HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — The American Civil Liberties Union is again threatening to sue a Pennsylvania school district for allegedly failing to enroll refugees as students. The ACLU in February sent a warning letter to the Harrisburg Area School District on behalf of four students. The district enrolled the students in March.
But district officials have since said they can’t “simply enroll any child for whom enrollment is sought” though they have changed its policy this week.
The new rules say the district will consider “extraordinary or other circumstances” that arise inside or outside the United States that could affect a student who wants to enroll. The ACLU and a companion group, the Community Justice Project, say that’s not good enough and that the district should simply guarantee that refugees will be admitted to its schools.
CONESTOGA, Pa. (AP) — A federal judge in Pennsylvania says authorities can condemn and seize property in order to make way for the Atlantic Sunrise pipeline. U.S. Eastern District Court Judge Jeffrey Schmehl has issued an order that gave Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Company the right to condemn and seize Jeffery and Kim Kahn’s property in Conestoga Township. The company can now obtain temporary and permanent rights of way for the pipeline.
This is the first eminent domain order against 30 Lancaster County homeowners who have refused to sell their land for the pipeline. Of the remaining 30 cases, 16 have been settled and 12 are still in court. Among them is a group of nuns who built a chapel on the proposed pipeline easement. The Adorers of the Blood of Christ also sued the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission over the pipeline.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A piece of art designed to generate conversation about climate change and rising sea levels has sunk in a Philadelphia river after heavy rains caused it to take on water. WetLand was a floating installation designed by environmental artist Mary Mattingly intended to look like a sinking row house. It was inspired by images of semi-submerged houses after Hurricane Katrina and Superstorm Sandy.
The artwork was created for Philadelphia’s 2014 Fringe Festival and has been installed on the Schuylkill (SKOO’-kul) River. It’s the centerpiece of a series of environmental artworks on the river aimed at starting conversations about climate change. Bartram’s Garden, near where the installation was moored, attributes Sunday’s sinking to a recent storm. They hope it will be towed soon to assess damages.
MARS, Pa. (AP) — Police say a dentist in Pennsylvania tried to work on patients while drunk, and after his staff called 911 he told responding officers he’d had an entire bottle of vodka. Gregory Bellotti is charged with public drunkenness and reckless endangerment. Police say his staff at Refresh Dental Management in Mars called authorities on March 23 to report someone with an “altered level of consciousness.”
When officers arrived, they found Bellotti heavily intoxicated. He was treated at a hospital for alcohol poisoning. Police say he worked on seven patients before the office staff noticed his drunkenness and stepped in. Bellotti has an arraignment set for Sept. 5. The state dentistry board has suspended his license…
