House and Senate Democratic leaders say they will use the lame-duck session of Congress to put the bill up for a vote.

Maria Marroquin, an undocumented immigrant from Peru, arrived in the U.S. when she was 13 years old. She recently earned her associate's degree from Montgomery County Community College, and wants the Dream Act to become law.

"That's the only way I can continue my education to transfer to a four-year school," she said. "My dream is to be a lawyer, but I can't do that until the Dream Act passes."

The Dream Act is popular among Latino voters, who are credited with helping the Democrats maintain control of the Senate. Both Sen. Arlen Specter and Bob Casey of Pennsylvania support the Dream Act. Sen.-elect Pat Toomey said he doesn't know enough about the bill to have an opinion.

But the tea-party faction may not have the support of their more traditional GOP colleagues.

Earmarks refer to the common practice of slipping funding requests for home-state projects into legislation. Some call it pork, but others say it helps much-needed projects.

Earmarks can include everything from biomedical research funding, to road projects, to construction of recreation centers. They're often used as leverage by politicians to gain support.

Toomey made ending earmarks a key part of his campaign platform, even showing up to a news conference in downtown Philadelphia with a pig.

But large bipartisan support for the practice continues.

Joe McLaughlin is a professor at Temple University and a former lobbyist in Harrisburg.

"On the whole there is reason to be concerned about the volume and potential for corruption but there are worthy things that have been funded at a lower overall cost had they been part of a larger government program," said McLaughlin.

It's unclear if Senate Republicans will come together on the ban. Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell says getting rid of earmarks won't cut spending.

The $3.2 billion-dollar deal illustrates a reversal in how large energy corporations view natural gas extraction.

Before smaller companies like Atlas began tapping the Marcellus Shale a few years ago, larger energy companies like Chevron had given up on natural gas. But new technology known as hydraulic fracturing has made investment in natural gas extraction worthwhile. At the same time, the price of natural gas has dropped significantly, making it prime time for big oil to step back in and buy up smaller companies.

Bob Gillon is an independent energy analyst with IHS Herold Inc.

He said Wednesday there's a big shift going on in the gas industry.

"It went from one of declining production and high prices to one of rising production and surplus supply and low prices," said Gillon. "It's been absolutely amazing to watch happen."

Gillon said engineers with his firm have estimated the amount of natural gas that lies a mile beneath the forests and farmlands of Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio and West Virginia is large enough to provide the country's gas needs for 10 to 12 years.

He said companies like Chevron are thinking about profits over the long term.

"Chevron's optimistic that energy prices over time will rise as demand increases," said Lloyd Avram, a Chevron spokesman. "We've got a growing world, we got an economy that relies heavily on energy. We believe that natural gas will be an important part of the energy mix long term as we move to use cleaner forms of energy that are less carbon intensive.

"So, long term, we look at the Marcellus Shale opportunity and believe it's got tremendous potential."

The deal would give Chevron access to more than 450,000 acres of land in the Marcellus region. An estimated 9 trillion cubic feet of natural gas lies beneath those acres.

But the natural gas rush has generated opposition from environmentalists and residents who say the process contaminates water supplies. And recent efforts to enact a tax on drillers in order to fund environmental remediation failed to get through the Pennsylvania Legislature.

Iris Bloom is with Protecting Our Waters — which opposes drilling.

"It shows that these corporations are making tons of money, so the claim that they're an infant industry is just completely bankrupt we've known that for a long time," she said.

Bloom wants a moratorium on drilling until studies on public health effects are completed.

The state had previously hired a Philadelphia-based intelligence company to provide information in the name of protecting state infrastructure. The company turned over details about public gatherings attended by opponents of natural gas drilling, animal rights groups and peace activists.

On Wednesday, a group of those activists called on Corbett to issue an executive order forbidding any surveillance of activists.

But Corbett says he has no plans to do so.

"Particularly when it comes to homeland security when it comes to law enforcement I think I have a pretty good handle on some of the things there," Corbett said.

The state Office of Homeland Security paid the non-profit Institute of Terrorism Research and Response more than $100,000 to provide updates on infrastructure threats three times a week.

Bob Smith, with the Brandywine Peace Community, has conducted anti-war demonstrations for more than 30 years. He said the FBI and the state police have spied on him before, but this time was different.

"This whole phenomenon of private, for-profit security agencies, billions of dollars appropriated for it since 911 is something that people need to be aware of, need to be alarmed about and it needs to stop," said Smith.

Governor Rendell apologized for the surveillance, and ended the contract with the company.

Located along Baltimore Pike just west of Ridley Creek in Middletown Township, the 46-acre site is chockfull of hard-to-find minerals such as feldspar, amazonite and moonstone. Mineral Hill is also a source for serpentine — a green rock used to construct a number of buildings in the area.

Christine Fizzano Cannon is vice chairwoman of Delaware County Council.

"For Delaware County residents, it doesn't just hold that significance — it also holds the significance of being a large parcel of open space that sits adjacent to some already preserved properties, and sits along the Ridley Creek," said Cannon.

Cannon said the purchase will help preserve the creek's watershed.

The site was once used as a Boy Scouts camp. The $650,000 purchase was funded through a number of government and non-profit grants.

The diocese had planned on building a seminary on the land. Then there were plans for a golf course and housing development. Now the Nature Conservancy has purchased the sensitive wetlands.

"It's the headwaters of the Manumuskin River, and the Manumuskin river is one of the cleanest rivers in New Jersey and it has a number of rare species associated with it," said Bob Allen of the Nature Conservancy.

The area is a habitat for about 30 rare animals and plants, including a plant called "sensitive joint vetch," which grows no where else in New Jersey.

Allen said the Manumuskin is part of a water system that flows into the Delaware Bay, near harvested oyster beds.

Abu-Jamal has been on death row since his 1982 conviction for killing Philadelphia police Officer Daniel Faulkner.

A lower court ruled in 2001 that the death sentence should be vacated because the original trial judge gave confusing instructions to the jury. But with so many issues in this longstanding case, Abu-Jamal's attorneys will once again be arguing similar issues to a new set of judges.

Michael Coard is an attorney, and supporter of Abu-Jamal.

"This case has gone from the common pleas court, to the Pennsylvania Superior Court, to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, back down to the PCRA court, Post Conviction Relief Court, which is on the common pleas level," said Coard. "Back up to the superior court, state superior court, state Supreme Court, federal district dourt, 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals, U.S. Supreme Court."

And now, its back to the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals.

Abu-Jamal is one of more than 200 Pennsylvania inmates sitting on death row. Dozens, including him, were sentenced back in the 1980s.

In the meantime, Abu-Jamal's lead attorney withdrew from the case Friday. Widener University Law professor Judith Ritter will argue the case.

On the campaign trail, Corbett stated time and time again that he would not favor taxing the booming business of natural gas drilling.

The towns and counties that are home to the bulk of drilling activities may be the biggest losers. They've seen their costs rise with damage to rural roads, and increased costs for emergency services. They were hoping for a cut of a state tax.

Elum Herr is with the Pennsylvania State Association of Township Supervisors. Herr said his new job will be to convince Gov.-elect Corbett that a tax on the natural gas industry is not the same as a tax on gas consumers.

"These municipalities need the revenue to make sure they're not footing the bill for a profit-making industry," said Herr.

Environmentalists had also pushed for the tax to fund conservation and cleanup efforts. Democratic state Rep. Greg Vitali said his job just got harder.

"Those concerned with the environment, our role shifts from offense to defense. Last term we were in a position to move good issues forward," said Vitali. "Now our job is to stop bad things from happening and mitigate the effects of damaging legislation."

Vitali said that, come June, Pennsylvania will face a $5 billion deficit. Republicans in both the House and Senate said they still support an industry tax. But without the governor's approval, an industry tax is unlikely in the near future.

By all accounts, Inspector Carlos Castro was a rising star who aspired to be police commissioner. But now, he is behind bars facing a possible 80 year prison term if convicted on bribery and extortion charges.

Castro is accused of hiring his own personal repo man to collect on a debt by using violence and intimidation.

Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey says such a high-ranking officer has not been indicted since the early 1980's.

"And I hope this serves as an example. It doesn't matter what rank they are. If they are corrupt and if they are engaged in corrupt activities we will prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law."

Ramsey says Castro will be suspended for 30 days pending dismissal.

The department has beefed up it's corruption fighting capacity within the last month and a half, adding 38 additional officers to investigate their colleagues.

Michael Kelly comes from New York City, where he is the general manager of that city's Housing Authority. He also spent 10 years running the housing authority in Washington D.C.

Kelly will take a leave of absence from his New York job to be interim director of the embattled Philadelphia Housing Authority.

PHA chairman John Street, the former mayor, said Thursday residents shouldn't get their hopes up that Kelly will stay on as a permanent director.

"He's a great guy, we'd love to have him and maybe we might be able to pull this off, maybe we won't, we don't know for sure," said Street. "We are positive about it, but until it's done, it's not done."

Greene was fired after the PHA board learned of sexual harassment complaints that cost the organization about $900,000 in settlement payments.

The federal Department of Housing and Urban Development is auditing the agency. The FBI is also engaged in a criminal investigation.

Greene is suing PHA, alleging breach of contract.