today’s news and information gleanings from here and there! 

• Today’s Weather! 
• Today in History!
• Traffic Cam Rts. 30 & 441
• The Official Time! – Population Clock (U.S. and World)

Quote for today…“”It’s not really about the cupcake; I can get another cupcake. It’s about an encroachment on civil liberties. We’re just building up a resistance and tolerance to all these things they’re doing in the name of security, when it’s really theater. It is not keeping us safe.” – Rebecca Hains, Peabody, MA woman after the TSA took her cupcake at the Las Vegas airport.

• Former Eastern (Wrightsville) hoops stars play “big time” against North Carolina – “Hawks freshman guard Andrew Nicholas, back after missing two games with a concussion, scored a game-high 22 points on 9-for-12 shooting … The Tar Heels jumped out to a 12-0 lead behind the play of Henson and 7-foot senior Tyler Zeller, but with the heady play of Nicholas and fellow-freshman Austin Tillotson, the (Monmouth University) Hawks refused to go away”. – Asbury (NJ) Park Press
• Trust … but verify! “New Holland firefighter charged with stealing gas from fire company” – LancasterOnLine
• Living the low-life – “New Holland police allege a York man came home for the holidays — to steal from his parents.” Lancaster Sunday News
• REMINDER: Meet your 2012 Columbia governing body; come to this meeting tomorrow evening. “LEGAL NOTICE, published in the Lancaster Intelligencer Journal/New Era, December 31, 2011 – “LEGAL NOTICE Notice is hereby given that Columbia Borough Council will hold its organizational meeting on Tuesday, January 3, 2012 at 7 p.m. and its regular meeting on Monday, January 9, 2012 at 7 pm in the Borough Municipal Building, 308 Locust St., Columbia, PA. If you are a person with a disability wishing to attend and require an accommodation to participate in the meeting, please contact the Borough Office at 684-2467. Norman B. Meiskey III Borough Manager.”
  
• Going Away Gifts … when they finally waddle back from the political trough, those elected “public servants” do not go empty-handed. “Ex-lawmakers draw pensions: Yearly sums for former state officials range from $90,867 to $6,434” – Lancaster Intelligencer Journal/New Era
• Futureworld?: healthcare in an austere environment – “Fiscal Crisis Takes Toll on Health of Greeks” – New York Times
• Medicare in Futureworld? – “2012 Medicare debate is all about the baby boomers” – York Daily Record
• “Pricey picks: Powerball tickets doubling to $2” – Detroit Free-Press
• “The S&P 500 index finished 2011 less than a point away from where it ended 2010 — 0.04 points down to be exact. That’s the smallest annual change in history.” – CNNMoney
• “York residents weary of higher taxes” – York Daily Record
• Mountville baby boy is county’s first-born in 2012 – Lancaster Intelligencer Journal/New Era
• “Are employers moving to only hire the healthy?” Smokers targeted now, what’s next … overweight? disabled? too many medications? junk food addicts? – Harrisburg Patriot-News
• It was a good year to fly … “The year 2011 was a very safe year for civil aviation, Aviation Safety Network data show. The second safest year by number of fatalities and the third safest year by number of accidents. Also, 2011 marked the longest period without a fatal airliner accident in modern aviation history. This record period now stands at 80 days and counting (by January 1).” – Aviation Safety Network