Anne's Arts & Activities Blog

Supreme Court Justice Seamus McCaffery has announced his retirement, amid the state government email pornography scandal. McCaffery has sent a letter to Governor Tom Corbett announcing his plans to retire from the bench, and the Judicial Conduct Board released the following statement: "Based on a limited waiver by Justice Seamus P. McCaffery of the confidentiality provisions of the Pennsylvania Constitution and the Judicial Conduct Board’s Rules of Procedure that would otherwise prohibit the Board from commenting on the matters pending before it, the Board issues the following statement in light of Justice McCaffery’s retirement from the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania: Pursuant to its constitutional mandate, the Judicial Conduct Board has been investigating allegations involving Justice McCaffery for several months, including some of very recent origin which have been disclosed in the media. If the Board were to continue its investigations and institute proceedings agains...

A member of the state Supreme Court is caught up in the email pornography scandal in the attorney general’s office. Pennsylvania chief justice Ronald Castille issued a news release today saying Justice Seamus McCaffrey was the sender or recipient of 234 emails with sexually explicit material or pornography in them. Castille says McCaffrey sent most of the emails to a now-retired agent with the AG’s office, who then forwarded them to other. The circulation of porn in the attorney general’s office happened from late 2008 until early 2012, and has led to the resignation of several people, including now-former DEP Secretary Chris Abruzzo. The emails surfaced during a review of how the Jerry Sandusky case at Penn State was handled by the attorney general's office. Castille says the attorney general’s office told him the 234 emails involving McCaffrey contained 1,502 sexually explicit images and 60 sexually explicit video files, some of which were duplicates. He estimated the number...

Range Resources has been fined more than $4 million for violations at six of its Washington County impoundments. The DEP consent order requires the company to pay the $4.2 million fine – the largest against an oil and gas operator since Marcellus and Utica shale drilling started in Pennsylvania – close five impoundments and upgrade two others to meet higher standards that are currently under development. DEP Secretary E. Christopher Abruzzo said. “This landmark consent order establishes a new, higher benchmark for companies to meet when designing future impoundments, which is an environmental win for Pennsylvania.” Violations at the impoundments include various releases of contaminants, such as leaking flowback that affected soil and groundwater. To date there has been no impact on drinking water. The news leader of the Twin Tiers ... since 1947

State DEP Secretary Christopher Abruzzo and other agency officials met with several McKean County oil and gas producers and area lawmakers recently to learn more about the differences between conventional and unconventional drilling and how proposed regulations impact them differently. State Rep. Marty Causer says they visited a site in Hamilton Township outside of Kane, where a well was being actively drilled; Big Shanty Road in Lafayette Township, where a conventional well was being fracked; the Penn-Brad Oil Museum; an old-time well site in Ottow Township in the Village of Rixford; and American Refining Group. Causer will be introducing legislation soon that would ensure that regulations for conventional and unconventional drillers are different, and will not negatively impact the conventional drillers. Picture from Causer's office. See more pictures at Facebook.com/1490wesb . The news leader of the Twin Tiers ... since 1947

PITTSBURGH -- The Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is fining Halliburton Energy Services $1.8 million for 255 violations of the Solid Waste Management Act between 1999 and 2011. DEP became aware of the violations in 2011 during an inspection of the facility, and further investigation revealed violations dating back to 1999. “Our regulations are in place to protect the health and safety of our residents and to preserve our environmental resources,” DEP Secretary Chris Abruzzo said. “Halliburton’s repeated disregard of these regulations is unacceptable.” The violations occurred when the company, at its Homer City facility in Indiana County, stored, treated and transported waste hydrochloric acid without obtaining proper permits from DEP. During the 12-year time period, Halliburton transported acidic waste, which had originated from various gas well sites, without identifying the waste as “hazardous waste,” without proper hazardous waste trucking records, and without usin...