Welcome to the Good Friday edition of Capitol Notes, a regular, online-only, easy-to-swallow capsule of Harrisburg-related tidbits that didn't make it into newsprint.

HE WORKS HARD FOR YOUR MONEY. State Rep. Joe Preston, a Democrat from East Liberty, is warning current homeowners and prospective ones that predatory lenders are working hard to relieve you of your money.

That's why he working hard to keep the money in your pocket, he says. Last week, Preston introduced a bill that would strengthen existing anti-predatory lending laws. The bill would limit loan fees and penalties for paying off your loan ahead of time, and it also would put restrictions on end-of-schedule balloon payments and so-called loan "flipping" -- a practice in which homeowners are encouraged by their lenders to keep refinancing their loans at lower interest rates, over a short time period.

Preston's proposal came on the heels of a report from the state Department of Banking, which says that foreclosure rates in Pennsylvania are among the nation's highest.

On regular mortgage loans, the foreclosure rate of 0.85 percent ranks ninth in the country, and on "subprime" loans, issued to customers with low incomes or bad credit, Pennsylvania's default rate of 11.9 percent is fourth highest.

THESE GUYS WORK HARD FOR YOUR MONEY, TOO. Rather, their own money. The board that controls Pennsylvania's State Employees Retirement System -- a huge investment pool that funds retirement pensions more than 200,000 lawmakers, judges and other state employees -- has approved up to $325 million in new investments.

The board invests most of its $27 billion fund through Wall Street money managers. The new investments, according to the board's own public report, include:

Up to $100 million in investments with Chysalis Capital, Sterling Capital, ABS Capital and Palamon European Equity.

Up to $100 million in Bernstein Investment Research and Management, and another $100 million with Rexiter Capital Management.

Up to $25 million to the Fillmore East real estate fund.

The system achieved a 20.7 percent return-on-investment for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2004, placing it in the top 5 percent among America's largest public pension funds.

DAVID LETTERMAN WAS UNAVAILABLE, so Republican Senate leader David "Chip" Brightbill of Lebanon unveiled his "Top 10 List of Biggest Problems in Pennsylvania" to a luncheon audience this week.

Not surprisingly, Brightbill laid all of the problems at the feet of Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell.

No. 10, environmental issues: Brightbill faulted Rendell for insisting that state officials decide what issues need to be solved rather than letting each county set its own individual priorities for cleanup.

No. 9, business tax reform: He said Rendell has ignored some of the recommendations of his own tax commission.

No. 8, Medicaid funding: He claimed Rendell didn't consult with hospitals before cutting their Medicaid reimbursements.

No. 7, the high cost of education: Rendell isn't doing enough to help the middle class pay for college, and is waffling on whether the state should sell the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency to Sallie Mae for $1 billion.

No. 6, election reform: He said Rendell seems more interested in letting prisoners vote than letting Pennsylvanians who are in the military vote.

No. 5, transportation funding: He said Rendell waited until mid-November before deciding that mass transit was a top priority, and then tried to hurry the Legislature into passing higher taxes for buses and trolleys.

No. 4, health care costs: He said this issue will eventually become the No. 1 problem, and criticized Rendell for negotiating a community health program investment deal with Pennsylvania's four Blue Cross Blue Shield plans without going through legislative channels.

No. 3, property tax reform: He said using gambling money to cut taxes is the wrong approach.

No. 2, corruption within the gambling industry: He pointed to probes of land deals in Erie and Philadelphia and asked, "What's next?"

No. 1, the governor's spending patterns and his give-away mentality: He said Rendell liked to crisscross the state awarding capital grants to communities and "raising expectations" for ever-increasing state money.

Rendell aide Chuck Ardo replied that Brightbill was "factually wrong on virtually every point."

He said that in 2003-04, "the Republican-controlled Legislature added almost a half billion dollars to the governor's proposed budget. Last year, the GOP added almost $700 million." On the environment, Ardo said, "I'm not quite sure why the senator objects to out-of-state residents paying 45 percent of the proposed fee increases for trash dumping, as the governor has proposed."

SO COMEDY ISN'T HIS STRONG SUIT. Brightbill, digressing from the Top 10 routine, said he plans to introduce a bill next week that would control state spending by law, tying annual budget increases to the rate of inflation. He also says any budget surplus should be diverted into the state's "rainy day" fund.

PENNSYLVANIA BISHOPS. In response to the sad case of Terri Schiavo, the brain-damaged Florida woman whose life-sustaining feeding tube was removed a week ago, Pennsylvania's Catholic bishops are re-releasing a 1991 guidebook that offers guidance for decision-making when it comes to continuing or suspending medical treatment for helpless patients.

The statement, called "Nutrition and Hydration: Moral Considerations," can be read online at www.pacatholic.org, the Web home of the Harrisburg-based Pennsylvania Catholic Conference. The statement says that a patient in a persistent vegetative state, but who is not imminently terminal, should continue to receive nutrition.

"It is the removal of the nutrition and hydration that brings about the death," the statement says. "This is euthanasia by omission rather than by positive lethal action, but it is just as really euthanasia in its intent."

DOCTOR, DOCTOR, GIVE ME THE BLUES. Dr. Robert Muscalus, the latest person to serve in the state's decade-old office of the physician general, has left the state payroll to take a job as medical director with Highmark Blue Shield. Muscalus, appointed in 1999, was the governor's primary advisor on medical issues.

INSURERS ARE SINGING THE BLUES, TOO. After two years of declining payouts for medical malpractice claims, insurance companies in Pennsylvania reported a jump in payments last year.

In 2004, reported the Associated Press, insurers and underwriters paid out $448 million, a 13.5 percent jump from $394.5 million reported in 2003, according to the U.S. Health Resources & Services Administration.

The 2004 figure was the highest ever.

Doctors have pointed at ever-increasing "jackpot" judgments that lead to higher medical malpractice premiums, which in turn makes it more expensive for doctors in high-risk specialties to purchase the required policies and do business in Pennsylvania. Doctors say that a cap on non-economic, pain-and-suffering jury awards would be helpful in reducing insurance costs.

BILL DROPS. Public school students who want to have their yearbook picture taken by someone other than the official school district photographer would be legally permitted to do so, under Senate bill 445, introduced this week.

Senate Bill 447 says that boroughs, cities and other government entities would no longer be required to buy legal advertisements in the local newspaper of record when announcing a public meeting or soliciting for bids. The entities could, instead, place the ad in any "community paper of mass dissemination." To qualify as a community paper, the publication would have to distribute "regularly," either by delivery or through the mail, and would have to be at least four pages thick.

HOUSE RESOLUTION OF THE WEEK. Get out your calendars: May 1 should be known as "Tamanend's Day," according to House Resolution No. 160. Pennsylvania was founded, sort of, when William Penn agreed to a sales treaty with the Lenape Indian chief known as Tamanend. The same American Indian leader also agreed to other treaties with Penn, including one in 1683, which said that Europeans and Indians would live in peace "as long as the creeks and rivers run and while the sun, moon, and stars endure," which turned out to be a bit of an exaggeration on the Europeans' part.

Tammany Hall, the New York City building that was home to the political group known as the Society of St. Tammany, was named after the chief, as were many schools and parks.

SENATE RESOLUTION OF THE WEEK. If you have ever stepped in a bar, you are probably quite aware of alcohol, but in case you have not, the Senate says April is "Alcohol Awareness Month" in Pennsylvania. Runner up: As we celebrated St. Patrick's Day, most of us failed to notice that March 13 through March 19 was "Land Surveyors Week" in Pennsylvania.