Lancaster Public Library (LPL) required a new Strategic Plan to guide it through the 2012-2014 period. To assist in this effort, the Library requested and received a Capacity Building Grant from the Lancaster County Community Foundation. The grant allowed the Library to conduct a broad user needs study in the communities we serve and to translate these needs into a strategic services and funding action plan.

Editorial “The Saga that is … Penn State” states “Under legislation introduced earlier this month by two Pennsylvania lawmakers… witnesses of child abuse would be legally obligated to report it to authorities, not merely to supervisor.”

From USA TODAY: His insurance company told him it would be covered 100%, with no copayment from him and no charge against his deductible. The nation’s 1-year-old health law requires most insurance plans to cover all costs for preventive care including colon cancer screening.

From the HARRISBURG PATRIOT-NEWS Op Ed: … Both Senate and House bills (SB 1100 and HB 1950) essentially strip local governments of their authority to adopt ordinances to protect their communities. The bills do this by expansively defining all efforts to regulate oil and gas operations as beyond the power of local government.

An AP article “Telecom immunity OK for eavesdropping” reports: “A federal appeals court on Thursday said a 2008 law that granted telecommunications companies legal immunity for helping the National lSecurity Agency with an email and telephone eavesdropping program is constitutional.”

From the DAILY BEAST: What can a jury do to protest an “immoral” law? Return a verdict of “not guilty” to nullify it… The basic idea of nullification springs from two bedrocks of the American system of jurisprudence: that jurors cannot be punished for and need not explain the verdict they deliver (which means nullification is to some extent in the eye of the beholder), and the “double jeopardy” clause of the Fifth Amendment, which prohibits a person from being tried twice for the same crime.

From the HARRISBURG PATRIOT-NEWS Editorial: … [The Board of Trustees is] entirely too large with 32 voting members, and some appointments are made for political reasons or to serve the interests of the state’s agriculture and business communities…

From the GLOBE AND POST: …In 2012, [paywalls are] moving from experimentation to operational,” said Ken Doctor, a U.S. media analyst and author of Newsonomics. The need for newspapers to quickly adopt a digital subscription model is gaining momentum, he believes, and it’s crucial that companies establish the value of digital content in the minds of readers now.

From USA TODAY: ….In 2011, the [Affordable Care Act] targeted specific groups of people — mostly the young and senior citizens — while the most argued about pieces won’t come until 2014. Then, assuming the Supreme Court doesn’t rule against the “individual mandate,” the provision that requires most Americans to buy health insurance…

From the HARRISBURG POST-GAZETTE: …Mr. Specter says Mr. Reid assured him that, upon switching caucuses, he would retain the decades of seniority that boosted his influence on powerful committees such as Judiciary and Appropriations, and, with it, one of the more powerful arguments for his re-election.

From THE AGITATOR: I’m saddened to learn this morning that Siobhan Reynolds died over the weekend in a plane crash. I met Reynolds several years ago when I attended a forum on Capitol Hill on the under-treatment of pain. Her story about her husband’s chronic pain was so heartbreaking it moved me to take an interest in the issue.

From the FINANCIAL TIMES: …Tokyo Electric Power, the operator of the Fukushima plant, and its regulators were so unprepared for a major nuclear emergency that they lacked even the basic safety measures to respond to a disaster of the scale that hit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in the wake of the March 11 tsunami, the committee states in an interim report of its findings…