“As Rendell talks of consolidations, there are lessons to be learned from the Columbia-Hempfield debacle in 1960s” is the sub-heading for a thoughtful, well researched and written Feb. 15 front page story. WATCHDOG: We learn of the pragmatic accommodation arrived at between the Hempfield and Columbia communities to abort a merger initially sought by Columbia […]

The Feb. 11 political cartoon “On the origin of Republicans by means of natural selection” shows them throughout evolution reciting the mantra “Tax cuts!” and then falling off a cliff. WATCHDOG: This is funny but eight years late and, in our present situation, the wrong message! According to Keynesian economics, the time to tax more […]

The Feb. 10 editorial is headed “Capping executive pay for business that receive bailout money is but a start.” It goes on to say “The $500,000 figure is the cap President Barack Obama has set for executive compensation at firms that accept ‘extraordinary assistance’ from the government. It’s a good move, both to calm populist […]

A Feb. 6 relatively small front page article “Bush overpaid banks in bailout” reports that “The Congressional Oversight Panel, in a report released today, said the overpayments amounted to a taxpayer-financed $78 billion subsidy of the firms…The American International Group, which the Treasury Department deemed to be too big to be allowed to fail, received […]

A Jan. 31 post “The Future of Placeblogging” responds to concerns about Seattle.WA losing one of its two newspapers: “One of the first questions in the article is ‘how will we save newspapers?’ And the answer given, which is the correct one, is don’t worry about saving newspapers, worry about saving news. Saving journalism. This […]

Gil Smart’s Feb. 8th column headed “Medals, bongs and little lies” discusses how the Steelers’ Santonio Holmes and eight Olympic medal winner Michael Phelps have fun afoul of the law and their advertising sponsors for use of the ‘devil weed’ marijuana. He asks (1) “So should society continue to treat marijuana as more dangerous than […]

A column long article by an Intell reports that a member of the board of the School District of Lancaster is applying to have her record expunged under the Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition program. WATCHDOG: The extensive coverage at the time of the event was bad form, since the charge was highly questionable (the accused picked […]

Feb.5th article headlined Overpaid $78B for Bank Stocks and goes on to report: “Elizabeth Warren, chairwoman of the Congressional Oversight Panel for the bailout funds, told the Senate Banking Committee on Thursday that Treasury in 2008 paid $254 billion and received assets worth about $176 billion.” A similar reports appeared yesterday afternoon at AOL.com and […]

Feb. 6th lead local article “[Tom] Armstrong efforts will continue, Discusses arrest of former resident of home” describes the observations by Armstrong that, “..whatever the future holds for [Richard D. ] Owen, he would benefit most from a shared living arrangement – not prison.” WATCHDOG: The Intell deserves praise and gratitude for allowing Armstrong to […]

Four big Feb. 5th stories: A critique of “Merging schools? Not so fast”. Good news “Entire Solanco rail line will open to public.” Analysis: “Local lawmakers critique Rendell’s budget.” And “Per-pupil costs up this year” with an informative chart. WATCHDOG: Four wags of the tail. The public got its money’s worth today!

“Obama admits, ‘I screwed up.’” (Feb. 4th) WATCHDOG: The President took too long to wake up to what the New Era, NewsLanc and much of the media were saying for the past couple of weeks: We should not elevate to high office those who purposefully or through a ‘blind eye’ fail to pay their share […]

“A frivolous proposal” is the title of the Feb. 3 editorial about a proposal for the state to provide a college dedicated totally to academic matters as do community colleges in order to keep costs down. The article concludes “A whole new tier of colleges isn’t necessary, if we can find a way to make […]

“Second chance is hard to come by”, is the lead to Jeff Hawkes’ Feb. 3rd column dealing with the housing plight of ‘sex offenders.’ After describing how a social “pariah” froze to death in Michigan because he was refused accommodation at a homeless shelter and mentioning former state Rep. Tom Armstrong’s efforts to provide housing […]

“Borowed time? Libraries stung as funding shrinks” is a front page article on Feb. 2nd. It opens “Dwindling tax dollars are forcing libraries to close branches, cut hours and end programs just as more people are turning to them for services.” It continues “…more adults are using free Internet services to search for jobs or […]