Gil Smart writes in a Sunday News column “Give the people what they want”: “Our political class as a whole, Democrats included, remains intent upon giving the people what they don’t want. We haul out the charts showing how Medicare will consume ever-more resources.
Tag: featured
LGH salaries grew less than 1% while its executives received 8 1/2% raises
Year after year, the evidence grows that Lancaster General Health system with all of the financial benefits of a “Public Charity” is largely run as a feeding trough for its top executives and physicians, to the neglect of the overall public health needs of the community.
Arizona Sues Justice Dept. over Medical Marijuana
From NEWSMAX / AP: … The suit asks a federal judge to rule on whether strict compliance with the Arizona law provides protection from federal prosecution or whether the Arizona measure is pre-empted by federal law. The state law approved by voters in November, like those in other states, decriminalizes distribution, possession and use of marijuana for medical purposes under specified circumstances…
Studies: Missed meds could cost more than $250B a year
From USA TODAY: Americans may waste as much as $258 billion a year by not taking prescribed medications because the missed doses lead to emergency room visits, doctors’ visits and in-patient hospitalizations, according to a study by Express Scripts, an independent prescription- filling company.
Pa.’s lax approach to the environment repeats itself with natural gas.
From the INQUIRER OP-ED: The current wave of Marcellus Shale gas drilling has many Pennsylvanians worried about the impact on their water supplies – understandably so. The state’s natural-gas industry faces significantly less environmental regulation than the coal industry does, but its potential repercussions are at least as serious.
Are wine and liquor more expensive in Pennsylvania than in neighboring states?
From the HARRISBURG PATRIOT-NEWS: It pays to pick up a bottle of rum or wine for that summer barbecue party while vacationing at the New Jersey shore. The perception in Pennsylvania is that other states have better prices on wine and liquor, so it makes sense to stock up when you’re out of state. Maryland stores near the Pennsylvania line say they get plenty of customers from the Keystone State.
Paul Ryan Budget Proposal Voted Down By Senate
From the HUFF POST / AOL NEWS: Senate Democrats wasted no time capitalizing on Tuesday’s Medicare-fueled upset in a New York special election, holding a vote on the GOP budget plan Wednesday designed to put Republicans on record backing the controversial House budget plan.
PA House GOP passes budget to Senate, 109-92, after nearly eight hours of debate.
From CAPITOLWIRE: After nearly eight hours of mostly partisan-fueled debate, the House GOP budget was passed on to the Senate by a vote of 109-92. House Bill 1485 would keep funding at $27.3 billion – the spending level proposed in Gov. Tom Corbett’s budget – but shifts money around through various cuts and restorations…
Democrat scores upset in Medicare-focused House race
From USA TODAY / AP: Democrat Kathy Hochul scored an upset victory Tuesday in a special election for Congress that was viewed as a proxy battle for the future of Medicare. The district, one of only a handful in New York that backed John McCain for president in 2008, has elected a Republican to Congress since 2002…
LANCASTER NEW ERA
Editorial “Bringing back Pa. helmet law” reports “This time, proponents cite a 2008 study by two University of Pittsburgh faculty members who compared statistics from the two years before the repeal and the first two years after the repeal. The two found that head injury deaths increased 66 percent and cycle-related head injury increased 78 percent.
LETTER: What does RACL do with the $200,000 from CC project?
The “private” hotel is SUPPOSED to be paying $200,000 a year for payments in lieu of taxes. The problem is, all this money goes to the owner of the hotel building, the Redevelopment Authority of the City of Lancaster (which receives no rent from the hotel).
One in six children have a developmental disability
From USA TODAY: More than 15% of school-age kids — about 10 million children — had a developmental disability in 2006-08, according to a study released Monday in the journal Pediatrics. That’s up from 12.8% in 1997-99. The study suggests that three or four children in a typical elementary school classroom have development disabilities.
SUNDAY NEWS
Editorial “I Got a Secret” opines: “The phrase ‘pig in a poke’ keeps coming to mind in reading about the School District of Lancaster Board’s recent vote to give a $54,000 tax break to … well, no one knows…
Highly successful people and educating disadvantaged youngsters
In his non-fiction fiction* “The Social Animal”, David Brooks writes: “Researchers have spent many years exploring the jungles of the human mind in search of the source of ambition…Ultra-driven people are often plagued by a deep sense of existential danger…