Good morning.

A state Inspector General's report has found top Liquor Control Board execs accepted gifts and favors from vendors, possibly in violation of state ethics laws, writes Angela Couloumbis at the Inquirer:

The report names LCB chief executive officer Joe Conti, board member Patrick J. "P.J." Stapleton III, and marketing director James Short as having accepted gifts and favors, including wine and tickets to sporting events and golf tournaments.

It says one LCB vendor secured a round of golf with a pro for Stapleton during a tournament at Aronimink - and sent two employees to serve as Stapleton's caddies.

As for Conti, the report suggests the $156,000-a-year LCB executive lobbied a vendor and pressed others inside and outside the agency - including Philadelphia restaurateur Stephen Starr - for jobs for his brother and daughter.

The Huffington Post rounds up Gov. Tom Corbett's unfavorable poll numbers lately at a time when he's trying to sell members of both parties on pricey tax credits for Shell Oil.

The politically-active Service Employees International Union (SEIU) will lay out its GOTV ground game in Pennsylvania and seven other swing states (Colorado, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, Ohio, Wisconsin, and Virginia) in a call with reporters today. It sounds a lot like efforts by the AFL-CIO's SuperPAC.

After another round of afternoon budget talks, top Republicans in the state Legislature say they're closer than when they went in -- but still haven't agreed on how much the state can afford to spend next year.

Gov. Tom Corbett, once the two-part negotiating session wrapped up, said he believes that the administration, House and Senate officials have made progress toward bridging their $300 million or so gap.

"I would hope that we would get there in the next day or two," he told reporters.

Asked whether he agreed with the governor's assessment that agreement on a spending figure was close, House Speaker Sam Smith, R-Punxsutawney, replied: "Sure."

This afternoon's discussion, however, appeared to focus more on "broad concepts" and less on "mathematical" aspects, according to Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi, R-Delaware.

Pileggi described the ethane tax credit proposed for Shell Oil Co. and others interested in locating processing facilities here as the governor's "number-one priority" and an "essential" part of the budget process. Corbett replied: "That's a fairly accurate description."

More to come tomorrow morning, following the next round of closed-door talks.

West Virginia's top Democrats -- Sen. Joe Manchin, Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin and US Rep. Nick Rahall -- are all skipping the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte this fall. The party's standard bearer ain't too popular down there of course, and all three face reelection this year.

From the WV MetroNews:

U.S. Senator Joe Manchin, Governor Earl Ray Tomblin and Congressman Nick Rahall, who all face reelection battles this November, have decided to skip the Democratic National Convention in September.

The decisions of the three to stay home come after increasing pressure from Republicans to declare whether or not they support President Obama for reelection.  Rahall, who represents West Virginia's Third District, has already said he backs the President, but Manchin and Tomblin have refused to commit.

The West Virginia Delegate Selection Plan rules suggest that unpledged delegates had to declare who they planned to support.  It appeared that the deadline for the declaration was Tuesday.

Tomblin’s campaign spokesman Chris Stadleman said of the decision, “As he has said, he has serious problems with both Governor Romney and President Obama.  The Governor feels that his time is best spent working in West Virginia to move our state forward instead of attending a four-day political rally in North Carolina.”

Manchin, in a prepared statement, said, "I intend to spend this fall focused on the people of West Virginia, whether that's representing them in my official U.S. Senate duties or here at home, where I can hear about their concerns and ideas to solve the problems of this great nation. I will remain focused on bringing people together for the next generation, not the next election."

A Senate panel this afternoon sent Gov. Tom Corbett's judicial nomination of his former chief of staff for a hearing, moving a step forward in the process to confirm Bill Ward as a common pleas judge in Allegheny County.

That hearing on the appointments of Ward and Paul Cozza, another candidate for the Allegheny County bench, is scheduled for tomorrow in Harrisburg. 

That progress is in spite of skepticism from state Supreme Court Chief Justice Ron Castille regarding whether the appointments are necessary, telling the Harrisburg Patriot-News recently that the county's caseload has declined.

Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi, R-Delaware, said after the panel vote that the process for filling vacancies has traditionally been "at the discretion of the governor." He added that senators have read the chief justice's comments, but have not received any direct communication from Castille.