Longtime ACLU Harrisburg lobbyist, Larry Frankel, was found dead  Friday in a Washington D.C. park. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle remembered Frankel - who in 2008 was promoted to a national position in the ACLU's Washington office - as a "brilliant tactician," committed to his causes and always fair. To many reporters he was a Capitol source on many issues and a valuable resource willing to take time to explain complex legal issues. Plans for memorial services in Harrisburg or Philadelphia have not yet been set.

Here are the obituaries in today's Inquirer and Daily News.

Click here for Philly.com's politics page.

Pennsylvania's agriculture secretary, Dennis Wolff, who is credited with improving food safety and expanding markets for the state's farm products, is stepping down after 6 1/2 years.

Gov  Rendell said Wolff's last day would be Sept. 12 and that he will nominate executive deputy secretary Russell Redding to lead the department.

Redding has worked in the Department of Agriculture since 1995 and run its day-to-day operations as the second-in-command since 2003.

During his tenure, Wolff's launched the PA Preferred initiative, the centers of beef and dairy excellence, and fought for legislation to protect farmers from "nuisance" lawsuits. Wolff also worked to expand the state's nationally-recognized farmland preservation program and was instrumental in the passage of legislation toughening restrictions on commercial dog kennels.

Agency spokesman Justin Fleming said Wolff's future plans have not yet been made public, but that he was seeking opportunities in the private sector.

Wolff was one of the last members of Rendell's original 2003 cabinet still holding office. Redding's nomination must be approved by the full Senate.

Click here for Philly.com's politics page.

Scranton Mayor Chris Doherty (D), who has pushed economic development and trimmed government in his city, was in the Philadelphia area Thursday meeting with prominent pols and operatives to express his interest in the party's gubernatorial nomination in 2010.

Doherty recently commissioned a statewide poll that showed 54 percent of Democratic voters had no favorite in the impending governor's race. Perceived front-runner Dan Onorato, the Allegheny County executive and a favorite of Gov. Rendell's network; Philadelphia businessman and unsuccessful mayoral candidate Tom Knox; and state Auditor General Jack Wagner of Pittsburgh; and Doherty himself were all bunched together between 10 and 20 percent in hypotheticals.

(The poll did not measure Montgomery County Commissioner Joe Hoeffel, who just last week told supporters that he wants to run for governor as the true progressive.) Onorato and Wagner are classic "Casey" Democrats who oppose abortion rights.

"That's one of the big hurdles Onorato faces in the Southeast," said one uncommitted Democratic insider who met with Doherty and found him impressive.

A Catholic, Doherty supports abortion rights, often a litmus test for party liberals - many of whom say the enthusiastically backed Sen. Bob Casey Jr. in 2006 despite his opposition to abortion rights, and now want/deserve a pro-choice nominee for governor.

Click here for Philly.com's politics page.

On the day Michael Vick made his debut as a Philadelphia Eagle, Gov. Rendell signed an anti-animal-cruelty bill that, among other things, increases penalties for dog-fighting.

The new law - most elements of which take effect in 60 days - makes it illegal for anyone but a veterinarian to perform the following surgical procedures:

Cropping, trimming or cutting off an ear;
Debarking by cutting or injuring the vocal cords;
Docking or cutting off the tail of a dog over five days of age;
Surgically birthing a dog; and
Removing the dewclaws from a dog over five days of age.

“Until now, these cruel practices could be carried out by dog owners without proper training and without supervision by a licensed vet, which could lead to long-term injury, pain and, in some cases, death to these defenseless animals,” said Rendell, speaking at a bill signing ceremony outside the Capitol.

Animal lovers and their four-footed friends attended, including Pennsylvania's First Dog, Maggie - one of two rescue dogs owned by Rendell and his wife Midge - who was living in an oversized rabbit hutch at a kennel in Lancaster when a volunteer from Main Line Animal Rescue in Chester Springs found her in 2007.

"She was a breeder dog at an Amish farm and her third litter was stillborn," said Rendell, explaining why the breeder gave her up. "She never had a C-section but she could have as many of the breeder dogs on farms do."

"This is the culmination of years of hard work," said the bill's sponsor Rep. Thomas Caltagirone (D., Berks). "The sad truth is that many dogs in in Pennsylvania are subjected to terrible surgical procedures that border on torture."

The paw print of Rubin, a dog who belongs Caltagirone's chief counsel Bill Andring, adorned a ceremonial version of the bill.

Under the new law, kennel owners must keep a record of any of the listed surgeries, including the vet who performed it, as well as the location and date where the surgery was performed.

The Department of Agriculture spokesman Justin Fleming said if a dog warden sees an animal on which the procedures were performed without records they would refer the case as a crueltly complaint to a local humane officer or police department.

The law also makes it a third degree felony to steal an animal for the purpose of dog fighting.

Michael Vick, who spent 18 months in prison for his role in a brutal dog fighting ring, got a standing ovation from the crowd at the half full stadium when he took the field during tonight's Eagles game against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Among the speakers at the bill signing today was Marsha Perelman, president of the board of the ASPCA, which issued a stinging rebuke of the Eagles decision to sign Vick.

Perelman, also a member of the Dog Law Advisory Board, praised a newly-fit Rendell for “carrying the ball” on the issue.

“Being in the shape he’s in today, I would rather he be running the ball on the field tonight at the Linc, rather than the person who is going to be doing so.”

Click here for Philly.com's politics page.

Montgomery County Commish Joe Hoeffel, in an email to supporters Monday declaring he was exploring a run for governor as a champion of progressive values, invoked God with a feminine pronoun. It was little noticed amid the news that he was polling and criticizing the other, more conservative on social issues, candidates.

 "We are all children of God, and we are all equal in Her eyes," Hoeffel wrote (emphasis mine). "Our job is to make sure that our laws reflect and protect that equality."

Gov. Rendell, following the lead of President Obama, asks that U.S. and Pennsylvania state flags be flown at half-mast until sunset on Aug. 30 to honor the memory of Sen. Ted Kennedy.

Click here for Philly.com's politics page.

A new internal state jobs report indicates that there were more jobs created than lost in Pennsylvania for the first time since the recession began last summer.

Gov. Rendell, speaking at a news conference in the Capitol, said that while the two-week report does not mean that the recession is over, it is "good news." 

"It's clear that Pennsylvania businesses are beginning to expand," he said.

The Department of Labor & Industry report - typically drafted internally for the governor - showed 13 companies expanding or opening with the combined potential creation of 1,892 jobs for the period July 25 to Aug. 7.

In the same period there were five plant closings or layoffs notices, totaling 529 jobs.

On the downside, he said, the state employment rate crept up to 8.5 percent, which Rendell pointed out is still less than the national average in July of 9.4 percent.

Rendell said the latest report is good reason why the legislature  - which continues its budget negotiations this week - should avoid "eviscerating" the economic development programs.
 

Gov. Rendell has signed a bill authorizing $31.6 million in funding for the state Gaming Control Board.

But he said he did so with reservations.

“The 5-percent cut to the Gaming Control Board’s appropriation concerns me," said Rendell in a statement. "This budget requires the board to regulate potentially four new casinos – Sands Bethworks, Rivers Casino, SugarHouse Casino, and Valley Forge Convention Center – with less money than last year. That means they will be regulating nearly 40 percent more slot machines and roughly 2,600 more casino employees with 5 percent less funding."

Rendell said such a "significant" budget cut will make it difficult to fill existing vacancies, make new hires and regulate new facilities effectively.

He added that if the legislature approves table games they should couple with the bill a supplemental appropriation for the Gaming Control Board to "insure the integrity of any expansion."

Click here for Philly.com's politics page.

Click here for Philly.com's politics page.