Intelligencer Journal/Lancaster New Era

STATE

Corbett plan said to include wine, liquor, beer Poll: Corbett's popularity sinks PSU on pace with Freeh report

HARRISBURG -- Gov. Tom Corbett is expected to call for auctioning off wine and liquor store licenses and opening beer and wine sales to a broad array of retailers, from big-box stores to drugstores.

Corbett's office said the Republican governor will announce his plan today in Pittsburgh.

According to information from people briefed by the governor's office, the plan involves shutting down the more than 600 state-owned wine and liquor stores as a prelude to auctioning 1,200 wine and liquor store licenses.

Also, owners of supermarkets, drugstores and big-box stores would be able to buy separate licenses to sell beer and wine. Convenience stores would be eligible to sell beer while beer distributors would be able to bid for licenses to sell wine and liquor.

HARRISBURG -- Gov. Tom Corbett's popularity has declined since mid-November, although he scored points with many Pennsylvania voters for challenging the NCAA sanctions against Penn State University, according to a poll released Tuesday.

The Quinnipiac University survey showed that 51 percent of the respondents believe Corbett does not deserve re-election next year, while 31 percent said the Republican deserves another term.

The poll of 1,221 registered voters found that 42 percent disapprove of Corbett's job performance during his first two years in office, up from 38 percent in a November survey by the same pollster.

STATE COLLEGE -- Penn State has completed about 75 percent of the 119 recommendations to strengthen university policies from the former FBI director who led the school's investigation into the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal.

Rob Pangborn, the interim executive vice president and provost, told the university's Faculty Senate on Tuesday that the school was on pace in studying or implementing the recommendations released last summer from Louis Freeh.

From our wire services