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     The proposed legislation which is to be codified at 75 Pa.C.S. § 3316 is entitled Prohibiting the use of mobile telephones and hand-held communication devices.

     The proposed statute will read:

"No person shall operate a motor vehicle upon a highway while using a mobile telephone or hand-held communication device to engage in a call or wireless communication while the vehicle is in motion."

As defined the by the proposed law the words "engage in a call mean talking into a telephonic device or listening but shall not include activate, deactivate or the initiation of a function of the device.  "Wireless communication" has been defined to include a text message, e-mail, push e-mail, Internet fax and Web browsing.

There shall be a built in presumption that an operator of a motor vehicle who uses a mobile telephone while the vehicle is in motion is presumed to be engaging in a call or wireless communication within the meaning of this section. The presumption established by this subsection is rebuttable by evidence tending to show that the operator was not engaged in a call or wireless communication.

This stature does not apply if you are calling in an emergency situation but you must be calling an emergency response operator; a hospital, physician's office or health clinic; an ambulance company or corps; a fire department, district or company; or a police department. The proposed law also does not apply to a police officer or peace officer; a member of a fire department while in the performance of their official duties.

Currently the proposed penalty for a first offense is a summary offense punishable by a fine of not more than $100.

Home Improvement Consumer Protection Act

In 2008, the Pennsylvania Legislature passed the Home Improvement Consumer Protection Act.  Effective July 1, 2009, the law requires that all contractors who perform at least $5,000 worth of home improvements per year register with the Attorney General's Office. 

Pennsylvania man charged in computer fraud

A Pennsylvania computer wiz surrendered to the FBI on Tuesday to face charges of launching a series of crippling attacks on Web sites that hosted articles revealing how he was tricked into falling in love with a fictitious woman who was actually one of his fiercest cyber foes.  It is alleged that the wiz created a network of hijacked computers and used them to bombard his targets with automated programs that overloaded their Web sites in what is known as a “distributed denial of service attack.”  The attacks disabled some of the Web sites for days. Among the victims was Rolling Stone Magazine.

Link to Peter J. Sampson's article

Kate Gosselin says marriage 'irretrievably broken' 

Kate Gosselin, one of the stars of TLC's reality show "Jon & Kate Plus 8" filed for a no-fault divorce in Montgomery County Court in Pennsylvania. She said in papers that she's willing to "negotiate a fair and reasonable" settlement with her husband of 10 years. The divorce filing contains boilerplate language common to all no-fault divorce petitions filed in Pennsylvania.

Link to full story from Canada Press