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

Quote for today… “”By all accounts, vacant properties are a curse. Just ask anyone who lives next to a drug den, a boarded-up fire trap or a trash-filled lot. But abandonment often seems beyond the control of local officials, and it rarely incites a sense of urgency beyond the neighbors on the block where it occurs.” – An extract from a Brookings Institution cited in this Harrisburg Patriot-News article: “Harrisburg strains to eliminate condemned buildings; residents simmer over fire hazards, nuisances.”

• Columbia Police Department news release includes this message: “THERE HAS BEEN AN INCREASE IN VANDALISIM IN THE BOROUGH TO VEHICLES.  SEVERAL PERSONS HAVE REPORTED TIRES SLASHED OR WINDOWS BROKEN IN THEIR VEHICLES OR HOMES.”

• If Snowden’s a traitor, what about the folks in the above Associated Press photo?

• More than a few Columbia properties are listed in Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office roster of the County Sheriff Sale Listing

• Gino’s, a restaurant chain initially begun by yesteryear Baltimore Colt greats Alan Ameche and Gino Marchetti, closed its only Pennsylvania location yesterday. – Philly.com

• Channel 21 weatherman jogger attacked by “a group of people” in Harrisburg – Harrisburg Patriot-News

Keep charged batteries in smoke detectors. PHOTO SOURCE: U.S. Fire Administration

• At last night’s council meeting, the mayor reminded everyone about the recent fatal fires in Lancaster and Harrisburg. He stressed the need to have smoke detectors throughout a residence. On Saturday, Columbia news, views & reviews published another reminder about the importance of having working smoke detectors. Councillor Mary Barninger and the mayor stated that smoke detectors are provided by the fire companies. The U.S. Fire Administration has great information here: “Learn About Smoke Alarms.” The mayor stated that landlords must have smoke detectors installed in rental properties in the borough. He cautioned, though, that owner-occupied structures with rental units are exempted from that ordinance, as a are owner-owned only properties. While there were smoke detectors in the Lancaster fire, it’s been reported that the batteries were inoperable.