(Harrisburg) -- A York County native who spent time on Arizona's death row is supporting the latest call to repeal capital punishment in Pennsylvania. Ray Krone's story has been well-documented. He was wrongly convicted of murdering a bartender in Arizona and sat in prison for a decade, including on death row, before being exonerated by DNA evidence in 2002. Since then, Krone has spent his time discussing his experience and speaking out against the death penalty. "It is fruitless, mean-spirited, prejudiced, biased and darn right impractical," he says. "Because the way we handle it now, it's the luck of the draw. It's a roll of the dice and nobody's life should be hanging in the balance in those type of terms." Krone is backing state Senator Daylin Leach's proposal to repeal the commonwealth's death penalty. Similar efforts have stalled in the past. The Montgomery County Democrat calls capital punishment a failed government program. "It costs too much. It provides little, if anything in return, and fails to respect the culture of life that conservatives often speak about," he says. Leach says the state has spent as much as $1.2 billion to put 355 people on death row in the last 30 years -- and not one has been executed who did not request the sentence to be carried out.

(Harrisburg) -- Midstate bars and restaurants are seeing a steady stream of St. Patrick's Day revelers today. But, state police are hoping everyone who's enjoying their pints, does so safely. Spokesman Jack Lewis says troopers are keeping an eye out for those who choose to get behind the wheel after celebrating a little too much. "Certainly during this particular time, we'll be watching out for drivers...paying particular attention to any erratic driving behaviors," he says." Lewis says the agency does not have any special drunk driving enforcement efforts across the state during the holiday. But, he notes some troops are planning roving DUI patrols tonight and over the weekend.

 

Radio Smart Talk for Wednesday, March 17: Through most of the 20th century, laws pretty well started and stopped based on geography – the laws and jurisdictions that applied to you and me depended on where we were, physically. Then came the advent of the World Wide Web. Cyberspace is routinely described as "the wild west" when it comes to expression and legality. It's a dominant and powerful medium in which just about anyone can say just about anything just about any time regardless of the consequences. How can the free expression this technology provides be squared with laws designed to protect citizens from those expressions deemed inappropriate?