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SANTORUM-ENERGY

Santorum: Global warming is politics, not science

STEUBENVILLE, Ohio (AP) Rick Santorum says President Barack Obama is pushing a radical environmental agenda that unwisely limits energy production and turns its back on science.

Santorum told voters in eastern Ohio yesterday that science is on the side of those who want to aggressively produce more oil and natural gas in America. He says the notion of global warming is not climate science but "political science."

Santorum says Obama and his allies want to frighten people about new oil-exploration technologies so they can get your dollars and turn it over to politicians to win elections "so they can control your lives."

Ohio's GOP primary is March 6th.

COMMERCE FINE-NCO

Minn. agency fines Pa. firm for hiring felons

(Information in the following story is from: St. Paul Pioneer Press, http://www.twincities.com)

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) Minnesota's Department of Commerce has fined a Pennsylvania-based debt-collection firm $250,000 for offenses including hiring convicted felons.

Commerce Commissioner Mike Rothman alleged that NCO Financial Systems Incorporated failed to adequately screen debt-collector applicants. He says the company also hired people with felony convictions and failed to notify the state when collectors were fired for breaking state laws.

He says turning convicted felons loose on vulnerable Minnesota consumers is a "dangerous recipe for fraud and financial abuse."

A St. Paul Pioneer Press report says a consent order in the case hs been signed.

NCO says it's complied with the consent order by making a number of changes, including revamping its employee-screening process.

NCO is based in Horsham, Pennsylvania. It owns and operates 49 debt-collection agencies across the U.S.

SCHOOLS-AFFILIATION TALKS

2 NE Pa. schools talking about affiliation

(Information in the following story is from: The Times-Tribune, http://thetimes-tribune.com/ )

SCRANTON, Pa. (AP) The University of Scranton and Commonwealth Medical College say they are talking about a "possible" affiliation.

The (Scranton) Times-Tribune says the two schools signed an agreement yesterday to continue talks through next month.

They say they will engage in a wider discussion about "complex questions and issues" surrounding a possible affiliation.

SUBURBAN BILLBOARDS

Billboards rejected in 2 suburban Philly areas

HAVERFORD, Pa. (AP) Officials in two suburban Philadelphia communities have rejected an investment group's proposal to put up billboards.

The Haverford Township zoning board has voted unanimously to dismiss a challenge in a three-year-old billboard case and rejected Bartkowski Investment Group's application to install 672-square-foot billboards at five locations.

The firm says the township's billboard ban is unconstitutional, but officials say many other types of off-premise outdoor advertising signs are allowed, such as signs on bus shelters and shopping carts.

Company head Thaddeus Bartkowski III tells the Delaware County Daily Times he isn't surprised and plans to appeal "as long as the sky is blue and gravity exists."

Meanwhile, The Philadelphia Inquirer says Phoenixville zoning officials have rejected Bartkowski's proposal for three electronic billboards there.

LEVEES-CASEY

Casey calls on Army Corps to speed levee analysis

FORTY FORT, Pa. (AP) Sen. Bob Casey wants the Army Corps of Engineers to pick up the pace of its analysis of damage to the levees protecting river communities in northeastern Pennsylvania.

Casey says delays in assessments for the Susquehanna River levees in and around Wilkes-Barre are holding up funding that would repair damage from September's record flooding.

At a news conference yesterday in Forty Fort, Casey said the massive flooding is still an "open wound" for families that live along the river. Several feet of water inundated some communities unprotected by levees after the remnants of Tropical Storm Lee moved through the region.

An inspection by county engineers found problems including cracked flood walls, blown gaskets and malfunctioning floodgates.

The storm generated record flooding along the Susquehanna, topping marks stretching back a century.

Source: http://www2.wjtv.com/news/2012/feb/21/latest-pennsylvania-business-ar-301833/

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