A feature article “The state of AIDS in Lancaster, Fastest-growing group locally: middle-age, heterosexual women” reports “With more than 47,000 new cases in 2007 (these are the most recent figures available), according to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), the disease is still being spread — the age group between 13 and 29 being the largest, according the CDC.”…
Month: June 2010
EDITORIAL: The ‘fat lady’ has not yet sung re end of recession
In his travels, the Watchdog hears from bankers , business executives, and others that they are not yet seeing strong signs of a recovery. It is also apparent that the effects of the Recovery Act are finally being felt, as projects evolve from the planning stage to construction. For example, travelers encounter construction activity (and […]
Dem. Gov. thanks Rep. rep for State tax amnesty idea
From the PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE: At a time when most revenue projections have fallen and then fallen some more, the state’s tax amnesty program generated good news for Pennsylvania’s bank account. Delinquent taxpayers jumped at the chance to pay their debts because the interest charges and many of the late fees were waived.
Pa.’s record campaign donors: Trio give $5 million plus to Sen. Williams
From the PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER: No one had ever donated anywhere close to this much cash for a political campaign in Pennsylvania… Post primary reports are now in, and they reveal that the number was actually higher. A lot higher: $5,385,000. .. The three executives had said through a spokesman before the primary that they were […]
History of CC as Private/Public venture of national interest
I have heard that this series will be made into a book. That is a wonderful idea not only because the issue of Private/Public ventures is in great need of review nationwide, but, from what I have read of the series, and its fairly dramatic details, there is also a good story here. That story continues with the Henderson lawsuit which would make a dramatic climax to the book no matter what the actual court decision may be.
State pension reform needs to go further
From the SUN GAZETTE: The state House last week voted for significant changes in the state’s two large pension plans, with the end result being a delayed and smoothed out jump in the costs to taxpayers. David R. Fillman, who represents tens of thousands of American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, was supportive […]
Cruel and unusual punishment
(For a decade Marc Emery operated a marijuana seed mail order business from his store in Vancouver, Canada. Much of his seeds were shipped to the United States. An outspoken opponent of the War on Drugs, Emery used most of his earnings to support organizations of like minded political activists in Canada and the United […]
LETTER: PAM requires less PR, sound planning
Many people are justifiably skeptical of pronouncements about PAM’s [Pennsylvnia Academy of Music’s] value to the community. They’ve heard that tale before. What they need to hear instead is how PAM will construct realistic budgets based primarily on tuition revenues, how it will recruit students to provide those tuition revenues, and how it will use donor gifts to supplement those revenues.
NEW ERA
In “An open primary…”, the editors oppose Proposition 14 in California in which “…a voter will cast a ballot for a candidate, regardless of party affiliation. The two top vote-getters will move to compete In the general election. (An exception is the presidential primary, which will remain partisan.)” They conclude “People who support a set […]
INTELLIGENCER JOURNAL
Editorial “College standards” starts “For-profit colleges, the fastest-growing segment of higher education, will have to comply with new federal rules if a proposal announced by the Department o Education is enacted. The rules – technically they apply to all colleges, but are clearly aimed at the for-profit world – set some common-sense standards. But, unfortunately, […]
Cost of operating SD of L a lot more than books and teachers
The recent publication that 27% of the School District of Lancaster’s budget goes to administrative expenses may have struck others as it did the old Watchdog as being an oversized proportion. He envisioned hordes of bureaucrats in stocking feet sipping lattes while they threw spit balls at one another. (Well, not quite that bad!)
LETTER: High and F and M win again!
At the meeting on June 14, the TTAC was given two choices for what would be included in the new application for TIGER II: The longer list that included 27 Harrisburg Pike projects totaling $35,180,000 in federal grant requests but did not include the rebuilding of the Rt. 30/HP interchange that High wants, in order […]
LGH symptomatic of ills from national mergers and acquisitions
Let’s start with an excerpt from the recently published Ill Fares the Land by the renowned historian Tony Judt.
“What then, of the contemporary belief that we can either have benevolent social service states or efficient, growth-generating free markets but not both? On this, Karl Pepper, Hayek’s fellow Austrian, had something to say: ‘[a] free market is paradoxical. If the state does not interfere, then other semi-political organizations, such as monopolies, trusts, unions, etc. May interfere, reducing the freedom of the market to a fiction.’ This paradox is crucial…
Oops. LNP puff piece forgot to mention $ million annual CC loss
NewsLanc received the following message from a source we deem reliable: “Tom Beckett, the financial advisor for the convention center, has publicly stated several times the convention center will not be profitable and is projected to have a net operating loss of about a million dollars a year.” The Intelligencer Journal New Era apparently overlooked […]