For the first time in months, we checked out comments on LancasterOnline.com. We were surprised and offended to see some gratuitous personal attacks on the newly appointed dean at the Pennsylvania Academy of Music. Since all comments are screened for propriety (but not for substance) at NewsLanc.com, such comments would not be posted or the […]
Month: February 2010
READER FEEDBACK: Time for some straight talk? Yes!
From the PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER: (Bob Martin is a former Inquirer reporter and editor) …[Joe] Sestak, appearing on Larry Kane: Voice of Reason on Comcast last Sunday, was asked, “Is it true that you were offered a high-ranking job in the administration in a bid to get you to drop out of the primary against Arlen […]
PAM: A public foundation or a family business?
Happenings at the Pennsylvania Academy of Music become more surrealistic day by day. It was our understanding that Fran Veri would announce this weekend that the PAM would vacate their Prince Street facility and pursue moving to one of three potential locations, something that was considered by the Business Committee at its inception half a year ago.
Jethro’s: Where everyone knows your name
Bars. Their mention evokes a variety of images, from slick martini-sipping pads to rowdy game day congregations to tired old holes-in-the-wall. One word that rarely comes to mind is “neighborhood”—unless preceded by “shady.” But Jethro’s Restaurant and Bar, at the corner of First and Ruby streets, is a neighborhood bar in the very best sense of the phrase, exuding a friendly, home-like atmosphere and producing a menu of top-notch American cuisine…
Pelosi Struggles to Corral Votes for Health Care Bill
NEW YORK TIMES: …With Republicans unified in their opposition, Democrats are drafting plans to try on their own to pass a bill based on one Mr. Obama unveiled before his bipartisan health forum last week. His measure hews closely to the one passed by the Senate in December, but differs markedly from the one passed […]
From a culinarilly challenged NYC intellectual
…You know I don’t cook, but under the circumstances, I offered to bake my mom’s signature applesauce cake. It was an unholy mess. First, the eggs rolled off the counter onto the floor. Next, the flour and batter got all over me and the kitchen mat that already had eggs on it, so I had to […]
Lancaster General gives inner city schools the shuffle
On behalf of an inner city school and as a parent, I was quite concerned about the lack of equipment that our children have when trying to learn science projects. For example, instead of a microscope, the children are shown a photo of a microscope and asked to learn the parts that make up a microscope…
Conservatives target their own fringe
From Politico.com: After months of struggling to harness the energy of newly engaged tea party activists, the conservative establishment – with critical midterm congressional elections on the horizon – is taking aim for the first time at the movement’s extremist elements. The move has been cast by some conservatives as a modern version of the […]
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac report huge losses
From the Wall Street Journal: Fannie Mae reported a staggering $72 billion net loss for 2009, underscoring the challenges that still face the nation’s largest mortgage financier and offering more grim news for taxpayers who may ultimately pick up the bill… Freddie Mac posted a fourth-quarter net loss of $6.5 billion, didn’t ask for more […]
INTELLIGENCER JOURNAL
“3,500 PPL acres to be preserved” reports “PPL is selling that land, assessed at somewhere around $20 million, for $6 million. The utility will then give the money to the conservancy for an endowment fund for longer maintenance of the land.” WATCHDOG: Wow! Three wags of the tail. At the time that Lancaster and the […]
Scranton stadium receives over $350,000 annually for naming rights!
In the Times-Tribune.com account “Secrecy still name of game”, a paragraph mentions “Lackawanna County Stadium was renamed PNC Field in 2007 after SWB Yankees reached a three-year, $1.1 million deal with PNC. That deal was ratified by the authority. The public body should insist on ratifying the extension, which would require public disclosure of the terms.”
Sharp Drop in Existing Home Sales in January
From the NEW YORK TIMES: Sales of existing home in January fell 7.2 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.05 million, according to a report by the National Association of Realtors. Analysts had expected an increase of 0.9 percent…. Worries that the housing market could slip into another downturn resurfaced this week in […]
Foreign perception: “The healthcare summit”
From the FINANCIAL TIMES: …The trap the Democrats had hoped to spring was to say to Republicans, “Here is our plan. Where is yours? Why aren’t you bringing anything to the table?” With the opposition exposed as a nullity, reconciliation would look more respectable. It didn’t work. The Republicans outmanoeuvred the Democrats, not the other […]
In Pa. governor’s race, predictable giving
From the PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER: Reform state government! Clean house! To a man, the candidates vying to succeed Gov. Rendell are heeding the mood of Pennsylvania’s electorate and promising to change the culture of Harrisburg. But the same old political interests are financing their campaigns, according to an Inquirer analysis of campaign reports for 2009. Unions […]