“Is child obesity child abuse? Courts increasingly wrestle with questions of parental fitness” is a headline. It goes on to say “Some parents guilty of ‘loving their kids to death’“ Linda Spears, vice president of policy and public affairs for the Child Welfare League of America said “I think I would draw the line at […]

A banner headline for the July 21 Wilkes-Barre daily announces “Mohegan Sun [casino] places its bet on table games.” It continues “In anticipation of its possible passage, Bobby Soper, president and chief executive officer of Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs, said the casino is preparing to make the games available ‘as soon as reasonably feasible.’…The […]

A July 18 article “Cash-Strapped NY Times May Seek Nonprofit Grants” reports The cash-strapped New York Times has begun considering nonprofit foundation funding for its newsgathering, according to a story on the Poynter Online site, which monitors news in the media industry. Craig Whitney, an assistant managing editor at The Times who serves as the […]

“Recent cost cutting at [USA TODAY’S owner] Gannett paid off for the nation’s largest newspaper company in the second quarter.” WATCHDOG: Although the publishing division revenue fell 25.8%, largely due to a 27.6% drop in USA Today’s ad sales, and the radio division fell 20.6%, Gannett’s digital properties contributed $142 million in revenue.  Its stock jumped […]

In his weekly column, Gil Smart speaks out “In defense of security cameras.” Smart opines that in contrast to private areas, in public areas “…there is no expectation of privacy and where a camera sees exactly what a cop on the beat might see.  And if we don’t have a problem with the latter, why […]

An article published at NewsMax.com headed “Top Pa. Legislators Benefit Most From Grants”, goes on to say “Pennsylvania House leaders are steering a disproportionate share of grant money to their districts through a long-secret system of funding state lawmakers’ pet projects… this form of pork-barrel spending has been known as walking-around money, or WAMs. After […]

A June 22 article headed “Financial diagnosis: Hospitals healthy here” makes the following observations: “Both the increasing cost of providing health care services and increased investments in bricks and mortar led to the drop in profits this year at Lancaster General, said spokesman Kim Payne.” WATCHDOG: The first lessons in elementary accounting teach that “bricks […]

In an otherwise excellent article “A summer of challenges” concerning newly appointed McCaskey head football coach David Given and the ill health of his wife Kris, the following sentence intrudes: “But if Given, 50, has lost any enthusiasm for football, or McCaskey football, then he must have foamed at the mouth for football before.” WATCHDOG: […]

The editorial on June 21 headed “Sticking Out Like Sore Thumbs”, observes: “City officials are scrambling to redesign—and scrap, in some cases—plans for ‘bulb-outs’ at downtown intersections after learning that the traffic-calming design would have made it difficult for Red Rose Transit Authority buses to negotiate the turns….Again we wonder: Shouldn’t this have come up […]

Jeff Hawkes writes in a column entitled “Upscale projects shouldn’t get cold shoulder” that: Developers say the century-old Lancaster Press building, a vacant, six-story, industrial-age structure at North Prince and Lemon, has promise. Since 2006, they’ve been hoping to remake the former cigar factory into a posh residential building with retail space and 47 condos […]

An article headed “In city’s Southeast, an untapped market F&M study shows buying power, but few places to spend; millions in rent taken out” goes on to say “More than $19 million annually leaves the area as rent paid to outside landlords. It represents a major transfer of wealth outside the very community that needs […]

A front page, column one, headline on June 10 read “Fiat rescues Chrysler from bankruptcy.” WATCHDOG: Now who is going to rescue the USA from Fiat, a firm of such questionable legal and ethical dealings that one historian referred to it as a second Italian Mafia?