Its editorial of May 3 states: “Lawmakers had virtually no chance to read the monstrosity…before voting on it.” WATCHDOG: Is the reference to the one sided contracts between the Convention Center Authority and Penn Square Partners whereby the Authority gave away half of the proceeds from its naming rights to the Sunday News’ publisher and […]

In an article headed “Pot panned as medicine; Local lawmakers, doctors oppose measure”, State Representative Katie True states “Marijuana is not medicine. Marijuana is a bunch of burning leaves” and goes on to say that Marinol, which contains one of marijuana’s ingredient THC, has a “Much better delivery system.” Pharmacist Charlie Smithgall opines that under […]

“The Audit Bureau of Circulations reports that circulation for 395 of the country’s biggest papers dropped 7.1 percent in the six months through March, compared to the same period a year earlier… Advertisers too have abandoned newspapers for the Internet. Papers actually have been hurt more by the plunge in ads than the drop in […]

The April 23rd article was headed “3 chain stores to anchor Rt. 30 East center,  Work on $40M complex to begin this summer.” It goes on to report “Joint developers High Real Estate Group and Faison Enterprises Inc. of Charlotte, N.C., aim to build a 285,000-square-foot shopping center for up to six anchor stores and […]

An article on April 22nd reports:  “The Supreme Court on Tuesday dramatically cut back the ability of the police to search the cars of people they arrest.” WATCHDOG: It is gratifying that the Supremes are reinstating at least a portion of the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution’s protection against unwarranted search and seizure.   Over decades, […]

An April 20 editorial was headed “legal ads on Web costly in long run.”  It goes on to say “It’s wholly unrealistic to expect that local businesses would check the 60 Web sites of Lancaster County’s 60 municipalities for biding opportunities.  It’s preposterous to think that job applicants would check all those sites for employment […]

According to an April 21 editorial: “Patrick Meehan, the former U.S. attorney in Philadelphia and a likely Republican candidate for governor, has challenged the Rendell administration’s move to hire a Houston law firm to file a suit against several drug firms over the alleged improper marketing of antipsychotic drugs….While nearly three dozen other states joined […]

The headline on the April 20th read “Obama extends hands to enemies; Chavez, Castro make overtures to U. S.” The AP report goes on to say “Defending his brand of world politics, President Barack Obama said Sunday that he ‘strengthens our hand’ by reaching out to enemies of the United States….” WATCHDOG: There is no […]

In an article “slots in city?, Don’t bet on it” quotes Josh Nowak, director of sales and Marketing for the convention center and adjacent Marriott hotel as saying:  “There will be no slot machines in this integrated facility.” It further quotes Art Morris, Chair of the Convention Center Authority, as follows:  “We have a use […]

The Apirl 12 editorial reports “All three state senators in the Lancaster County delegation [Mike Brubaker, Lloyd Smucker and Mike Folmer] have voluntarily returned the 2.8 percent pay hike that took effect in December. Among state representatives, five of eight from here have done likewise. They are John Bear, Scott Boyd, Bryan Cutler, Gordon Denlinger […]

“[President] Obama trust in Iran misguided” is the editorial’s heading.   “Reach out to Iran’s religious regime, and you’ll only get your hand bitten…Not long after the State Department’s play for mutual respect, a detained American journalist was charged as a spy.” WATCHDOG: Are the editors privy to top secret information concerning who are our spies […]

The editorial on April 3rd “Flirting with ‘sexting’ remedy” describes the controversy over teenage girls sending “racy photos of themselves” to classmates. It concludes “A legal remedy maybe required in some sexting cases. For that, prosecutors should look to the juvenile-court system, with punishment emphasizing counseling, not jail time. Any legal action, though, should be […]

Another sign that the “Fourth Floor” at the Lancaster Newspapers, Inc. controls content is the lack of any commentary in the Intelligencer Journal, New Era and the Sunday News on the defacto shutting down of the New Era. The Sunday News notes the occurance in its column “Catching Up On The News” with about 60 […]

“‘By consolidating our news reporting efforts into one daily newspaper, we plan to significantly increase local news coverage and our reporting efforts throughout Lancaster County,’ [Editor Ray] Shaw said. ….Regarding Lancaster Newspapers’ Web initiatives, [Ernie] Schreiber said, ‘We are preparing to launch major improvements to our Web sites, adding new features and information aimed at […]