Wednesday, June 11th, 2008

The Pennsylvania state legislature has approved a compromise bill to outlaw smoking in most workplaces and public spaces in Pennsylvania, according to an article on KYW1060.com.

The Senate voted 41-9 to pass it and it just needs to be signed by Governor Rendell, who supports the bill. The original compromise was to allow Philadelphia to keep almost two year old ban on smoking, while the new laws would affect the rest of the state. However, in the Senate, many were upset that the law would not also allow Allegheny County (including Pittsburgh) and Scranton to keep their local smoking restrictions.

However, the Senate chose to go ahead with the statewide anti-smoking law, saying they received a pledge from state Republican leaders to work on subsequent legislation to address the Allegheny County and Scranton laws.

The law will take effect 90 days after being signed by Rendell and will ban cigarette, cigar, and pipe smoking in restaurants, office buildings, schools, sports arenas, theaters, and bus and train stations. There are a dozen exceptions (more than there are in Philadelphia’s current law) and they include some bars and taverns, portions of casino floors (Philadlephia’s eventual casinos will be smoke-free)), private clubs, and others. More than 30 other states have similar bans.

Photo courtesy of MichiganSafe.org.

The wireless network in Philadelphia could still become a reality, as the city resumes negotiations with a group to take over the network from Earthlink, according to an article on KYW1060.com.

The city got word last month from Earthlink that it was backing out of the project and shutting down and tearing down the partially built network on June 12th due to internal problems, leaving the WiFi future of Philly unclear.

According to Mayor Nutter’s spokesman Doug Oliver, negotiations for underway: “There was a network that was about 75 percent complete, and the question became what do you do with that network, and under what circumstances?  So there’s been a series of discussions to find out exactly what can be done to preserve the work that’s already been done and to finish the project.  That process has proven to be challenging but the city has always represented that the city is willing to consider any reasonable proposal that’s out on the table.”

The city is looking for ways to make the network work, but will not use taxpayer money in order to do so.

Photo courtesy of KYW1060.com.