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… “The reality is that economic success in America is not purely meritocratic. It helps if you have the right parents. Those born into rich or poor families have a high probability of remaining rich or poor as adults.” –Brookings Institution’s Center on Children and Families.

• Today is the Autumnal Equinox

• Adequate Yearly Progress reporting just released: under requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind Law, districts and schools are required to meet specific AYP targets, such as student performance and participation on the math and reading exams, including students who are classified into certain demographic subgroups, and a school’s attendance or graduation rate. The AYP student performance target for the 2011-12 school year was 78 percent for math and 81 percent for reading, compared to 67 percent and 72 percent, respectively, in 2010-11. Click here to see the report for Columbia Borough School District. – PA Department of Education Website

• Hit the trails on Family Hiking Day – York Daily Record and Appalachian Trail Conservancy
  

• “Saints get past Tide” – Reading Eagle and “Berks Catholic crushes Columbia” – LancasterOnLine
  

• Wreck it and they will come: “Pastor Vernal E. Simms Sr. wasn’t sure whether to expect 10 people or 100 at a community meeting he hosted Thursday night to talk about problems in Middletown. People vented and gave ideas for a number of issues.” – Harrisburg Patriot-News

• “Pending home sales in Lancaster County surged 17.4 percent in August, a new report shows. The upturn marks the 11th consecutive monthly increase, the Lancaster County Association of Realtors said.” – Lancaster Intelligencer Journal/New Era

• “A panel discussion on “The 2012 Presidential Election: Money, Ideology and Personality,” will be held Thursday at 11:30 a.m. at Franklin & Marshall College’s Mayser Gymnasium. Panelists will be Robert Friedrich, associate professor of government at F&M; G. Terry Madonna, director of F&M’s Center for Politics and Public Affairs and professor of public affairs; and Stephen Medvic, associate professor of government at F&M.” – Lancaster Intelligencer Journal/New Era

• POLICE LOG: “MARIETTA: Joseph D. Melton, 25, 419 E. Market St., was charged Thursday after he struck a male juvenile in the face on Aug. 14 at 44 W. Market St., causing a minor injury. – EAST HEMPFIELD TWP.: A $450 handgun was taken from an unlocked vehicle at Sheetz, 3103 Columbia Ave., Sept. 14. – EAST HEMPFIELD TWP.: Officers on patrol at 12:30 a.m. Sept. 13 saw a white pickup truck loaded with large metal objects and other items exit Brubaker Inc. in the 1200 block of Rohrerstown Road, township police said. They pulled over the truck and discovered the items had been taken from Brubaker Inc. Police said they will file charges of theft by unlawful taking, criminal conspiracy and criminal trespass against the truck’s occupants, Travis James Wallace, 18, of Wasp Street, Marietta, and Colby Daniel Border, 21, of Amosite Road, Bainbridge. Value of the items was $250.” – Lancaster Intelligencer Journal/New Era