GALLUP: For marijuana advocates, the last 12 months have been a period of unprecedented success as Washington and Colorado became the first states to legalize recreational use of marijuana. And now for the first time, a clear majority of Americans (58%) say the drug should be legalized. This is in sharp contrast to the time Gallup first asked the question in 1969, when only 12% favored legalization.

NewsLanc posed two questions to incumbent mayor Rick Gray and former mayor Charlie Smithgall, with answers to be published over consecutive weeks.

Pianist Frances Veri will perform with her son, violinist Michael T. Jamanis, in a community concert at El Redentor and St. Paul’s United Methodist Church on Sunday, October 27 at 4 p.m. Student performances by the Music For Everyone strings at Crispus Attucks will begin at 3:30 p.m.

Baby Boomers might be slowing down, but as they age, the behind-the-scenes debate to reform Medicare is getting more vigorous. Some suggest that the glut of beneficiaries born 1946-64 — what demographers call the “pig in the python” — will pass and we can merely nip and tuck at the program’s rising costs.

Chairman Lloyd Smucker, R-Lancaster, said Sandusky’s 2011 arrest and subsequent conviction has been a “game changer” in several areas of state law and may result in changes regarding open records as well…

Officials said concerns about legalizing online games include the potential loss of revenue among casinos and the Pennsylvania Lottery — the latter funds programs for senior citizens — and the possibility of underage gambling…

Democracy in its rawest form, thousands of citizens run for town council or mayor, township supervisor or school board member. Candidates for county judgeships (winners make $180,000 per year for ten years) are at the top end. Assessors and constables who will eke out a very small fee-based income are at the other end. School board candidates are not allowed to make anything and, recently, getting relatives jobs has been near impossible.

LEHIGH VALLEY MORNING CALL Op – Ed: Pennsylvania voters next month will again be asked — but not required — to show photo identification at the polls. This is consistent with Commonwealth Court’s August injunction order, which in most respects allowed a continuation of the voter ID law’s transition period, while the court decides whether the law should be fully implemented.

PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW: Chief Justice Ron Castille wants voters to give him one more 10-year term on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, even though he will serve only a year because of the mandatory retirement law for judges.

The Pennsylvania Department of Health in partnership with The Lancaster Harm Reduction Project will hold a FREE FLU SHOT CLINIC.