In case you missed it: this week’s good reads about Pennsylvania cities

Happy Friday! Here’s our roundup of this week’s recommended reading:

 

Education

Here’s the latest in our series of podcasts and explainers about state public school funding:

What does a state education formula do? 

How is special education paid for?

Report concludes Gov. Wolf’s proposed budget distribution isn’t enough to fix the complex problem of racial bias in Pa. school funding

Pa. school funding panel expected to issue recommendations in June.

The Community College of Philadelphia is offering free tuition to eligible students. (Flying Kite Media)

Baltimore

Hundreds of Philadelphians rallied in Center City yesterday to show solidarity with Baltimore. (Newsworks)

Pennsylvania plans to send 300 troops to assist Baltimore. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) 

Getting around

Penn State researchers are doing the practical work of trying to make infrastructure safer, less expensive, and longer-lasting.

We updated our explainer: “How crowded are Pennsylvania roads?” 

Bike share programs are popular in big cities. As smaller cities follow suit, here are some things to keep in mind.

Pensions

Capitol Recap: 9 of the 10 Pa. communities with the highest per capita municipal pensions shortfall are cities. We crunched some numbers and identified trends. 

Good news? Bradford says its pensions are “performing well.” That said, Bradford’s pension fund is still considered moderately distressed. (Bradford Era)

Guns

The Pennsylvania Office of Open Records ruled Harrisburg must release the names of legal defense donors in NRA lawsuit. (Lancaster Online)

Pa. handgun sales are up by 171 percent in last decade. (Penn Live)

Appeals court won’t lift stay on NRA’s Pittsburgh lawsuit. (WTRF)

Judge rules NRA lawsuit against Philadelphia can move forward. (Associated Press)

City revitalization

“It’s not a matter of if Aliquippa will find a way—it has to.” Check out The Times’ ongoing series on Aliquippa’s plan for recovery and revitalization.

And The Mercury News has a series on Pottstown’s revitalization.

Energy

Pipeline opponent arrested at public meeting in Lancaster County.  (State Impact)

The lasting, damaging effects of cheap oil (Christian Science Monitor via State Impact)

Etc.

Kathleen Kane update: grand jury presentment finds the Attorney General lied. (Trib Live)

Gov. Wolf held a town hall meeting on Twitter this week. (Penn Live)

SafeWise says 17 of the 100 safest US towns are in Pennsylvania. The only state with more is New Jersey (!). 

Lancaster group is gathering local residents’ LGBT stories. (Lancaster Online)

Route Fifty makes the case that local governments should be contributing to Wikipedia. 

Just for pun

Headlines that made us chuckle this week:

“Later hours for bars: A sobering thought.” (Delco Times)

“Locust Lake State Park snuffs out smoking at beach.” (Republican Herald)

And this first line is too good to pass up: “The Altoona Water Authority has finally drained all opposition from a group of residents served by a leaky private line along Grazierville Road and Glenby Drive in Tipton.” (Altoona Mirror)

Not a pun, but funny: “Bullseye! Bald eagle cam nailed by waste, Game Commission says.” (Public Opinion Online)

Have a punny weekend!