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…“A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.” – Winston Churchill

• NO PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING TONIGHT! There’s a sign posted on the inner door at the borough hall … if you’ve got good eyesight, you may be able to see that. And that, dear citizens, is your “less-than-official”notification.
• “Spring Grove school board members got their first look at proposed changes to the district’s (46-student) marching band program, and they call for eliminating five positions at a savings of about $6,400.The changes would take place next school year and are in response to the board’s continuing questioning of the number of paid staff members working with the marching band.The band has 18 paid staff members, the bulk of whom receive stipends of between $1,200 and $1,400. Stipends range from $400 for individuals who work at band camp for two weeks in the summer to $3,500 for directors.” – York Dispatch
• What happens when nations resort to austerity measures (or take away benefits) – “Romania anti-austerity protest turns violent” – Al Jazeera
• ??? – On Saturday, someone called to let us know that the Creamery at the Turkey Hill Experience was closed. On Sunday, a drive by the THE confirmed that it was closed and there were no signs in the windows.  A google search of “turkey hill experience creamery” produced this. Guess we’ll have to wait and see what’s up. Wonder if there’s a connection with this Planning Commission note from the November meeting: “PIZZA DELIVERY SERVICE – Helm announced ‘he is in continuing discussions with a new tenant’ at eastern most condo at the Turkey Hill Experience. It ‘looks like its going to pizza … .'”
  
• What? $antorum’$ charity not $0 charitable. ” … the foundation spent most of its money to run itself, including hundreds of thousands of dollars in fees for fundraising, administration and office rental paid to Santorum’s political allies.” – The Washington Post
• “After PA School District Goes Broke, Incredible Teachers Agree to Keep Teaching Without Pay” – alternet.org
• Detz, Blount and Mathias named to university dean’s lists – Lancaster Intelligencer Journal/New Era
  
• There but for the grace of God … . This article from Bloomberg News, “White-Collar Workers Join Crowd Straining Food Banks,” is telling.
• If you did not watch the CSPAN production “Symposium on Poverty in America” this week, here is the link to the 2 1/2 hour panel discussion held at George Washington University. Poverty is real; read more in this Indiana University white paper: At Risk: America’s Poor During and After the Great Recession.
• ” … unless you have been shot at by the Taliban, shut your mouth, war is hell.” Those are the words used in an email from Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.), a former Army lieutenant colonel as he commented on the current controversy surrounding US Marines in a video. – The Weekly Standard
• “The state has cleared Ephrata School District following an investigation of irregularities in its students’ standardized test scores, but the Department of Education is still looking into abnormalities in testing results at three School District of Lancaster schools.” – Lancaster Intelligencer Journal/New Era