HARRISBURG, Pa. (July 18, 2024) — Pennsylvania Bar Association President Nancy Conrad has named 15 Pennsylvania lawyers to the 2024-25 class of the association’s Bar Leadership Institute (BLI). “BLI provides an extraordinary opportunity to look inside the PBA, including PBA operations, governance and leadership,” said Nancy Conrad, PBA president. “The program assists BLI participants to define their path forward in leadership: in their practice, the association and the profession. I look forward to assisting in this process and the development of leaders in the law.”

The new BLI class members include:

Blair County
Krystal T. Edwards, Beard Legal Group PC, Altoona

Bucks County
Nicole M. Durso, Stark & Stark, PC, Yardley
Gabriel T. Montemuro, Antheil Maslow & MacMinn LLP, Doylestown

Dauphin County
Lynette Carter, Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott LLC, Harrisburg
Adrianne Rachelle McClendon, Pennsylvania Department of State, Harrisburg
Natalie E. Sheer, Legislative Reference Bureau of Pennsylvania, Harrisburg

Erie County
Philip J. Seaver-Hall, Knox McLaughlin Gornall & Sennett PC, Erie

Lancaster County
Luke T. Weber, Barley Snyder LLP, Lancaster

Montgomery County
Merideth Ketterer, Heckscher, Teillon, Terrill & Sager PC, West Conshohocken
Lewis A. Sebia, Elliott Greenleaf PC, Blue Bell

Northampton County
William E. Hutcheson III, Florio Perrucci Steinhardt Cappelli Tipton & Taylor LLC, Easton

Philadelphia County
Rachel King, Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC, Philadelphia
Sean M. Perez, Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office, Philadelphia

Tioga County
Jamie L. Cook, Stephen J. Banik & Associates, Wellsboro

York County
Yinet Pérez Vega, MidPenn Legal Services, York

This year’s BLI co-chairs are Tyesha C. Miley, assistant counsel, Governor’s Office of General Council, Harrisburg and Jonathan D. Koltash, past chair of the PBA House of Delegates. To apply for the BLI, candidates had to demonstrate leadership ability, commit to attendance and participation in the required events, be currently licensed to practice law in Pennsylvania, be a PBA member, and be age 40 years or younger or have practiced five years or less.

The BLI was originally developed by Arthur L. Piccone of Kingston in 1995-96 during his year as PBA president to strengthen the PBA’s ongoing efforts to recruit and develop leaders of the association. The first chair of the institute, Gretchen A. Mundorff of Connellsville, re-launched the BLI when she became the 2010-11 president of the PBA. Its current purpose is to inform participants on the day-to-day operations, governance, resources and staffing of the association, as well as provide introductions to its various leadership opportunities.

About the Pennsylvania Bar Association
Founded in 1895, the Pennsylvania Bar Association strives to promote justice, professional excellence and respect for the law; improve public understanding of the legal system; facilitate access of legal services; and serve the lawyer members of the state’s largest organized bar association. For more information, visit pabar.org. Follow us on Facebook and LinkedIn.

Pennlive.com - The state House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a bill this week that would make purchasing fruit and vegetables easier for low-income Pennsylvanians.

The bill would establish the Food Bucks Program, crediting Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program recipients at least 40 cents for every dollar’s worth of SNAP benefits, known as food stamps, spent on fruits and vegetables and other healthy items that don’t have added sugars, fats, oils or salt. The program would be administered by a nonprofit of the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture’s choosing.

The bill now goes to the Senate for consideration.

“This added purchasing power will enable families to put more healthy food on their tables while also increasing the demand at our grocery stores, farmer’s markets, corner stores and other food retailers in our commonwealth,” one of the bill’s prime sponsors, Rep. Eddie Day Pashinski, D-Luzerne County, said on the House floor Wednesday. “Ensuring consistent access to nutritious food is essential to the healthy well-being of our Pennsylvanians, especially our children.”

Rep. Craig Williams, a Delaware County Republican, advocated for the bill on the House floor.

“If you’ve grown up poor, you know what food insecurity is about,” Williams said. “I grew up poor. There was a time in my young military family when my parents couldn’t afford food and we would split fruit and vegetables coming from my grandparents’ garden.”