Register for CLE credit with the Montgomery County Bar Association at 610-279-9660 ($70 including credits and breakfast). If you are not a lawyer seeking credits, you may register with JSPAN at 215-635-2554 ($20 including breakfast).

Decennial redistricting is coming, the season when the gerrymander flowers in Pennsylvania. Join this CLE and explore what can be done about it!

In the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania alone it has enabled hundreds of thousands of working families to get their children the healthcare coverage they need. Widely hailed as an effective program, SCHIP, which currently covers 6.6 million youngsters, will expire on September 30 unless it is reauthorized this year.

On August 1, with a vote of 225 to 204, the House passed a sweeping expansion of CHIP. The bill, developed entirely by Democrats, would provide coverage for more than 4 million uninsured children in low-income families. A more modest bipartisan measure, S.1893, the Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2007, is currently before the Senate, with a final vote expected on August 3.

JSPAN enthusiastically endorses these two pieces of legislation and urges its members to call their elected representatives in Congress to express support for both the House and Senate versions.

Will S.1893 garner enough votes in the Senate today? Check your newspapers!

JSPAN board member Spencer Lempert has prepared a concise history and analysis of SCHIP for our readers. Click here to access his analysis.

For a summary of the bill in outline form prepared by FamiliesUSA, click here.

For a summary of the Senate proposal prepared by the NY Times, click here.

Mr. Broida asks his readers to "help make social progress today". His list of suggestions touches only a small part of the critical areas which need addressing in Philadelphia, but he believes that "one person can make a difference". He urges all Philadelphians to accept the challenge of bringing positive change to the city. So, let's get going!

To read David Broida's commentary in its entirety, click here.

As of July 31, four campaigns have sent in completed questionnaires: Senator Joe Biden, Senator John Edwards, Senator Barack Obama and Governor Bill Richardson. Additional completed questionnaires from other campaigns will be added to the jspot.org website as they are received.

JSPAN offers this material to its readership for information only. It is our belief that a comparison of the candidates' responses to the questionnaire will help our readers develop a more informed understanding of the important issues before the electorate in the 2008 election.

To learn how the four candidates responded to the questionnaire, click here.

As a result of enacting anti-immigrant legislation in the summer of 2005, the city sought to impose fines and sanctions on local businesses that refused to investigate the immigration status of employees and tenants. The ordinance was an especially onerous burden on Hazleton's Hispanic community. However, a restraining order was issued in October 2006 by a federal judge, preventing the city officials from enforcing the legislation.

Fast forward to July 26, 2007: federal court Judge James Munley declared the Hazleton ordinance unconstitutional. In reviewing Judge Munley's landmark decision, Anthony Romero, Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union, the lead counsel in opposition to the ordinance, stated, " It is time to stop promoting discrimination and wrongheaded policies so that we can come together to find a national solution for our country's immigration issues."

The ACLU is closely monitoring other cities and towns that are considering or have enacted similar ordinances to Hazleton's, and has initiated several related legal challenges. JSPAN will be following these developments closely, and will report back as the cases proceed.

To read the ACLU press release in its entirety, click here.

To read Judge Munley's opinion in its entirety, click here.

In the August/September, 2007 issue of Moment Magazine, Nathan Guttman, a reporter for The Forward, argues for a serious engagement on the part of the American Jewish community with the issue of Israel's Arab citizens. Mr. Guttman suggests that most American Jews have very little knowledge about the Arab community of Israel, which represents 20% of its citizenry. "Ignoring Israel's Arab population has been the prevailing approach for the better part of the past 60 years."

However, this is no longer the case. In 2005, when the Inter-Agency Task Force on Israeli Arabs was formed, more than 70 mainstream American Jewish organizations discussed together how they could "get actively involved in building bridges to Arab citizens of Israel, ... (reflecting) the beginning of a changed perception within the Jewish community - from showing concern for the Jewish state to seeking to benefit the entire state of Israel".

Mr. Guttman finds support for his belief that the American Jewish community can develop a meaningful dialogue with Israeli Arabs in the fact that "American Jews have always been in the forefront of the battle for minority rights and equality, and what is true for ethnic groups in America can probably be applied to the Arab minority in Israel."

To read Nathan Guttman's Opinion in its entirety, click here.

If you would like to add your thoughts to this discussion, click here.