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Pennsylvania investigative reports and in-depth analysis

Two women can’t legally marry in Pennsylvania. But Patti Wallech and Julia Martin Wallech did. Julia, in a pencil skirt and size 11 black pumps, carried a Pennsylvania driver’s license that said she’s a man. “Legally, on paper, we are male and we are female,” Patti said while the two waited in the Dauphin County Courthouse last fall to... Full story »

Jack Bowser and Alyssa Kreider understand more about the opposite sex than most people. Jack, 45, used to be a woman. Alyssa, 37, was born a man. They met midtransition, each partway along a path of physical and psychological change. Both take hormones and helped each other through sex reassignment surgeries. They plan to marry next fall, and legally... Full story »

BEFORE THE CHANGE Not every transgender person wants to change their sex. Some don’t want to lose their job or family. Some cannot afford the surgery. For those who do and want their surgery in the United States, there is a long and rigorous process. It’s based on ethical standards doctors have developed and updated since the 1970s. The... Full story »

By all accounts, snow removal efforts in the city of Harrisburg during the recent twin dumps has been hailed as a job well done. That's good news for Mayor Linda Thompson, since popular wisdom has it that snow removal and garbage pickup are some of the basic services by which a city leader is judged. Unfortunately, that is just popular... Full story »

The idea that Harrisburg is the little AIG on the Susquehanna, that this capital city is too big to fail, just isn’t true. With $288 million of incinerator debt, this is an emergency. The city is within weeks of financial failure. But for all those citizens and taxpayers fretting over the crisis, it might prove good to adopt the attitude... Full story »

It wasn’t what the new mayor said Tuesday night when she presented her revised budget to the Harrisburg City Council, a budget that balloons to $139 million when you add the $70 million spending plan to the $69 million needed to pay for the incinerator debt. It’s what Mayor Linda Thompson didn’t say. It’s what no one has said... Full story »

Do residents and taxpayers in Harrisburg really want to sell city assets in order to pay the incinerator debt? Remember, there are no prices set and no cost analysis of the potential benefit of keeping the assets to produce revenue. And mind you, the city is bankrupt now. It might not make payroll next month. Then again, the Harrisburg... Full story »

The tectonic plates of politics and governance in Harrisburg shifted May 19, 2009, the day Linda Thompson beat Stephen R. Reed in the Democratic mayoral primary. History was made Nov. 3, when Thompson was elected the first woman and first African-American mayor of Pennsylvania’s capital city. All that’s left to face now is something far less heady: reality. Harrisburg... Full story »

GAUGE WANTS VS. NEEDS Hold off purchases until you can afford them, and avoid drawing cash from your assets, said Peter LaBella of FMA Ad­visory in Harrisburg. “We have changed wants into needs,” LaBella said. “We have overextended ourselves financially, and we have lost our ability to be patient. That has gotten a lot of us in trouble. A... Full story »

Corey and Chasity Mosby hope to help all four sons with college tuition. Cindy and Logan Klaassen are writing the last tuition check for their son and thinking ahead to retirement. Corey Mosby, 33, of Paxtang, is president of a commercial cleaning company, and Chasity, 27, coordinates the settlement of refugee families for a Philadelphia-based nonprofit. Their four boys... Full story »

The Harrisburg mayoral race offered a rare political opportunity, but some Republican loyalists charge that not only did the GOP whiff, it never got up to bat. Republican Nevin Mindlin’s surprising showing in his loss to Democrat Linda Thompson on Tuesday only seemed to underscore this reality. By gaining 45 percent of the vote, Mindlin blew conventional wisdom out... Full story »

One year ago, Linda Thompson sat down in her living room with her campaign manager to discuss a mayoral run in a city that has not had a new mayor in almost three decades.  “We knew then that not only would she run, she would win,” said James Ellison. If it was a foregone conclusion that Thompson — the... Full story »

Republican Nevin Mindlin could score an upset at the polls Tuesday. Based on what he hears when he knocks on doors and talks to voters across the city, Mindlin believes one is in the making. "The real story is being missed," Mindlin said. However, the numbers make one thing clear: Democrat and City Council President Linda Thompson has a... Full story »

Nevin Mindlin says the math in Harrisburg this November looks good for him. It doesn't matter that he's the Republican mayoral candidate in a city where 26,273 registered Democrats are the whopping majority of Harrisburg's 36,592 registered voters. The way Mindlin sees it, the city was ready to turn away from Mayor Stephen R. Reed, and it was that... Full story »