From Philebrity:

So according to our source at the meeting this morning, two lawyers representing PNI, along with PNI VP of Finance Andrew Harrison, were grilled by a lawyer from the U.S. Trustee's Office, appointed by the court to oversee bankruptcy proceedings, on a variety of matters from status of current lawsuits on down to PNI's own current financial status. What was revealed was just a little cringe-inducing. As it stands now, PNI only really has two assets that are worth a damn: The PNI offices at 400 N. Broad, and its printing facility in Conshohocken. But whatever value those pieces of real estate have is somewhat sullied by this fact, also revealed this morning: PNI hasn't paid around $450K in real estate taxes owed to the City. What's more, PNI brass also confessed that they could be out of money -- as in out of money -- as soon as July.

Gov. Ed Rendell officially created the Pennsylvania Stimulus Oversight Commission last week, a 13-member panel charged with overseeing the state's allocation of federal dollars within the stimulus plan.

Among the appointees are members of the state House and Senate, as well as federal lawmakers. Noticeably absent, though, is former Republican Rep. Phil English, who the Republican delegation in D.C. nominated to the panel. English's successor, Democrat Kathy Dahlkemper, was apparently upset about the nomination and word got through to Rendell that Democrats weren't happy, staffers say.

House Democratic Leader Todd Eachus suggested yesterday that Republican Tom Corbett take a cue from his counterpart in Virginia and consider resigning as attorney general if he runs for governor next year.

Last month, Virginia's head prosecutor, Bob McDonnell, stepped down to seek the state's top office, saying it wouldn't be fair to the taxpayers to keep one office while pursuing the other.

Corbett "will have to judge, when he actually announces his candidacy, whether he can balance the two, both from a political point of view and from the efficacy of taxpayers," Eachus (D., Luzerne) told the monthly luncheon of the Pennsylvania Press Club yesterday in Harrisburg.

But Eachus fell short of calling on Corbett to step down. Nor did Eachus accuse Corbett - as some Democrats have suggested - of partisanship in his 26-month-old corruption probe known as Bonusgate.

"The attorney general's got to proceed with his investigation the way he sees fit," said Eachus.

Here's hoping. This story disgusted me, and that's tough, considering I'm a jaded SOB.

A state senator on Monday advocated that juveniles be required to have a lawyer in court in the aftermath of hundreds of youth convictions being thrown out because of judicial corruption in northeastern Pennsylvania.

The proposal is one of several planned by Sen. Lisa Baker, R-Luzerne, to shore up the rights of juveniles and redress the wrongs suffered by the victims of two judges who pleaded guilty to taking millions of dollars in kickbacks from youth detention centers.

''These kids certainly did not get the kind of treatment I would want for my child, as well as everybody else's child,'' Baker said.

City Council's mounting frustration with Mayor Nutter boiled over during a contentious budget hearing yesterday as members questioned the administration's proposed property-tax hikes, its assumption that state legislators will act to help the city - and even the competency of a major department.

The daylong hearing - the first of dozens - foreshadowed a long and difficult negotiation between Council and Nutter. By law, Council and the mayor must pass a budget by June 30.

Much of the debate centered on which tax to raise to close a $1.38 billion five-year deficit.

It's like watching The Wire, or the Fumo trial.

Today's charges grow out of the operation of the Beaver Initiative for Growth, a Veon-organized economic development program that was funded through state grants.

In June of last year, the Post-Gazette reported that BIG was the subject of a state investigation by the attorney general and quoted one former director as saying he left after becoming uncomfortable with how state development grant monies were handled by Mr. Veon's staff.

"Money was just sort of seen as a kind of arbitrary commodity that could be shifted and flowed wherever needed, regardless of what kind of stipulations were put on it," said John Gallo, who Mr. Veon hired to run BIG between 1999 and 2003, when Mr. Gallo resigned, sensing an impending disaster.

Hey everybody - just a quick note to let you know that, as far as I can tell, comments and registration are now fixed. Sorry for the recent problems and let me know if you have trouble logging in or commenting!

From the Inquirer:

Hundreds of hotel housekeepers, bellhops, and waiters gathered in Philadelphia yesterday for their first convention as a new union.

"This is the most excited I've been in 42 years in the labor movement," said Edgar Romney, the president of the new organization, Workers United, adding that the new union would be better positioned to help workers achieve a better life.

The event even featured a guest appearance by one of the most charismatic and colorful leaders of the labor movement - Andy Stern, the president of the nation's fastest-growing union, Service Employees International Union.

Anytime PA legislators call another government entity "a sovereign nation" and "answerable to no one," you know it's bad. Our legislators really would know best what that's like...

The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board came under fire yesterday from a group of state legislators irate over revelations that it spent thousands of dollars on travel, including a trip to Rome, in the midst of a worsening economy.

"The gaming board is operating like a sovereign nation answering to no one," said Rep. Mike Vereb (R., Montgomery). "They are spending money like a bunch of drunken sailors."

Vereb and 13 other representatives and senators held a Capitol news conference to assail the board on several fronts and called for the resignation of its chairwoman, Mary DiGiacomo Colins.

A board spokesman said the travel had been appropriate and stressed that the money had come from casino profits and not taxpayers. He also said Colins had no plans to step down.

In addition to asking residents to accept higher taxes to help close a budget gap, Mayor Nutter will ask elected officials today to give up two of their perks.

He is expected to forward to City Council a bill that would disqualify Council members and other elected officials from participating in the controversial DROP pension program.

At the same time, the mayor has begun pleading with those officeholders in phone calls to return their city-issued vehicles.

Doing away with both perks would not save a tremendous amount of money, but residents complaining about about how the city spends money singled them out.

"I have to take it on at some point in time," Nutter said in an interview yesterday.

Despite his call to drastically slash budgets to deal with a worsening recession, Gov. Rendell is paying $100,000 to a Philadelphia political strategist and media consultant to help him with publicity.

The administration has hired Ken Snyder on a monthly retainer of $9,090 between now and Jan. 31 for part-time work, or a minimum of 30 hours a week. Snyder will assist Rendell's Communications Office in the Capitol with media strategy, with a focus on helping provide information about the billions of dollars in federal stimulus aid coming to Pennsylvania.

Top administration officials yesterday defended the expenditure. They said it was necessary to explain to Pennsylvanians exactly what the stimulus money would pay for and how it could help them weather the economic downturn.

From the amazing John Micek:

Lawyers For House Democrats and former consultant Bill Chadwick have agreed to let a retired Dauphin County judge decide their dispute over the ownership of a Bonusgate-related court file.

Ex-Judge G. Thomas Miller will hear the dispute, a spokesman for Majority Leader Todd Eachus, D-Luzerne, said this afternoon. Last week, Judge Lawrence F. Clark recommended that the warring sides allow a special master to hear the case.

Hey KPer's,

I've heard a lot of feedback over the past month about our migration to our new content system, the design of the site, etc. First, I want to say that I agree. I was premature in moving us over to this new system, and I've been dissatisfied with the results ever since. Next time, I'll be more careful.

While we're sticking with this system for the foreseeable future, the good news is that we're bringing the design and features you loved most about KP back to the site. I'm working right now to finalize an updated (though not final) design that I think will address many of your concerns. After that, we'll work on bringing in some new features to make the site better than ever.

Thanks for being patient, ya'll.

--Greg

Good riddance. We've been waiting for this scumbag to go to jail since KP opened five years ago.

HE WAS a political powerhouse in Harrisburg who boasted of securing $8 billion in state largesse for Philadelphia.

He had about 90 state-paid aides and contractors at his beck and call to do his personal and political bidding.

He paid a private eye with state money to spy on his political enemies and tapped a tax-exempt nonprofit he founded to finance a lawsuit against a powerful Senate rival.

But today, former state Sen. Vince Fumo stands as a disgraced pol after a federal jury of 10 women and two men yesterday found him guilty on 137 counts of conspiracy, fraud, obstruction of justice and related offenses.

Pennsylvania AFL-CIO president Bill George said yesterday that he and other labor leaders have told Sen. Arlen Specter (R., Pa.) that they would help him survive a primary challenge next year if he supports legislation that makes it easier to unionize workers.

"If he's there for us, we'll be there for him," George said in an interview. "We would do everything we can to make sure he wins," he said, including efforts to persuade union members to register as Republicans so they could back Specter at the polls.

A newly disclosed e-mail from a high-ranking Pennsylvania House Democrat acknowledges an employee's thanks for a bonus that she described as a reward for campaign efforts.

The e-mail exchange between Rep. Bill DeWeese and caucus research analyst Karen E. Steiner is notable because DeWeese has consistently maintained he was unaware that any bonuses had been given out for campaigning.

''I can't thank you enough for the bonus for campaigning,'' Steiner wrote in December 2004 to

DeWeese, at a time when he was the Democrats' floor leader. ''I am speechless, as most of us are.''

DeWeese, D-Greene, replied in computer lingo: ''UR welcome.''

From philly.com:

Former State Sen. Vincent Fumo was convicted of all 137 counts against him today as his marathon federal corruption trial ended in a stunning victory for prosecutors.

The jury also found co-defendant Ruth Arnao guilty of all 45 counts against her.

After a 30-minute hearing this afternoon, U.S. District Judge Ronald L. Buckwalter agreed to let Fumo and Arnao remain free pending sentencing although he ordered them to post bail of $2 million and $500,000, respectively, by Wednesday.

Robert Gamburg confronted Nutter after the news conference, as Nutter chatted with reporters. He asked whether the mayor was aware that he was in the process of arranging to pay his taxes.

"I'd also like to know if we are the only three people in the entire city that owe back taxes," Gamburg said, and wanted to know why Nutter chose his building to hold the news conference.

"I'm not going to argue with you on the sidewalk - you owe the city money, pay your taxes," Nutter said.

When Gamburg questioned why Nutter was getting "upset," Nutter raised the bar.

"Oh, you've never seen me upset," Nutter said. "So I'm not upset. Just pay your taxes and everything will be fine."

Gov. Ed Rendell called for an investigation of a Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board contract awarded to a top PLCB manager's husband, even as more details surfaced questioning the contract bidding process, including suspicions from competing firms that the award was "fishy" and seemed like an inside job.

The PLCB recently awarded a $173,000 contract to Solutions 21, a West End consulting firm whose president is married to a state store system regional manager. PLCB officials said the process was legitimate, but it led to calls from state legislators for an explanation, and Mr. Rendell yesterday agreed.

Via CQ:

A defense lobbyist and his family made $1.5 million in political contributions from 2000 through 2008 as the lobbyist's now-embattled firm helped clients win billions of dollars in federal contracts. A sizable chunk of those campaign dollars went to the House members who control Pentagon spending.

Paul Magliocchetti, founder of the PMA Group, and nine of his relatives -- two children, his daughter-in-law, his current wife, his ex-wife and his ex-wife's parents, sister and brother-in-law -- poured contributions into the coffers of candidates, political action committees and national and state party committees, according to a CQ review of public documents.

During this time, PMA grew from a start-up to the 11th-richest lobbying outfit in the country.

The top beneficiaries were a select group of Democratic members of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, other allies of the top Pentagon appropriator in the House, Rep. John P. Murtha , D-Pa., and the company's own political action committee, which in turn made contributions to many of the same lawmakers.

Arguing that Pennsylvania families "need help now" to weather the recession, Gov. Rendell yesterday said he would redirect millions of dollars for health insurance, mortgage assistance, home-heating assistance, and job-counseling programs.

Calling it "emergency economic relief," the governor said he would immediately offer coverage to an additional 16,000 people now on a waiting list for the state-subsidized health-insurance program for lower-income adults. More than 200,000 residents are on the adultBasic waiting list now - 25,000 of them added just last month.

Rendell said he also would move $5 million into an existing fund that helps recently unemployed residents pay their mortgage while looking for jobs. The money will help an additional 550 families, the governor said.

The governor said he was taking the actions by executive order after job losses continued to mount, adding that the rate in some counties had reached double digits. Pennsylvania's unemployment rate is 7 percent.

As the most daunting fiscal crisis of a generation swirls around him, Mayor Nutter will present a budget next week to a City Council whose support for him remains stubbornly uncertain.

On March 19, Nutter will ask Council members and their constituents to accept deep service cuts, onerous tax increases, or both - requests that will severely stress the relationship between the mayor and Council.

"It's going to be testy," said Councilman Darrell L. Clarke, who as majority whip is responsible for rounding up votes in a body where allegiances are still evolving. "It may challenge that relationship."

State Superior Court Judge Jack Panella will apparently run unopposed for the Democratic nomination for state Supreme Court this spring.

Panella's expected opponent, Philadelphia Judge Teresa Sarmina, said Monday she has decided to put party unity ahead of her own ambitions and withdrew from the race.

''I just re-evaluated where I was,'' she said. ''And for the betterment of the party, I decided to withdraw for another day.''

Panella, of Palmer Township, netted the state Democratic Party's official endorsement at a meeting in suburban Harrisburg in January. At that meeting Sarmina announced she planned to run without the party's endorsement and mount a primary challenge.

When it comes to teaching its employees good manners, the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board is keeping it all in the family.

The PLCB recently awarded a $173,000 contract to Solutions 21, a West End consulting firm whose president is married to the PLCB's Western Pennsylvania regional manager. The contract prompted demands for an explanation from two state senators despite assurances from an PLCB spokesman that the bidding process was entirely above board.

Buddy Hobart, president of Solutions 21, which is located at 152 Wabash Ave. in the city's West End neighborhood, is married to Susanne Hobart, the Western Pennsylvania regional manager for the state store system, the PLCB spokesman confirmed after the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette received an anonymous tip about the relationship.

Neither Mr. Hobart nor Mrs. Hobart returned calls for comment, but Mrs. Hobart "had no role in the procurement process," said Nick Hayes, a spokesman for the PLCB.

Gov. Ed Rendell says he would seriously consider signing a bill to stop slot-machine gambling dollars from flowing to Philadelphia if the city continues to resist construction of two casinos there.

The former Philadelphia mayor made the comments Monday in response to a question about opposition to a pair of riverfront casinos that have been licensed by the state.

By law, Philadelphia gets a share of the state tax revenue from slots to lower the wage tax that is paid by people who live or work in the city.

Even as the state struggles with a growing budget deficit, senators yesterday questioned why the Rendell administration is proposing to cut at least $20 million to hospitals that disproportionately serve Medicaid patients as well as the uninsured poor.

At a budget hearing of the Senate Appropriations Committee, both Democratic and Republican senators expressed concerns about Gov. Rendell's proposal to slash payments to those hospitals by roughly 15 percent in his proposed $29 billion budget for 2009-10.

Pat Toomey, who six weeks ago said he had turned his attention toward a possible run for governor, now says he is considering a repeat bid for U.S. Senate.

The about-face by the former Lehigh Valley congressman comes as three other Republicans continue to pursue the governor's mansion in 2010 and with conservatives itching to put up a credible challenge to Republican Sen. Arlen Specter.

Specter's support for the economic stimulus bill last month has left the party hierarchy on the fence over whether it will back the five-term lawmaker again next year.

''Unfortunately, the recent extraordinary response of the federal government -- more corporate bailouts, unprecedented spending and debt, higher taxes -- is likely to make things worse,'' Toomey said in a statement Monday

At worst, Hillary Transue thought she might get a stern lecture when she appeared before a judge for building a spoof MySpace page mocking the assistant principal at her high school in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. She was a stellar student who had never been in trouble, and the page stated clearly at the bottom that it was just a joke.

Prosecutors say Judges Michael T. Conahan, and Mark A. Ciavarella Jr., above, took kickbacks to send teenagers to detention centers.

Instead, the judge sentenced her to three months at a juvenile detention center on a charge of harassment.

She was handcuffed and taken away as her stunned parents stood by.

"I felt like I had been thrown into some surreal sort of nightmare," said Hillary, 17, who was sentenced in 2007. "All I wanted to know was how this could be fair and why the judge would do such a thing."