Secretary of the Commonwealth Carol Aichele told lawmakers today that the state's voter ID law deserves a vigorous defense.

She was less clear about who exactly has to defend the nearly year-old statute, which has been blocked from full enactment pending a trial this summer.

Asked at a budget hearing about the law's legal defense, Aichele brought up the recent statements by Attorney General Kathleen Kane that her office is discussing whether to continue in the case. She made it sound like Kane would be wrong not to.

"It's a core responsibility of the Office of the Attorney General to defend the constitutionality of statutes passed by the General Assembly and signed into law by the governor," Aichele said. "If you read press releases, Attorney General Kane is considering her options."

(Or a news story, but in any case.)

"When we go forward with the trial this summer -- I think it's scheduled for mid-July -- the representation of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the laws passed by this General Assembly and signed into law, need to be vigorously defended," Aichele continued. "And there needs to be a vigorous legal argument presented by the opposition, but I think the people of Pennsylvania would be well-served if this were a fair trial with both sides presenting strong and vigorous defenses."

Then she suggested that administration lawyers, rather than the independently-elected attorney general, could be the ones to offer that defense.

"It's my understanding an attorney general can choose to defend or choose not to," she said. "There are times when the attorney general, over the years, has passed the litigation back to the Office of General Counsel. That may well happen, at which point the Office of General Counsel will assign attorneys, either attorneys from their office or outside attorneys, to represent the General Assembly and the governor of Pennsylvania."

With the trial scheduled for July, that will have to get figured out.

Hello Pittsburgh and Pennsylvania political world. Yes, we're aware of the rumors that Mayor Luke Ravenstahl is going to make some kind of announcement on his future but no one has gone on the record since Jim O'Toole and Moriah Balingit broke the story last night. Note the 1 p.m. time for a presser promised by some has come and gone.

If anything else happens, you know we'll cover it feverishly here at Early Returns. For the quickest updates follow @EarlyReturns @MoriahBee and @richelord on Twitter.

UPDATE: 4:15 pm. Yes the P-G news team is still waiting. No, there's no more new news.

UPDATE: 6 pm. Ditto.

Photo by @MoriahBee

An Early Returns representative stopped by the North Side Elks Club's "Banjo Night" last night — and he can report that City Controller Michael Lamb did not go onstage to sing. This time.

Your morning links:

1. Where in the world is Mayor Luke? A close friend says the missing mayor will hold a press conference in the next few days to explain his absence from recent city and campaign events. Some have said his mother is sick. Even @LouKravenstahl is tweeting less.

2. About 200 local kids could get kicked out of Head Start programs if the federal government fails to reach a budget compromise, our Mary Niederberger reports. And guess what: Republicans and Democrats can't agree.

More after the jump.

Gov. Tom Corbett and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius didn't get to discuss his concerns about expanding Medicaid during his trip to Washington this past weekend.

It wasn't because the Obama administration didn't ask.

"While we were down there, her office was reaching out, trying to set up an appointment for me while I was down there," Corbett told reporters this afternoon.

But, the governor said, his schedule didn't allow it.

"When I go down there, my schedule is scheduled," he said. "It's full. I started days at 7:30 in the morning and they last until 10 o'clock at night, with very little gaps in between. In fact one day I didn't have breakfast until 3 in the afternoon, to give you an idea. That's a full schedule. I can't adjust that quickly."

In addition to the meeting of the National Governors Association, Corbett met with members of the state's congressional delegation, his office said.

Corbett and Sebelius did agree to try and find a time when they can talk Medicaid expansion. The governor has declined to endorse loosening income restrictions for the state-run health care program for the poor, as allowed under the federal health care law, saying the expansion would be too costly.

But his remarks today left room for that position to evolve.

"Remember, I said I can't recommend it at this time because I don't have the information, and we have to look at everything," he said. "When I get the information we can make a better-informed decision."