I’m back in Harrisburg and ready to get back to a regular session schedule. We voted on a few bills today, and have several more scheduled for the next couple of days. The House is working on the Governor’s budget bill and expects to have a vote on it on March 22nd. Not only is this a bad bill for the obvious reasons of too much spending, no reform and not enough revenue to support itself, it is also starting from a number that is not correct. We just had another month where the revenues fell well short of projections. We are approaching about a $500,000 shortfall right now. The Governor says we will be short $525,000 by June 30. No one thinks that will be the case. These actions do not bode well for getting the budget done on time. Unfortunately, starting this far apart and using bad figures, makes it very difficult to work out a realistic budget. It’s no wonder he has never gotten a budget done on time.

- John

I stopped by the Woodland Owners of the Southern Alleghenies Conference today at the Breezewood Fire Hall. This was an all day program focusing on invasive species. Interestingly, many of the problems forced on our trees and grasses are sold at nurseries. Next time. I’ll think twice about planting foreign varieties of plants at my house. Many are fine, some are not. Charlotte and I attended an “Everlasting Post” service at the Huntingdon American Legion. We have been to this service before and were privileged to be asked back. We ended the night at the Penn State Altoona Alumni Society’s Midwinter’s Dance. It was fun. I did get a little work done today, but I’ll have to put it in high gear tomorrow.

- John

Charlotte and I made it back from our bear visit and we still have all of our fingers and toes. We learned quite a bit last night at the program presented by the Game Commission’s bear biologist. PA currently has about 18,000 bears and has the habitat to support more, but studies show that our citizens say we have enough of these large animals, our bears are the most prolific with higher numbers of cubs and earlier birthing than any other state’s bears and we have far more bear hunters than any other state, about 146,000. We were out in the woods early this morning and saw the mother bear, after she had been tranquilized, and her three 10 to 12 day old cubs. The mother is checked over by the team that includes a vet and the biologist. While they work on the mother, the rest of us hold the cubs and keep them warm. They’re cute little buggers and we have the pictures to prove it. This was a great experience, I appreciate the fine work being done in this program.

- John

Charlotte and I are headed to see the bears with the PA Game Commission. We have done this before and she loves it. Since I was leaving in the afternoon, I didn’t schedule anything today. Consequently, I got a lot done. I’ll have a report on the bears tomorrow, unless I’m eaten by one.

- John

I spoke early this morning at the ribbon cutting for the new Martin’s grocery store in Altoona. It looks like a great facility. It’s bigger than the one in Duncansville and has more “bells and whistles” I’m told. I look forward to making a stop there with Charlotte soon. I also spoke today at the Altoona Kiwanis Club’s luncheon meeting. We talked about fiscal issues as well as the Marriage Protection Amendment. I also attended and spoke at the funeral for Altoona City Councilman Jason Ibrahim. It was a very unique and meaningful service with a number of different speakers offering brief remarks. There was plenty of music and several passages of scripture. It was particularly difficult seeing the parents of Jason and his 29 year old widow sit through the service. Jason was a dedicated Christian, family man and public servant. He will be missed by many people and will serve as an inspiration to all who knew him. Please keep the Ibrahim family in your prayers.

- John