PENNSYLVANIA POLITICS

Political, election and Statehouse news and commentary

Pennsylvania's secretary of aging for the past six years announced Friday she will leave the office, and Gov. Ed Rendell announced someone to succeed her on an acting basis. Nora Dowd Eisenhower's resignation will take effect at the end of the month. Dowd Eisenhower, 54, will return to the private sector.

John Michael Hall, who heads the state's Office of Long Term Living, was appointed acting secretary. He was Maine's deputy commissioner for health, integrated access and strategy and worked in social services and legal aid in Vermont.

Rendell praised Dowd Eisenhower for helping expand a program that subsidizes prescription drugs for older residents. She also oversaw an effort to reach underserved populations and adapt services for the needs of baby boomers.

ALLENTOWN -- PPL Corp. said it has asked federal regulators for permission to build and operate a new nuclear plant in northeastern Pennsylvania.

The Allentown-based utility said the Bell Bend nuclear plant would be built near the company's existing two-unit Susquehanna nuclear power plant outside Berwick.

PPL announced today that it has applied to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for a license. The review process is likely to take three to four years. PPL said that even if the plant clears regulatory hurdles, no final decision has been made to move forward with the project.

The two existing reactors at the Susquehanna plant were built in the 1980s at a cost of $2 billion each. Together, they are responsible for 25 percent of PPL's annual output.

QUARRYVILLE -- Pennsylvania officials are investigating the attack of an Amish man in southern Lancaster County by what's being described as a big cat.

Samuel Fisher was attacked near his home shortly before nightfall Thursday. He had seen the cat in a farm field and fired at it, then was attacked by an animal while pursuing the cat.

The Associated PressPresident Bush makes a statement on the economy today in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington.

Text of President Bush's remarks on the economy today, as provided by the White House:

BUSH: Good morning. Over the past few days, we have witnessed a startling drop in the stock market -- much of it driven by uncertainty and fear. This has been a deeply unsettling period for the American people. Many of our citizens have serious concerns about their retirement accounts, their investments, and their economic well-being.

State Republican leaders are accusing a community-based group it claims has links to Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama, of deliberately filing fraudulent voter registration forms across the state.

Voter registration officials in Harrisburg, Philadelphia and Allegheny County have reported problems with registrations filed on behalf of voters by the Association of Community Organizations, or ACORN. State Republican Party chairman Robert Gleason said the number of fake registrations is in the thousands and said the situation has "the potential for massive fraud."

WASHINGTON -- President Bush's top advisers on financial markets are pledging to continue working to correct the mistakes that have led to more than a year of severe market turmoil.

The President's Working Group on Financial Markets, which includes Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, issued a report today that said while many reforms have been implemented, more needs to be done.

WASHINGTON -- Federal antitrust regulators said they have cleared Wells Fargo's $11.7 billion acquisition of Wachovia Corp.

The rapid approval comes a day after Citigroup Inc. walked away from its own efforts to buy the Charlotte, N.C.-based bank Wachovia. Wells Fargo & Co. said Thursday it would proceed with the purchase.

The Federal Trade Commission included the deal on a list of transactions released today that received an "early termination" of their antitrust reviews.

Early termination refers to the completion of a review by the FTC or Justice Department before the end of a 30-day period required under antitrust law.

CARLISLE -- Electric utility PPL Corp. is set to begin converting methane gas from the Cumberland County Landfill into electricity.

The project was approved by the state Department of Environmental Protection this week and is supposed to be up and running by the end of the year.

The PPL-owned and -operated facility will produce enough electricity to power about 5,200 homes. It will buy the gas from the landfill and contribute the electricity to the regional grid.

Officials said the engines can generate electricity cheaply while solving the environmental problem of escaping greenhouse gases.