In his attempt to straddle all political fences, Ridge is running into opposition from all sides in a classic "can’t win no how" dilemma over abortion. Some pro-life advocates have criticized Ridge for being pro-choice and therefore not an appropriate vice presidential choice for Bush. Last week, a national pro-choice group’s report card graded Ridge with a "D" on their rating scale. They said he was too pro-life.

A group of Dauphin County residents has applied to become a chapter of the Million Mom March Foundation, and is in the process of completing requirements that will allow them to be chartered as a local chapter of the national, grassroots organization that is committed to preventing gun death and injury, and to supporting victims of gun trauma.

The Million Mom March Foundation’s agenda includes lobbying and community outreach, including: A survey of all U.S. elected officials (from city councils to presidential candidates) to ascertain their positions on licensing and registration of handguns and on other gun policy issues; continued outreach to civil, religious, public health, law enforcement, and parent-teacher organizations to enlist their support for common-sense gun policies; and participation in public forums held in communities across the nation to ensure that licensing and registration of handguns is included on the agenda and to educate the public about the enormous preventable toll that gun trauma takes on American families each year.

For more information, contact the organization at the national toll-free number (1-888-989-MOMS). Callers will be asked for contact information. Dauphin Co. Million Moms will use this information to contact local residents when a meeting is scheduled in the region.

"The Art of the State" opened on July 16 with a festive gala and will continue through September 10. More than 150 works by Pennsylvania artists are on display in this juried exhibition.

General admission to the museum is free. For more information, call 787-4978 or visit the website, statemuseumpa.org.

The founders of the school have been working since 1997 on this project, and anticipate with enthusiasm the opening in the fall.

Ronald H. Brown will serve 450 students in kindergarten through sixth grade in the first year. However, a huge response from parents has resulted in a waiting list, and the school plan includes adding a grade a year, ultimately to serve grade K-8, with up to 550 students.

The curriculum will include an extended school day and school year, full-day kindergarten, foreign language beginning in kindergarten, personalized educational plans, and strong parental involvement. There will be one computer on hand for every three students.

Dr. Timothy Daniels, Senior Vice President of Mosaica Education, designer of the school’s curriculum, stated that the "mission is to provide excellence in public education to all children." He added, "The Ronald H. Brown Charter School is the beginning of something really great for the children of Harrisburg."

"Creatively, I needed a change. So many people in Central Pennsylvania wanted me to work for free. Filmmaking is both a passion and a living," he said. In recent years, Sariano was known for being present on virtually every movie set in the region at one point or another, always generous with his time and talents.

Sariano’s choice of Seattle also reflects the view that if federal courts force a breakup of Microsoft Corp. the shift will create lucrative opportunities for "outsource" professionals with media skills. Even with a split in the behemoth company, about 12,000 employees are expected to remain intact and move to a new campus currently under construction in the anticipation that Microsoft — or some major company — will make it home. "It’s boomtown and flexible enough to want and encourage creativity and change," Seriano said. He noted that he could not make the statement about Central Pennsylvania.

Sariano takes with him a long list of film credits, including features, shorts, documentaries, music videos, commercials, and educational presentation.

He began his career in the visual arts with photographs in local and regional publications, including Central PA magazine, and FilmSpeak, now FilmSpeak.com, a voice for independent film in the region.

His big splash came with his 1999 released of Silvi, a French-style film noir with English subtitles he produced for under $5,000. The 10-minute release is still screened throughout the region in coffeehouse venues. Exposure to Seattle’s creative community may open doors in order for Sariano to make Silvi into a full-length feature film.

In last week’s court-supervised vote recount, Wansacz was finally declared the winner in a race that had voting machines counting fewer people than had actually voted. Under the first set of screwy voting results, Democrat Wansacz had defeated Republican Parry by about 750 votes. Eyebrows were raised when some election officials realized that about 1,000 correctly entered votes hadn’t been counted.

Informers told MODE this was not a Chicago-based voting operation of names on the cemetery tombstones. There were no dead voters counted. In fact, even voters who were alive on Election Day and pulled the lever were not counted.

Last year Tyco took over Harrisburg-based AMP, Inc. As a result of the bad books allegations, Tyco stock at the time took a $40-billion hit. With the SEC’s announcement, an analyst for T. Rowe Price, which holds a lot of Tyco stock, said the clearing by the SEC disproves "the ridiculous assertions" of the claims made by the other analyst last year.