PA Counties locked down

[BobFromBucks]

More Wolf shenanigans just published today.

Pa. officials revoked business waivers the night before publishing list of recipients
The Department of Community and Economic Development, which oversees the process, said it was part of ongoing 'quality control.'
Angela Couloumbis/Spotlight PA
Charlotte Keith/Spotlight PA
Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan newsroom powered by The Philadelphia Inquirer in partnership with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and PennLive/Patriot-News.

HARRISBURG — Late in the evening last Thursday, Tiffany Kuhn was at her home outside Harrisburg reading an e-book on her cell phone when a notification popped up that she had an email from Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration.

When she opened her inbox, Kuhn said her blood pressure “went through the roof.” The letter from the administration, sent at 9:30 p.m., informed her that the waiver she had received six weeks earlier to operate her mobile notary business during the pandemic had suddenly, and without explanation, been rescinded.

“Imagine my surprise,” said Kuhn, who had taken special precautions, including wearing gloves and a mask when meeting with clients, since she received a waiver on March 23. That was four days after Wolf announced that all but “life-sustaining” businesses had to close because of the coronavirus unless they received an exemption.

“My first thought was, someone turned on me,” said Kuhn, who suspected a competitor may have complained.

Kuhn’s waiver was revoked by the state Department of Community and Economic Development, which has overseen the much-criticized process of awarding exemptions to thousands of companies across Pennsylvania that applied for the right to remain open despite Wolf’s business shutdown order.

The timing has raised suspicions among business owners and some GOP lawmakers. Just hours before the administration disclosed the first details about which businesses received waivers, state officials were still revoking exemptions without explanation, according to several interviews with business owners.

As a result, the names of those businesses weren’t on a list of recipients that the administration eventually made public late Friday afternoon, just after the deadline set by Republican lawmakers who had subpoenaed the information. Other businesses said the state revoked their waivers after the list was published, and also without explanation.

In yet another case, a trucking company that had been denied a waiver weeks earlier was notified just after 9:30 p.m. Thursday that it was suddenly allowed to operate.

“I was like huh, backpedal a little bit? … Fixing what went wrong?” said Stacy White, who together with her husband owns a trucking company north of Scranton that transports logs.

Officials with the Department of Community and Economic Development said the revocations were part of “a quality control review process” that began several weeks ago. In all, 69 businesses have had their waivers revoked, spokesperson Casey Smith said, although she was unable to immediately say when they were notified.

“During that process, which is ongoing, we are rescinding waivers that were issued in error or do not meet the appropriate criteria,” Smith said.

The administration’s handling of the waiver process has been fraught from the start. The Department of Community and Economic Development has never detailed the exact criteria used to consider applications, nor has it made those applications public. It also hasn’t identified which businesses were denied, or those that were approved and then had their waiver revoked.

Businesses have criticized the waiver process, saying the decisions were made in secret and applied unfairly, causing some in the same industry to operate while competitors were forced to remain closed. In some cases, a waiver could mean the difference between a business surviving the shutdown or going bankrupt.

An email obtained by Spotlight PA showed that a Central Pennsylvania garden store, like Kuhn, received an email at 9:30 Thursday night informing it that its waiver was being yanked. Others were notified after Wolf’s list was published Friday evening.

That includes Micah Durling, who thought his photography business was in the clear after receiving a waiver on March 25.

The Lancaster County company, which he owns with his wife, specializes in pictures for real estate listings. The couple had adjusted to a new way of working: wearing gloves and masks, wiping down their equipment after shoots, and only taking pictures when no one was home.

Then, on Monday afternoon, they received an email from the state, abruptly revoking the waiver without explanation. The reversal came a few days after a competitor who had not received a waiver began asking about the discrepancy, Durling said.

“It was crushing,” he said. “This frankly blindsided us.”

Given the high stakes, news organizations across the state — including Spotlight PA, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and many others — have for weeks requested documents related to the waiver process, arguing that immediate transparency was necessary given the potential harm that could be caused by a process that was unequal or unfair.

But the Wolf administration put the requests on ice, saying it would make information available eventually but without giving a timeline. Late last month, Republicans in the Senate — some of the loudest critics of the administration’s handling of the pandemic — subpoenaed Wolf for thousands of pages of records related to the waiver process, and set a 4 p.m. deadline last Friday for the governor to respond.

The administration rebuffed the subpoena request and refused to comply, but at the same time published a list of companies that had been approved for exemptions. Officials said they had granted just over 6,100 waivers, though that tally was inconsistent with previous statements about how many exemptions were granted.

In a press release on Friday, the Department of Community and Economic Development said it had approved 6,066 waivers. On its website, it said it had approved 6,104, and within an hour, that number had been updated to 6,123.

But all are fewer than what was reported by the administration at the end of April. At that time, they said they had approved 6,171 exemptions.

Smith, the DCED spokesperson, said the department’s review process is not static, and that if “issues are brought to our attention” they will be reviewed and addressed.

Sharon Hollabaugh, who owns a small dog-grooming business outside Pittsburgh, applied for a waiver in March, but was told by the state she didn’t need one. After receiving an email on Thursday evening reversing that determination, she had to cancel dozens of appointments.

The change will be short-lived: She’ll be able to open again on Friday, once Allegheny County moves to the “yellow” phase of Wolf’s tiered reopening plan.

Hollabaugh said she’s not sure why the state told her she could stay open, when other dog groomers she knows were not. But she wonders about the timing of the reversal, just a day before the state first made public the list of businesses that had received waivers.

“They knew they were dumping people off that list,” she said.

https://papost.org/2020/05/13/pa-off...4ziy-OcB9t4bKU

[Mr_Gixxer]

You could still raise them for yourselves.

Well the thing is we usually buy our pigs in February/March, January born pigs. If they were born any later than that they can't make weight by August. The Auction we normally get them from was canceled but left the option to buy direct. My son usually shows 2 pigs so we buy 3 to have an insurance policy and butcher the extra should we not need it. We thought about buying them anyway back then but decided not to. They haven't even been having 4H meetings. We have freezers full of meat right now anyways, we could always get another pig for our own meat later down the road but don't really need one yet let alone the 3 that we would have been left with.

[Mr_Gixxer]

1589381848-picsay.jpg

[alpacaheat]

Wife read an article this morning that Adams County announced they're saying FU WOLF and jumping to the green phase. Having a public celebration on the Gettysburg Square this weekend.

[JenniferG]

This is Dr Blunder's political retribution on people that don't go along with their agenda. I bet all those business Dr Blunder is seeking to put under don't allow men to use the women's bathroom.

[frankski]

Wife read an article this morning that Adams County announced they're saying FU WOLF and jumping to the green phase. Having a public celebration on the Gettysburg Square this weekend.

That is to be expected. Gettysburg’s economy depends on tourism. The season has just begun. They can’t survive a shutdown. People have to work to eat, unless they’re government employees.

[streaker69]

If either one of them had any honor they'd Bud Dwyer themselves.

[bogey1]

If either one of them had any honor they'd Bud Dwyer themselves.

Bud was innocent, he was framed. Thats what I read.

Robert Budd Dwyer (November 21, 1939 – January 22, 1987) was an American politician who served as the Treasurer of Pennsylvania from January 20, 1981 to January 22, 1987. On that day, which was one day prior to the date of his sentencing, Dwyer called a news conference in the state capital of Harrisburg where he killed himself in front of the gathered employees and reporters with a .357 caliber revolver.

In 1986, Dwyer was wrongly convicted of receiving a bribe from the California firm that won a lucrative State contract. Throughout Dwyer's trial and after his conviction, he maintained that he was innocent of the charges levied against him, and that he had been framed. Decades later, the prosecution's primary witness, William T. Smith, whose testimony was largely used to obtain Dwyer's conviction, admitted that he had lied under oath about Dwyer taking a bribe in order to receive a reduced sentence.

At the press conference he professed his innocence and began reading from a 21 page prepared text later described as a "rambling polemic about the criminal justice system". After he was done speaking and handing out the notes to his staffers, Dwyer then produced a manila envelope with a Smith & Wesson Model 27 .357 Magnum revolver in it. Dwyer calmly stated to his audience, "Please, please leave the room if this will...if this will affect you." A moment later, Dwyer put the gun into his mouth, fired, and collapsed to the floor.

It is thought that Dwyer did not resign and instead killed himself so that his family, who had been financially devastated by legal defense costs, was able to collect full State survivor benefits, totaling over $1.28 million.

https://www.reddit.com/r/lastimages/...ate_treasurer/

[Mr_Gixxer]

Maybe Willam Belli will cover their version of Filters Hey Man Nice Shot.

[BobFromBucks]

Here's the latest on the protest in Doylestown - Bucks County this morning from 6ABC. They say 100 protestors - the people who were there say more like 200. I also like how the jagoff newscaster leads the story with "Survey's show the majority of PA residents support Gov. Wolf's plan."


Protesters call on Gov. Wolf, local officials to reopen Bucks County

DOYLESTOWN, Pennsylvania -- About 100 people gathered outside of the Bucks County Courthouse on Wednesday morning calling on Gov. Tom Wolf and other officials to reopen the county amid the ongoing pandemic.

A Facebook page called "ReOpen Bucks County PA," which has over 1,000 members including small business owners, staged the rally at 10 a.m.

They say they want their political leaders to lobby the governor to allow them to reopen.

"We want to support small businesses. We feel like it is time and if small businesses can't open, then why should Lowe's, and Home Depot, and Target and Walmart have lines out the door? If they can social distance then so can small businesses," said Jeff Carr, of Doylestown.

During Wednesday's rally, protesters could he heard chanting "open Bucks" and "we want our freedom."

Others were seen waving Trump and American flags while saying the "Pledge of Allegiance."

On Saturday, Bucks County commissioners and county officials asked Wolf for a clear direction on a date for reopening before the June 2 primary election.

On Monday, Wolf blasted local elected officials who plan to reopen in defiance of his shutdown orders, threatening to yank coronavirus aid and declaring they are "choosing to desert in the face of the enemy."

You can see video of the event if you go to their site.

https://6abc.com/protesters-call-on-...ounty/6178784/