today’s news and information gleanings from here and there! Today’s Weather!   Today in History!

Quote for today… “ … Philadelphia on one end, Pittsburgh on the other, with Alabama in the middle” – Attributed to James Carville

• Pennsylvania: The Black and Blue State. In our search to find out who said the above, we found this Website. Appears we are not the only one who thinks our state is “public servant” heavy. And if Pennsylvania really is “Alabama in the middle” … then there might be a borough or two in the middle of the middle that might be like Alabama in the 1930’s. But then, that isn’t fair to Alabama – because things have changed there!
• Here’s a shocking story from York County (York Dispatch)
• State transparency coming. “Gov. Tom Corbett recently signed into law a measure to create a public online database of all state government expenditures. The PennWATCH (Pennsylvania Web Accountability, Transparency and Contract Hub) measure was introduced in an effort to promote greater openness and transparency of state government to Pennsylvania taxpayers. Through the website, Pennsylvanians will be able to track exactly where tax dollars are being directed in state government.” (e-newsletter, State Representative Ryan Aument)
•  Lancaster County already has its monthly budgets online; isn’t it time that local jurisdictions do this too?
• York Suburban OKs new $25 activities fee for students (York Dispatch)
• Worries Grow Over Jobs (Wall Street Journal) Good article with good interactive graphic showing US unemployment data since 1948.
• Cross-promotion: One way to bring them here (Baltimore Sun)