Philadelphia City Council passed a resolution Thursday creating a special committee to begin hearings on child separation practices and policies with Pennsylvania’s Child Protective Services (CPS). The vote happened after the bill was initially put on hold, but a revised version was introduced and voted on through a rules suspension.
 
The original resolution was introduced last week by co-sponsoring Councilmembers Cindy Bass (D-District 8) and David Oh (R-At Large). Much of the interest in CPS and their policy stems from a social worker investigating Oh for child abuse following his eight-year-old son’s collarbone injury last summer as Oh was teaching them martial arts.

The state’s Independent Fiscal Office has released new estimates on how Pennsylvania workers would be affected by an increase in the minimum wage, which suggests that close to 2 million workers could see increases in their pay if the state’s base wage is raised to $12 an hour.

 

However, the IFO says the policy wouldn’t come without some consequences — namely, a potential loss of approximately 34,100 jobs.

As the General Assembly again weighs whether to change the statute of limitations on child sex abuse, another survivor is filing suit against the Diocese of Harrisburg, claiming they took part in a conspiracy to cover up abuse.

According to the complaint, filed in Dauphin County Court of Common Pleas Thursday, Patrick Duggan said he was abused by a teacher in 1974 at the St. Francis of Assisi Catholic School in Harrisburg. He claims the alleged abuser, Ronald Stewart, groomed him and others by offering them alcohol, marijuana and other drugs at his house.

The state branches of the ACLU and the League of Women Voters announced Thursday they would be filing suit in an effort to stop the victims’ rights amendment Marsy’s Law from appearing on the ballot next month, arguing its structure is unconstitutional.

Citing language in the state’s constitution mandating that two or more amendments to the constitution must be voted upon separately, the ACLU said the legislature erred in not doing its due diligence in ensuring that Pennsylvanians had the opportunity to understand what they are voting on.

Rep. Sara Innamorato (D-Allegheny) thinks of her father often. She attributes to him her love of public transit. He took her on her first rollercoaster ride, Innamorato recalled. And he died from a drug overdose after years of battling addiction.

With those memories in mind and the opioid crisis raging on, this week Innamorato called a policy hearing to focus on harm reduction - the strategies employed to reduce negative consequences associated with drug use.