“Pennsylvania” on The Daily Caller

While many Pennsylvanians celebrated the arrival of 2011 on New Year’s Eve, home builders in the state likely did not blow their bugles and pop their poppers with quite as much exuberance. That is because this year marks the beginning of a new government mandate in Pennsylvania requiring that all new one- and two-family homes have an automatic fire sprinkler system — a feature that costs thousands of dollars. (more)

The ACLU of Pennsylvania says State Police have agreed to stop citing people for disorderly conduct when they use profanity. (more)

City garbage pickup resumes Monday – and New Yorkers say it’s not a moment too soon. (more)

1.) John Shadegg: House GOP is ‘on probation’ — After 16 years in the House, Rep. John Shadegg is retiring to Arizona. The Daily Caller’s Jon Ward caught up with the son of Barry Goldwater altar ego Stephen Shadegg on his way out the door. Ward asked him, for instance, what makes the Tea Party different from previous conservative waves, such as Newt Gingrich’s 1994 production, in which Shadegg had a walk-on part as a newly elected congressman. “When the Gingrich revolution happened, the Gingrich revolution collapsed,” Shadegg told Ward. “It had betrayed its supporters.” By “it” Shadegg means Republican detractors and other “old bulls” like Tom DeLay, who claimed in 2005 that the government could not cut its spending any further. Now the party is getting a second chance, Shadegg said. “What happens to this class? Does this class get turned by Washington? Does the class change or does this class actually change Washington? I personally think that’s the $64,000 question.” Or, you know, the $1.7 trillion question. (more)

Heavy snowfall may have shut down travel across the East Coast on Sunday, but Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell found it ridiculous that the Eagles-Vikings game was postponed until Tuesday night. (more)

The policy debate rages over fracking, a process for extracting oil and/or natural gas from rock. (more)

Shortly after Election Day 2010, famed political observers Larry Sabato and Alan Abramowitz sarcastically said: “President Barack Obama is down for the count, will have an early lame duck presidency, and will be out of the White House in two years.” As a conservative, it pains me to say this, but given what has taken place during the 2010 lame-duck session, Sabato and Abramowitz might be on to something: President Obama will probably be reelected. (more)

What kind of a person allegedly urinates in a convenience store freezer, ruining $508 worth of cookies, bagels, and other baked goods? (more)

The National Organization for Women has filed a complaint against Hooters for being an improper dining venue for minors. (more)

Warning: if you’re in Sacramento on December 21, you may see lots of gloomy faces. On that day the Census Bureau will announce which states will gain or lose U.S. House seats, and it appears that California will not gain a seat — for the first time in California’s history. It’s another indicator that the boom times are over in the Golden State. (more)

It was ominous news indeed for Democrats and the president when three Catholic hospitals in Pennsylvania, on the eve of the midterm elections, announced their imminent closing and implicated Obamacare. Then the two “pro-life” Democrats who represent the districts where the hospitals sit — both of whom supported Obamacare — were fired. Looking ahead to 2012, a growing number of Democrats must secretly want to stop Obamacare before it kills them in the next election cycle. (more)

The late Rep. Jack Murtha (D-PA) was a master at bringing home the bacon to his district before he passed away unexpectedly after complications following surgery in February. (more)

1.) Inouye and other Senate dinosaurs make one last mad hobble for cash register — “In the waning days of the lame duck congressional session, Democrats controlling the Senate — in collaboration with a handful of old school Republicans — are pushing to wrap $1.27 trillion worth of unfinished budget work into a single ‘omnibus’ appropriations bill,” reports the AP. Sen. Jim DeMint hates this bill so much that he has threatened to read all 1,900 pages aloud if his colleagues do not make it smaller. To that end, a small contingent of fiscal guerillas are hoping to address the federal budget in the new year, when reinforcements will have arrived from Florida, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Utah, and Kentucky. Until then, it’s DeMint, McCain, and Coburn attempting to hold back a red sea of pork. Their efforts are not completely futile. After requesting an earmark for the Kentucky National Guard to eradicate the most valuable cash crop in the United States, Sen. Mitch McConnell suddenly realized that he is not supposed to be spending other people’s money willy-nilly anymore, and had the earmark removed. “This is exactly what the American people said Nov. 2 they didn’t want us to do,” a chastened McConnell said. (more)

Add this to Fran Dunphy’s seemingly endless list of accomplishments: 400 career victories. (more)

These days, John Heisman isn’t remembered for much beyond his name on an iconic trophy – a trophy he didn’t approve of in the first place. (more)

LOS ANGELES ( KTLA) — Police are searching for a Pennsylvania couple after a man’s dismembered body was discovered inside a backpack in a hotel near downtown Los Angeles. (more)

A Pennsylvania lawyer and former Hill staffer announced that he intends to take on Sen. Bob Casey in 2012, the Allentown Morning Call reported Tuesday. (more)

From the road, nothing seemed awry at the Willow Hill, Pennsylvania home of Randy Hammond. But Hammond had a secret: 85 of the rarest breed of dogs in the world were living in crowded, dirty enclosures on his property. Called the New Guinea Singing Dogs for their melodious howls and country of origin, just 150 were known to exist worldwide before Hammond’s brood was discovered. (more)

No matter what next occupies the southeast corner of Broad Street and Pattison Avenue, it will always be remembered as the place where the Spectrum stood. (more)

Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum says the government is giving terrorists just what they want by implementing the new — and revealing — Transportation Security Administration enhanced screenings on airline passengers. (more)