From WILKES-BARRE TIMES-LEADER Editorial: POWER BROKERS IN Harrisburg have concocted another sweetheart deal for Pennsylvania’s natural gas drillers, and as you learn the specifics, you should be hearing alarm bells…
Tag: featured
Corbett to propose 20% to 30% funding cuts for Pa. state universities
PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER: Pennsylvania’s state universities would take another big funding cut under Gov. Corbett’s 2012-13 budget proposal to be released Tuesday morning, according to sources familiar with the plan.
Calls for referendum on more convention center taxation
We need to hold the proponents hands to the fire. That needs to be done FIRST before any other avenues are investigated or pursued!!!! It is VERY hard to justify ‘penalizing’ or having additonal taxes imposed upon the hoteliers or city/county taxpayers who essentially had NO SAY in the project.
Ahmadinejad misquoted as saying “Israel will be wiped off the map”
“Nearing a decision on Iran nukes” is a very interesting article. I agree with the Watchdog and I would like to add that while the regime in Iran is vile, despicable and homicidal, they are not suicidal. Further, the politicians and the media keep saying that Ahmadinejad said that “Israel will be wiped off the map”.
LANCASTER SUNDAY NEWS
The lead news article “2 studies on Convention Center fiscal problems ongoing” reports: “Convention Center Authority Executive Director Kevin Molloy made headlines last month when he called for county commissioners to increase the county’s hotel room tax.
Ronald Reagan missed the target
The following are excerpts from “Republic, Lost, How Money Corrupts Congress – and a Plan to Stop It?” by Lawrence Lessig, a professor of law at Harvard Law School: “As [Ronald] Reagan described, quoting (who he said was) Alexander Fraser Tytle): ‘A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government.
The Paterno scapegoating disgrace
TAMPA TRIBUNE: …. Mr. Paterno did everything he should have done in this situation. He reported the allegation he received second hand to school officials and to the campus police. He never eye-witnessed any act on a child. All his knowledge and that of a multitude of others were hearsay rumors.
2011 County Hotel Room Rentals remains flat
The Office of the County Treasurer reports that tax revenue from the Lancaster County Hotel Room Rental Tax and the Hotel Excise Tax increased from $5,945,691 in 2010 to $5.982,631 in 2011, a scant increase of $6,940 or 0.001%.
One hotel with 77 rooms was adaded in the fourth quarter of 2011. Some of the larger (over 200 rooms) facilities are not doing very well.
Humane re-test: DPW proposes a better food-stamp standard
From the PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE Editorial… the current Department of Public Welfare wanted to give food stamps to no one under age 60 with more than $2,000 in savings or other assets, and to no one over 60 with more than $3,250. That was way too low.
Boehner: Feds Should Back Off of Unconstitutional Birth Control Order
From NEWSMAX: …That rule, however, exempted houses of worship and their employees, as well as other institutions whose primary purpose is to promote religious belief. Churches, synagogues, mosques and other places would not be required to cover contraceptives, it specified.
Path Is Found for the Spread of Alzheimer’s
From the NEW YORK TIMES: Alzheimer’s disease seems to spread like an infection from brain cell to brain cell, two new studies in mice have found. But instead of viruses or bacteria, what is being spread is a distorted protein known as tau. The surprising finding answers a longstanding question and has immediate implications for developing treatments, researchers said.
Election 2012: Fundraising Year-End Totals Reveal Obama Record, GOP Disparity, Rich Super PACs
From the HUFFINGTON POST: On Tuesday’s deadline, the latest quarterly fundraising reports poured into the Federal Election Commission and out to the public from candidate campaigns and super PACs. Observers could finally compare money totals for the last quarter of 2011 and the full pre-election year.
From ‘Soak The Rich’ To ‘Soak The Poor’: Recent Trends In Hospital Pricing
From HEALTH AFFAIRS: FIFTY YEARS AGO the poor and uninsured were often charged the lowest prices for medical services. In a classic health economics article, Reuben Kessel explained in 1958 why it was rational for physicians to charge the wealthiest the most and to discount prices for the poor.
Impact of hotel room sales tax on community
During the “Public Comment” opportunity during the Lancaster County Commissioners weekly meeting, NewsLanc publisher Robert Field volunteered the following: I would like to comment on the recent request by Kevin Molloy, Executive Director of the Lancaster County Convention Center Authority, that there be an increase in the hotel room sales tax to enable the center to remain solvent and the Tourist Bureau to continue to be funded.