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SD public defense duties shift from counties to state; SCOTUS appears skeptical of restricting government communications with social media companies; Trump lawyers say he can't make bond; new scholarships aim to connect class of 2024 to high-demand jobs.

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The SCOTUS weighs government influence on social media, and who groups like the NRA can do business with. Biden signs an executive order to advance women's health research and the White House tells Israel it's responsible for the Gaza humanitarian crisis.

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Midwest regenerative farmers are rethinking chicken production, Medicare Advantage is squeezing the finances of rural hospitals and California's extreme swing from floods to drought has some thinking it's time to turn rural farm parcels into floodplains.

PA Groups Prepare for Budget Day of Action

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Tuesday, May 30, 2017   

HARRISBURG, Pa. – A nonpartisan coalition of labor, education, religious and civic groups is holding a tele-town hall meeting Thursday to discuss the latest developments in state budget negotiations.

The budget is due at the end of June, but negotiations have been slow. The state is facing a $3.5 billion deficit.

According to Marc Stier, director of the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center, Gov. Tom Wolf's proposed budget would reduce that deficit through a combination of increased efficiencies and higher taxes on corporations and businesses.

"The House has come back with a budget that is much below the governor's spending level with really deep cuts to medical assistance and child care services, pre-K and Head Start, and mental health and substance abuse funding that is still unbalanced," Stier points out.

Registration for the tele-town hall and a Budget Day of Action in Harrisburg on Monday is available online at PAChoice.org/budgetaction.

Pennsylvania's Choice is calling on legislators to pass a budget that serves the people of the Commonwealth.

Stier says that begins with fixing the state's broken tax system so everyone pays his or her fair share.

"We have this upside down tax system, which taxes people at the bottom at 12 percent, and the top 1 percent only pay 4 percent – and they're the ones whose incomes are going up," he states.

Stier says declining revenues are driving the deficits, and without new revenue the state won't be able to make critical investments in communities.

"It just stands to reason, it's a matter of basic mathematics,” he states. “If you're not taxing the people whose incomes are going up, you're not going to have tax revenues to provide the services that all of us, rich and poor, need."

Pennsylvania's Choice is organizing buses to bring people from across the state to the rally on Monday in Harrisburg. That rally will get under way at noon.





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