Pennsylvania: Bill Peduto

The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that the City will have to choose whether Pittsburghers seeking medical attention will be harassed at the doors of medical facilities or be stalked on the way to medical facilities. Apparently allowing Pittsburghers to seek medical care sans some sort of direct intimidation is too much to ask.

Of course, when I write "Pittsburghers" I mean women in Pittsburgh attempting to enter women's clinics because no one is, say, stalking men going to get Viagra prescriptions.

From the Post-Gazette:
That was the opinion of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday in striking down a 2005 Pittsburgh ordinance that limited the rights of pro-life protesters at medical facilities where abortions are performed.

Pittsburgh City Councilman Bill Peduto will hold a press conference today at 1:00 PM in the City Council Conference Room prior to a special session of Council. The purpose of the session is to "look at the use of new media and technology in the advancement of democracy."

We're talking things like: local government iPhone applications, live-streaming of meetings, instantaneous feedback from constituents, and deliberative polling.

Also participating today will be:

Bram Reichbaum of The Pittsburgh Comet blog spoke at today's Pittsburgh City Council meeting today during Public Comment.

He applauded Council for deciding to put their meetings on the Internet, but asked them to make the video downloadable. He explained that while Allegheny County Council has video of their meetings available to view, it is not downloadable and therefore not editable. If, for example, you want to direct your blog readers to a particular comment made during a County Council meeting you can only provide them a link to a six hour meeting and tell them it's three hours in.

Councilor Bill Peduto said that Council wants to make the video not only downloadable, but also searchable and embeddable. [Yeah!]

Note: In the course of Bram's comments he gave a shout out to numerous blogs that cover Pittsburgh politics . . . 2pj not being among them. Thanks, Bram. ;-)
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• The Reformation is making a comeback with the re-launch of City Councilman Bill Peduto's Reform Pittsburgh Now site (he even nails his theses to the virtual door).
• Progress Pittsburgh notes a need for election workers in Pittsburgh's 7th and 8th Wards for the May 19th primary.
• Progress Pittsburgh (again) and The Pittsburgh Women's Blogging Society report on yard sign thuggery against Natalia Rudiak and Susan Banahasky (I also hear that Georgia Blotzer supporters are facing intimidation when putting up her signs in their own yards and it sure as hell is not coming from the Rob Frank camp).
• Pittsburgh Lesbian Correspondents gives a queer perspective on the City Council District 6 race.