeting.

The McCandless Republican is highly critical of the Department of Community and Economic Development for not doing enough to ensure that the $10 million in state grants given to the Beaver Initiative were audited and spent properly.

Based on a grand jury's recommendation, Attorney General Tom Corbett last week filed 28 corruption charges against former House Democratic Whip Mike Veon of Beaver, the founder of the Beaver Initiative, who is accused of doling out the state money for his personal and political benefit.

Gov. Ed Rendell on Tuesday chose a retired manufacturing executive who chaired the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia to oversee how Pennsylvania spends $10 billion in federal economic stimulus money.

Ronald Naples, 63, the retired CEO of Quaker Chemical Co. in Conshohocken, will be paid $120,000 as chief accountability officer to ensure the money is spent wisely and that people can see how it is spent. The money will be distributed among state and local agencies.

Naples will chair the Governor's Working Group for Stimulus Accountability and be a member of the Pennsylvania Stimulus Oversight Commission, composed of lawmakers, congressional appointees, businesspeople and labor representatives. State Rep. Brian Ellis, a Butler Republican, is among lawmakers on the commission.