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

Quote for today… “Pitts’ words assume that being poor is the result of a character defect and not the result of an unjust economic system that increasingly works against them. Poverty is not a choice.” – Gretchen Stark, letter to the editor in today’s Intelligencer Journal/Lancaster New Era criticizing Lancaster County’s seeming eternal representative in Congress, Joe Pitt$.

• Oh, joy it’s nearly 1:15 pm … just finished digging out and the latest weather report is “Snow, freezing rain, and sleet before 11pm, then a chance of snow. Low around 23. Blustery, with a northwest wind 17 to 22 mph, with gusts as high as 28 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. Little or no ice accumulation expected. New snow and sleet accumulation of 2 to 4 inches possible.“

• “Columbia Borough man charged with drug possession after months-long investigation, police say” – Harrisburg Patriot-News

• Daycare Warning in Columbia – craigslist

• “Long-erm unemployed have been ignored”: Krugman – Harrisburg Patriot-News

• This one of them | Just measured and seven inches outside at 7:51 am

• Reminder: Snow Emergency – Columbia Borough Website

• Do not look for snow emergency assistance at the Columbia Borough Police Department facebook page unless you are an insider.

• Gestapo-like practitioners embrace tactics like: “Hitler’s police state worked on the rule that if you said nothing, no harm, could come to you. If you had doubts about the way the country was going, you kept them to yourself – or paid the price.” – The History Learning Site

• Meanwhile … West Hempfield’s Police Department’s facebook page is giving information, and getting thank you’s from citizens for keeping them informed.

• Everything’s pretty much closed today! in Columbia, these are closed: Columbia / Lancaster / PA – Snow Emergency in Effect at 5 PM 2/12…… Thursday: Snow Emergency in Effect at 5 PM 2/1202/12/2014, 4:15pm. – Columbia Borough School District – Meals on Wheels – Columbia Public Library – Lancaster County Office of Aging – Senior Centers. Check the growing list of closings at WGAL.com

• York County’s closed up too – The York Dispatch

• Yeah, but! “While short letters, under 200 words, are preferred,” is stated in the “How to submit letters” statement at the letters to the editor page of the Intelligencer Journal/Lancaster New Era, two of the letters in today’s edition are over 400 words.

• Early TV giant, Sid Caesar, dies: “known for his physicality, improvisation, mimicry and his whimsical signature, the double-talk” – The Hollywood Reporter

• Comcast continues to gobble up competitors – Harrisburg Patriot-News

• In Marietta, mayor and council tussle over flood control project – LancasterOnLine