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

Quote for today… “This is not a new problem. But the media latched onto the idea of ‘secret lists’ and suddenly it exploded. Instead of buying into the hysteria and finger pointing, we should be addressing root problems.” – Rick Weidman, executive director of government affairs at Vietnam Veterans of America, in this Mother Jones article about the VA’s problems that says, “The Bush administration was aware of the backlogs and secret waiting lists but failed to fix the problem.”

• Blood in the water: Where were the political sharks (Toomey, Pitts, et al) then? Partisan politics is sickening and solves nothing … but it does keep getting them elected and re-elected.

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• The National Incident Management System calls for the drafting and use of the After Action Report (AAR) following critical incidents and exercises; a statement on page 16 of the NIMS document says, “It is essential that plans address training and exercising and allow for the incorporation of after-action reviews, lessons learned, and corrective actions, with responsibility agreements following any major incident or exercise.” AAR’s are “reports that summarize and analyze performance in both exercises and actual events. The reports for exercises may also evaluate achievement of the selected exercise objectives and demonstration of the overall capabilities being exercised.”

• Click here or on the above graphic to download the Commonwealth’s AAR following the February winter storm we experienced. The report verifies PPL’s actions and really shows how well PPL prepared and executed during the critical incident. Also identified in the report is the “Sun Valley (sic) Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Columbia.” Most likely, this is the Susquehanna Valley Nursing and Rehabilitation Center.

• June is “Fight the Filthy Fly Month” according to a slew of Websites.
  

• Summit Street Properties snags another property: 741 Walnut Street -Summit Street Properties, you remember is affiliated with BHI Properties, already a mega property owner in Columbia with 37 rental holdings.

• Restaurant inspections in Lancaster County: Inspections help identify the restaurants that you want to steer clear of including places with a “repeat violations from previous inspections” and “The food facility does not maintain Food Employee Certification records.” Y-u-m-m-m! You just know the management of these places just don’t care about food safety; why would anyone go there? – Sunday News

• Restaurant inspections in York County: Don’t you hate it when the floor’s littered with “trash, food, dirt, dust and deceased insects“ – The York Dispatch

• A complete listing of all inspections at food serving facilities in Lancaster, York counties and the entire state, except those in Columbia, is available at the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture Website.