HERSHEY _ The only Republican candidate for Attorney General reserved judgment on the handling of the Penn State sexual abuse investigation Friday, and said he'd step aside if forced to investigate a family member who formerly served as the chairman of the Hershey Trust.

At a candidates' forum in Hershey, Cumberland County District Attorney David Freed said he didn't think "any responsible prosecutor could make a judgment" on how the state, first under now-Gov. Tom Corbett and then under current Attorney General Linda Kelly, conducted the investigation that led to the arrest of former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky.

Freed said he would not "until I have all the information."

"I can't anwer it any better at this point," said Freed, who's running unopposed this weekend for the GOP's endorsement during its winter meeting at the Hershey Lodge. "To say that you can [answer it] misperceives the duty of a prosecutor."

And the two candidates for state Auditor General, state Rep. John Maher of Allegheny County, and Frank Pinto, of Dauphin County, took what was expected to be a sleepy forum and turned it into an often pugilistic exchange over which of them was more qualified to be the state's top fiscal watchdog.

Freed, who's now serving his second term as Cumberland County's chief prosecutor, said he'd appoint a deputy or seek a special prosecutor to handle any probe of the Hershey Trust if that investigation involved his father-in-law, LeRoy Zimmerman, who formerly served as the charity's chairman.

Zimmerman, a Republican from Lancaster, also served as the state's first elected attorney in 1980. The charity is currently the subject of a probe by current attorney general Linda Kelly.

In a brief interview after the forum televised by the Pennsylvania Cable Network, Freed said he'd be "surprised if [Kelly's investigation] was ongoing," by the time a new attorney general takes office next January.  If the investigation "involved my father-in-law, I'd appoint counsel to handle it."

Good Friday Morning, Fellow Seekers.
The final weekend of January 2012 is off to a rainy start here in the Seat of Power, so we'll dispense with the usual formalities and just dive right into a countdown of the Top Five Stories making news today.

1. Pennsylvania Republicans meet in Hershey this weekend for an endorsement meeting that may or may not be beside the point. GOP foot soldiers only have one candidate each to choose from in races for Attorney General and state Treasurer (Cumberland County DA Dave Freed and Washington County Commissioner Diana Irey Vaughn, respectively).

As of this writing, there's still two Republicans contending for Auditor General: state Rep. John Maher of Allegheny County and former banker Frank Pinto of Dauphin County. Republicans being Republicans, however, one suspects that only candidate will be left standing by tomorrow's formal endorsement meeting.

At least eight Republicans are still contending for U.S. Senate and Tea Party activists are calling for party leaders to abstain from an endorsement. Gov. Tom Corbett has already come out for Chester County businessman Steve Welch, so one suspects that the anti-endorsement movement may not last the weekend.

Republicans hold "One-Hand Clapping" candidate forums for Attorney General and Treasurer this afternoon at the Hershey Lodge. Maher and Pinto will actually talk to each other instead of just themselves during their own forum.

And before we forget, former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty will be the keynote speaker at tonight's big dinner at the Hershey Lodge. The fun starts at 7 p.m.

The rest of today's news starts after the jump.

The AP Reports:

Move along. These aren't the droids you're looking for ...

Conversations with Democrats this afternoon. leaned toward the belief that 2001 district boundaries might be allowed to stay in place through the 2012 electoral cycle. The high court's order made clear that the old boundaries stay until further notice.

Majority Republicans, meanwhile, appeared to indicate that, depending on the timing of the opinion, a revised map could come as soon as next week.

More after the gap.

But that raised the question of whether a new public process, similar to the one that led to the creation of the rejected maps, complete with public comment periods and deadlines for appeals, would have to be adopted.

"If there's a change in the map, that starts the clock again on the 30-day public comment process," said Lisa Scullin, a spokeswoman for Senate Minority Leader Jay Costa, D-Allegheny.

For the most part, however, inertia ruled.

"If we don't see the opinion today [Thursday], we hope to get a sense of when it might be coming," said Erik Arneson, a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi, R-Delaware.

And county party leaders, some of whom were planning special elections and recruiting candidates for new and open House seats, were equally perplexed.

"I am hopeful that this process is resolved so that good candidates can continue to pursue office and campaign without disruption," Lehigh County GOP Chairman Wayne Woodman said.

Meanwhile, Amanda Holt, the Allentown piano teacher who was party to an appeal that toppled the maps for the first time in their more than 40-year-history, said the high court's ruling was "satisfying."

"It really does show that the average citizen can go through the proper channels and find that the [state] Constitution will be upheld and that checks and balances really do work," said Holt, who's also a Lehigh County Republican committeewoman and elected judge of elections. "That effort is extremely encouraging."

Good Thursday Morning, Fellow Seekers.
Apparently giving ammo to those who say Pennsylvania's once-a-decade reapportionment of House and Senate maps is too political, the state Supreme Court tossed recently redrawn map of 203 state House and 50 Senate seats.

The decision, a first in the modern 40-plus-year history of redistricting, saw the court's three Republicans and three Democrats split. The deciding vote was cast by Chief Justice Ronald Castille, who was elected as a Republican, the Inquirer reports this morning.

The decision has an immediate effect on the Lehigh Valley area. State Senate Democrats who appealed the new maps said the commission wrongly moved a Democratic seat from western Pennsylvania to create a Republican-leaning seat in the Poconos. They wanted a Republican seat moved instead.

The high court did not spell out its reasoning for the vote yesterday, saying that its decision would be explained in an opinion yet to come. That's left a five-member Legislative Reapportionment Commission at loose ends until guidance comes.

The rest of today's news starts after the jump.

Good Wednensday Morning, Fellow Seekers.
Sorry we're late. Here's a quick round-up of the stories making news this Wednesday morning:

As you might expect, where you stand politically has a lot to do with how you reacted to the State of the Union address last night. Our colleague Colby Itkowitz has the story.

Famed Penn State football coach Joe Paterno will be laid to rest in State College today.

The Corbett administration has finally agreed to launch a new state Department of Drug and Alcohol Services, the Inquirer reports.

At Rep. Bill DeWeese's corruption trial, aides testify that they campaigned on the public's dime, the Patriot-News reports.

Senate Education Committee Chairman Jeff Piccola has asked Gov. Tom Corbett "What do you want?" when it comes to education reform, Capitolwire reports.

House Majority Leader Mike Turzai isn't running for Congress and state Sen. John Pippy, R-Allegheny, isn't running for re-election. Musical chairs ...

Legislation slashing the size of the state House could be voted on this spring, the AP reports.

Good Tuesday Morning, Fellow Seekers.
Rep. Bill DeWeese's public corruption trial in Dauphin County Court yesterday, where prosecutors from the state Attorney General's Office engaged in the time-honored opening argument rite of stripping a defendant's reputation down to the floorboards.

Senior Deputy AG Ken Brown told a jury that DeWeese, D-Greene, was a "common thief with uncommon access" to public money he allegedly used for campaign purposes, the AP reports this morning.

Defense lawyer Bill Costopoulos said his client was honest and hard-working who wasn't so much evil as, y'know, sort of clueless and overly trusting.

DeWeese is "not a hands-on guy," Costopoulos told the jury. "We're here because Bill DeWeese trusted everyone."

The trial continues this morning. And the rest of today's news starts after the jump.

The new lines for Pennsylvania’s 203 state House seats and 50 Senate districts are unconstitutional and need to be redrawn -- again.

That’s the argument that lawyers for several Pennsylvania voters and a top state lawmaker made to the state Supreme Court Monday during a day of long-shot appeals to the new maps approved last year by a five-member Legislative Reapportionment Commission.

Debate Monday focused on whether it was possible for legislative mapmakers to have split fewer counties, municipalities and wards as they tried to draw “ideal” districts of 62,573 constituents for each House seat and 254,048 constituents for each Senate seat.

Virginia Gibson, the Philadelphia attorney who represented a group of plaintiffs that included voters from the Lehigh Valley, said the new map unnecessarily splits hundreds of local governments and political subdivisions.

We'll be back with more extensive updates throughout the day.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court convenes at 9:30 a.m. this morning to hear challenges to the handiwork of the 2011 Legislative Reapportionment Commission. A total of 11 appeals have been filed (including several petitioners from the Lehigh Valley), Capitolwire reports this morning.

The Tribune-Review runs down the multiple anti-abortion bills now before the General Assembly, including one that would require a woman to get a sonogram 24 hours before undergoing an abortion. While she would not be required to look at the image, the screen would be placed directly in front of the patient's face as she undergoes the sonogram.

Opening arguments begin in Dauphin County Court this morning in the public corruption trial of state Rep. Bill DeWeese, D-Greene. The Inky talks to the southwestern lawmaker.

Our Mothership colleague, Bill Kline, evaluates the life and legacy of the late Joe Paterno.

From the weekend, in case you missed, the natural gas industry spent more than $3 million to lobby the General Assembly during the first nine months of 2011. That's more than 20 times the amount spent by environmentalists.

Putting An End ...
... to the worst "Will He Or Won't He" speculation since Ross and Rachel, House Majority Leader Mike Turzai, R-Allegheny, has apparently jumped into the race for the newlly redrawn 12th Congressional District.

The Post-Gazette reports that Allegheny County Republican Chairman Jim Roddey confirmed the move. Turzai is said to have made up his mind after talking to Gov. Tom Corbett, the newspaper reported.

"The governor wants him to run," Roddey told the PG

The new 12th District seat will pit current Democratic  U.S. Reps. Mark Critz and Jason Altmire against each other in a winner-take-all fight. Also running on the GOP side is attorney Keith Rothfus, who came within 2 percentage points of knocking off Altmire in 2010.

In a statement, Altmire said Turzai's decision to run highlighted the importance of picking the right Democrat to run for the seat. We'll go out on a limb and assume he means himself here.

"Democrats need to nominate the candidate who can run the strongest campaign in the general election against Rep. Turzai, in the Republican-leaning district that he drew for himself," Altmire said.

Good Friday Morning, Fellow Seekers.
With South Carolina voters set to head to the polls tomorrow to choose from a field of candidates that's starting to look more and more like an argument in a badly tailored Botany 500 suit.

Our Washington colleague Colby Itkowitz takes a look at Our Rick's adventures among Palmetto State voters, concluding that while Santorum "looks electable on paper," the preferred alternative among S.C. voters to the MittBot3000 happens to be Hummelstown's own Newt Gingrich.

Santorum is "like a nice local pastor whose religious convictions are solid. Gingrich is the bully in the neighborhood who promises to "knock Obama out." It's a bit odd considering as a freshman lawmaker two decades ago Santorum shook up the House, and later was praised and scorned for his sharp tongue in the Senate," Itkowitz writes.

The rest of today's news starts after the jump.

Pennsylvania's Unemployment Rate ...
... dipped to 7.6 percent in December, down from 7.9 percent in November,the state Department of Labor & Industry said this afternoon.

That's lower than the nationwide rate of 8.5 percent, the agency said.

Year over year, the state's unemployment rate was 0.9 percentage points lower than in December 2010. The number of people looking for work was down 2,000 in December to 6.35 million and the number of unemployed residents fell 14,000 to 485,000, the agency said.

A New Poll ...
... by the good government group Democracy Rising shows Pennsylvanians coming down strongly on the side of reform issues in state government.

Nearly two-thirds (62 percent) of respondents to the poll conducted by Terry Madonna Opinion Research say they want to amend the state Constitution to reduce the size of the 253-member General Assembly.

Nearly nine in 10 respondents (88 percent) want the right to recall elected officials and 87 percent want elected officials to resign their current post before launching a bid for a new one.

"We were shocked by the huge margins on all the issues," Democracy Rising's Tim Potts said during a Capitol news conference this morning. Voters, he added, "want a government that is far better than the one they have now."

Potts was accompanied at the press conference by Eric Epstein of Rock the Capital, which released a scathing report card on the Corbett administration's first year, awarding it Ds and Fs for its efforts to change state government.

The Democracy Rising poll of 504 registered voters has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percent. Full results start after the gap.

Good Thursday Morning, Fellow Seekers.
On trial for charges that he used public resources for political ends, state Rep. Bill DeWeese, D-Greene, has accused Gov. Tom Corbett of devoting, while attorney general, 14 investigators to his corruption case, while assigning only one to the Penn State sex abuse scandal.

Corbett's spokesman, Kevin Harley, shot back to the Tribune-Review, saying, "One: That is not true. Two: Is [DeWeese] complaining or bragging?"

As jury selection began in DeWeese's case yesterday, an aide to the southwestern lawmaker,Sharon Rodavich, 55, pleaded guilty to conflict of interest and conpiracy charges, the Trib reported.

DeWeese, 61, a former Marine, tells the Trib that the opening day of his trial -- scheduled to start Monday in Dauphin County Court -- is "like the first day of boot camp: There's a certain amount of apprehension, but you are confident of the results."

The rest of today's news starts after the jump.

Dozens of people have challenged the new House and Senate maps -- including several from the Lehigh Valley -- charging that it illegally splits municipalities. The commission created two Lehigh Valley-centered seats by moving a House district from Pittsburgh to Allentown and a Senate seat to Monroe County.

Read the full document below:

U.S. Rep. Tim Holden, D-17th, put out this statement this afternoon as he withdrew his support for the Stop Online Piracy Bill that provoked protests across the Internets today:

Read the statement after the gap.

Attendees at this afternoon's inaugural session of the new Independent Fiscal Office got a one-word answer to that question this afternoon:

"Yes," quipped Tom Jackson, an economist with Global Insight, the world-controlling firm that's been providing Pennsylvania with economic forecasting data since The Welcome rolled up the Delaware River in search of peace, religious freedom and a cheesesteak widdout.

To which we can only say ... Economists ....

Full details after the gap.

The Folks At Gents' Mag Esquire ...
... ask that very question in a piece about a Belgian brew produced deep in the heart of Gasland in New York. The Empire State, more astute readers will recall, currently has a fracking ban.

Here's a quick excerpt from writer Christina Gunnison's piece:

"Brewery Ommegang, maker of some of our favorite Belgian-style beers. A lot of water is used in the brewing process, and the beer is just never quite as good when it's peppered with toxins like benzene and radioactive strontium. If fracking begins, Ommegang will either have to relocate, close, or truck in its water from elsewhere. There's a petition on the matter, no doubt populated with folks who like good beer and aren't big on radioactive eats."

Read the full story here.

Legislation that would offer 13 more weeks of unemployment benefits to 17,000 Pennsylvanians has run into objections from business leaders who say more cash for the jobless has to be tied to fixes to the system.

Lawmakers have until Feb. 4 to pass the legislation, which is expected to be taken up by the Senate on Monday. 

But the House and Senate are only in session are only in session for three days next week, meaning any concerns will have to be addressed quickly if lawmakers hope to get a bill to Gov. Tom Corbett’s desk before the deadline.

The bill was reported out of the Senate Appropriations Committee this morning.

Good Wednesday Morning, Fellow Seekers.
We're running a little behind this morning, so we're going to dispense with the formalities and instead will dive right into a quick countdown of the Top 5 stories making news this 18th day of January.

1. A high-level Corbett administration aide who edited a conservative, faith-based journal has resigned his $104,470 position, the Inquirer reports this morning.
Robert Patterson, who was hired last October, as an adviser to Welfare Seceretary Gary Alexander, was the editor of a publication known as "The Family in America," a newsletter published by an Illinois-based group that advocates for "the natural family ... established by the Creator."

The rest of today's news starts after the jump.