17512 Columbia

today’s news … Tuesday, January 3, 2012

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

Quote for today… “Bad officials are elected by good citizens who do not vote.” – George Jean Nathan

  • PennDOT TRAVEL RELEASE – 1/3/2012 – Westbound Route 30 to be Restricted on Wednesday to a Single Lane on Wrights Ferry Bridge over Susquehanna River – Westbound Route 30 on the Wrights Ferry Bridge over the Susquehanna River between York and Lancaster Counties will be reduced to one lane on Wednesday, January 4, so that the contractor can repair potholes and bridge joints to improve safety for motorists driving over the bridge. The westbound single-lane restriction will take place during the daytime hours between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m., weather permitting. PennDOT has contracted with Swank Associated Companies, Inc. of New Kensington, Pennsylvania, to conduct the rehab project of the Route 30 bridge at a cost of $9,348,528. The rehab project, also referred to as a bridge preservation project, includes the replacement of the metal bridge joints (called expansion dams) in the bridge deck, repairs to the structural steel that has experienced rust and deterioration, concrete deck repair, painting of some of the metal parts of the bridge, and the application of a latex modified concrete wearing surface to seal the deck from water penetration. This work should help extend the life of the bridge another 20 to 25 years. The eastbound direction of the bridge was addressed last year; the westbound direction will be addressed after the winter Season this year. The overall project is scheduled for completion in late November 2012.
  • And who does not want their taxes prepared by a crook in or out of jail? Know who your tax preparer is. – “Hundreds of prison inmates have found new careers behind bars — by registering with the IRS as income tax preparers. A total of 331 inmates were serving prison terms when they got active or provisional tax preparer tax identification numbers from the IRS, according to an audit issued Thursday by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration.” – Federal Times
  • You can help! Volunteers are needed to help “The Columbia Lions Club, Sunsnappers organization and the Foresters Club of Columbia  as they sponsor their third annual holiday meal delivery for senior citizens on Sunday, Jan. 8.” – MyColumbiaNews
  • Susquehanna cuts jobs – “About 75 Lancaster County (Susquehanna Bank) employees are expected to lose their jobs when Susquehanna Bancshares Inc. and Tower Bancorp Inc. merge next month.” – Lancaster Intelligencer Journal/New Era
  • Fans wanting to keep tabs on Andrew Nicholas and Austin Tillotson may want to click on the Monmouth University schedule – looks like the closest game (in distance from here) for local fans will be against Mt. Saint Mary’s at Emmitsburg, MD on February 18.
  • Lancaster’s FOCM announces contest – “Lancaster’s Central Market has 66 stands offering items as varied as Thai spring rolls, falafel, Burgundy wine turkey sausage and Amish chow-chow. But members of the group Friends of Central Market believe that most people really don’t know all that the nation’s oldest continually operated public farm market has to offer. Beginning Tuesday, the friends are sponsoring a contest to change that.” – Lancaster Intelligencer Journal/New Era
  • Another “displeased with Creighton and his ilk” letter writer – Lancaster Intelligencer Journal/New Era
  • POLICE LOG: “MANHEIM TWP.: A Columbia woman reported that a diaper bag containing various personal items was stolen from her shopping cart while she was at Walmart, 2030 Fruitville Pike, Sunday afternoon, Manheim Township police said. The loss is $740.” – Lancaster Intelligenger Journal/New Era
  • Columbia news, views & reviews readers who responded to the survey question are somewhat in agreement with those who answered the same questions about the economy as those in Money magazine’s: 6% said “bounce back strongly”; 22% said “grow enough to spur jobs”; 29% said “stagnate” and 43% said “slip back into recession.”
  • LEGAL NOTICE, published in the Lancaster Intelligencer Journal/New Era, January 3, 2012 – “The regularly scheduled meeting of the West Hempfield Township Zoning Hearing Board will be held on Tuesday, January 10, 2012 at 7:30 PM in the West Hempfield Township Municipal Building located at 3401 Marietta Avenue, Lancaster, PA to hear the following cases: 1. Case 1141 – Teng Fei USA, LLC, 3000 Foxlair Drive, Apt 302, Woodridge, VA for a Special Exception to Section 705.2.C to convert vacant market space to three apartments; Special Exception to Section 705.2.C to allow Kendig Fitness to occupy space on first floor; and variance to allow seven existing apartments by amending approval of Case 464 of March 24, 1990 all on property they own located at 4499 Miller Drive, zoned R-2. Daryl S. Peck, Secretary West Hempfield Township Zoning Hearing Board.
  • OPINION: There’s a small article of interest in this morning’s York Daily Record: “York, PA – The Susquehanna Pfaltzgraff Corp. has bought the home of the Lafayette Club at 59 E. Market St. in York for $277,500.” We find it interesting that this once-proud, once locally-owned York company, which shed so many jobs and wrecked so many peoples’ lives in the “cost-cutting moves” in the past several years, can come up with the capital to buy this “gathering place for the “über-class” as it (the clubhouse) has fallen on hard times.
  • Kinda’ cool mind exercise from yesterday’s York Daily Record‘s Website – “Can you find the 12 matching snowflakes in the wintry scene that match the one shown below?”

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