From the PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS Editorial: …We have bemoaned before the high cost of incarcertion in this country. A new look at the issue, in a recent New Yorker magazine, suggests that incarceration rates (and costs) continue to rise: “Mass incarceration on a scale almost unexampled in human history is a fundamental fact of our […]
Month: January 2012
Charter schools are struggling to meet standards, but keep growing
From the PITTSURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW: ….More than 90,000 students are enrolled in 142 public charter schools, including 12 cyber charter schools, according to the Pennsylvania Coalition of Public Charter Schools. An estimated 30,000 students are on waiting lists…
Syrian army in offensive near Damascus
From AL JAZEERA: …Activists inside Damascus told Al Jazeera’s Anita McNaught that tanks had rolled into Al-Ghouta, within 10km of Damascus city centre… Al-Ghouta is historically known for being a hub of dissent against the government of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, and the crackdown appeared to be an attempt “to avoid any Tahrir Square-style mass movements”, she said… Russia has strongly […]
Low interest rate plus inflation will restore world prosperity
The Liquidation of Government Debt Carmen M. Reinhart and M. Belen Sbrancia Historically, periods of high indebtedness have been associated with a rising incidence of default or restructuring of public and private debts. A subtle type of debt restructuring takes the form of “financial repression.” Financial repression includes directed lending to government by captive domestic […]
Gov. Corbett is officially sad Joe Paterno is dead, after he officially helped fire him
DEADSPIN: …While in office, each governor of Pennsylvania is an ex officio member of Penn State’s Board of Trustees. It was the Board of Trustees who voted unanimously to fire Paterno in the days after the grand jury presentment against Jerry Sandusky was released. And it was Corbett who implored his colleagues on the board […]
Day-old infant left in emergency room..it’s legal!
From the WASHINGTON COUNTY OBSERVER-REPORTER: …The infant dropped off last week at the Washington Hospital emergency room turned out to be the first baby in Washington County to be classified as such under Pennsylvania’s 9-year-old Safe Haven Law…
Public schools facing crisis
PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER Editorial: His fans are calling Gov. Corbett courageous for ignoring impassioned pleas to drop his pledge not to raise taxes. .. Corbett’s first budget slashed $860 million in public-school funding. Schools are now suffering tremendously as a result. Yet the governor adheres to his no-tax pledge, including a refusal to even consider a […]
Pennsylvania eyes tax deals to lure Shell’s ‘ethane cracker’
From the PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW: Big businesses could be in line for millions of dollars in new tax breaks in Pennsylvania under legislation that may be critical in the state’s bid to best Ohio and West Virginia for a petrochemicals plant. The bill has quietly moved toward passage as state officials court Royal Dutch Shell plc, […]
Pentagon Seeks Mightier Bomb vs. Iran
From the WALL STREET JOURNAL: …The 30,000-pound “bunker-buster” bomb, known as the Massive Ordnance Penetrator, was specifically designed to take out the hardened fortifications built by Iran and North Korea to cloak their nuclear programs. But initial tests indicated that the bomb, as currently configured, wouldn’t be capable of destroying some of Iran’s facilities, either […]
SUNDAY NEWS
In a column “Wild, wild Internet days”, and after a lengthily explanation of newspaper publication deadlines, Editor Marv Adams writes: “I awakened Sunday morning, recovered from Saturday night’s adrenaline rush, to have it dawn on me — the editorial! In the light of day, I was hit hard with regret. The editorial page had been […]
SUNDAY NEWS
In a column titled “Chicken or broken egg”, Associate Editor Gil Smart writes: 1) “According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the mean hourly wage for farm workers who, among other things, “attend to animals produced for animal products, such as meat, fur, skins, feathers, eggs, milk and honey,” is $11.56 an hour. Assuming a 40-hour work week, […]
Rupert Murdoch’s Staff Arrested As Tabloid Scandal Spreads To Second Newspaper
From the HUFF NEWS: The criminal investigation into British tabloid skullduggery turned full force on a second Rupert Murdoch publication Saturday, with the arrest of four current and former journalists from The Sun on suspicion of bribing police…. The arrests spread the scandal over tabloid wrongdoing – which has already shut down one Murdoch paper, […]
INTELLIGENCER JOURNAL NEW ERA
A letter to the editor entitled “Paterno’slegacy grows in scandal’s wake” by Ms Becky Toews opens: “In the months since the Penn State scandal broke, my estimation of Joe Paterno has changed. It’s gone from ‘admirable’ to ‘heroic.’” … WATCHDOG: Ms Toews memorably captures what may be Paterno’s greatest achievement: His refrain from lashing back […]
Seeks evidence of room tax impact on hotel renovations
Where is your evidence for the sweeping generalization that “In general the Lancaster hotels have grown worn and shabby over the half decade of hotel room sales tax. This has discouraged discretioniary visits and affected the entire tourist industry and the overall local economy.”?