News

January , 2009 - State Representative Lawrence H. Curry is anticipating a busy legislative session, based on his appointment to several key committees in January.

Rep. Curry's legislative committee appointments for the 2009-2010 session include:

The deadline to apply for the state's 2007 Property Tax/Rent Rebate Program has been extended to the end of the year.

The Property Tax/Rent Rebate Program provides rebates on the previous year's property taxes or rent to income-eligible residents who are 65 or older, 50 or older and widowed, and 18 or older with a permanent disability.

The income limit for homeowners is $35,000, for renters, $15,000. Applicants only have to count half of any Social Security or federal railroad retirement benefits when calculating their income.

The maximum rebate is $650. This year, however, many senior citizens could qualify for a much larger rebate. Senior homeowners who are eligible for the Property Tax/Rent Rebate Program and whose income is less than $30,000 will receive an additional 50 percent rebate if the property taxes they paid in 2007 were at least 15 percent of their income.

Please contact Representative Curry for more information, applications for the Property Tax/Rent Rebate Program or application assistance.

Applications for the state Persian Gulf Conflict Veterans' Bonus Program are available at my PA House Web site.

Under the program, eligible Persian Gulf War veterans can receive $75 for each month of service in the first Persian Gulf War. Prisoners of war and the families of troops who died as a result of the war can receive $5,000.

To qualify for the program, a veteran must have served on active duty in the Persian Gulf during the period from Aug. 2, 1990, to Aug. 31, 1991; received the Southwest Asia Service Medal; been a legal resident of Pennsylvania at the time of military service; and served under honorable conditions.

The biannual District 154 dinner was held at the Flourtown Country Club on the evening of April 13. A large crowd was on hand to support Representative Curry and honor Steve and Deborah McCarter, District 154 Democrats of the year.

The guestlist included Rep. Chaka Fattah, Rep. Allyson Schwartz, Commissioner Joe Hoeffel, Sen. Vincent Hughes, and Sen. Leanna Washington. A surprise attendee was Adrian Fenty, Mayor of Washington, DC, who attended to express his support for Sen. Barack Obama for president. Representative Schwartz spoke in support of Sen. Hillary Clinton.

Also honored at the dinner were Cheltenham Honoree, Joe Kappler, Jenkintown Honoree, Shirley Curry, Springfield Honoree, Kathleen Lunn, and past county commissioner Ruth Damsker, who was honored with the Human Services Award.

Baseball!!