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

Quote for today … “Ahhh … let’s not do what every american family on earth does and look to cut where we’re spending on crap. Noooooo….” – Commenter ericdroge following this LNP – Always Lancaster article. BECAUSE SCHOOLS AND GOVERNMENTS, ERIC, JUST HAVE TO KEEP ON SPENDING. IT’S LIKE OWNING AN ELEPHANT, THE BIGGER IT GETS THE MORE IT WANTS TO EAT. ESPECIALLY ELEPHANTS!!!!!

• Using the Website to communicate: “The Columbia Borough School District is operating under a two hour delay on Friday March 6th.“ Hempfield is on “on a 2 hour delay with modified kindergarten” tomorrow too.

• Snow Emergencies declared in Lancaster – Wrightsville – Lititz CSMO (close shop move out) and Mount Joy – NOTE: Rumors aside, no mention of snow emergency in Columbia. According to WGAL, the Borough of Columbia will be closed tomorrow (Friday) while there’s no mention of that at the Borough Website. This was posted at WGAL at 6:13 pm.

• Just read that one weather shaman, wizard, prognosticator, predictor, huckster, charlatan, jester, meteorologist (pick a descriptive) changed his snowfall “guesstimate” – Reckon he must have looked outside. Gawd what a way to make a living!

COUNTY ADMIN AND COURT OFFICES ARE NOW CLOSED according to the Website: Due to inclement weather, all County Administration and Court Offices are closed Thursday, 3/5/15.

The Columbia Borough School District is closed today due to weather.

Hempfield, too!

“With the winter weather upon us, residents are reminded to consult local TV Stations, the Borough Web Site, The Police Department Facebook Page, Borough Email blasts, and other media in the event of a significant snowfall for information on Snow Emergencies and Parking Restrictions. If a Snow Emergency is declared, any parking restrictions will be strictly enforced.” – Columbia Borough Website

“Please do not shovel snow into the street or put items out to save parking spaces.” – Columbia Borough Police Department facebook page [posted on February 22, 2015]

Click on the above graphic; it’s a nightmare for emergency responders.

• Well, Golle-e-e, turns out the recent revelation is a DA’s initiative not a Columbia-inspired one: “West Hempfield Township Police announce that they will be joining CrimewatchUS network in the near future. With seed money received through the Lancaster County District Attorney’s Office, we along with about a dozen other police departments will be getting a website hosted by Crimewatch US. This will be more of a business only site and more formal then our FB site. We will be able to link the sites so that any information that we post on CrimewatchUS will be pushed out to our facebook site. They will also assist us in setting up a twitter account which will recieve updates from our CrimewatchUS location. lastly, there is an iphone app for this as will. Site should be functional by the end of April.” – West Hempfield Police Department Police Department

• “Reading suspends issuing of tickets for those who don’t clear sidewalks of snow” – The Reading Eagle

• Housing sales booming for big money housing – Bloomberg View

• Could it happen here? Are there trains carrying crude oil on the tracks? Then it could happen here.

• HOW ABOUT ANOTHER FIERY DERAILMENT IN ILLINOIS EARLIER TODAY? – The Chicago Tribune

• Jerks. Why the hell can’t people watch from afar. No wonder the bald eagles move away from people. – PennLive

• Not as shocking or unimaginable as imagined, but more so! The racism of Ferguson: report cites “racist e-mails written by Ferguson police and municipal court officials. A November 2008 e-mail, for instance, stated that President Obama could not be president for very long because ‘what black man holds a steady job for four years.’ Another e-mail described Obama as a chimpanzee. An e-mail from 2011 showed a photo of a bare chested group of dancing women apparently in Africa with the caption, ‘Michelle Obama’s High School Reunion.’” – The Washington Post

• Columbia’s sidewalk snow-clearing guidance: “We prioritize enforcement of the business district, safe routes to school, pavements along state roads and complaint-driven properties for obvious reasons.” – LNP – Always Lancaster

Read the Census Bureau’s report: Public Education Finances – 2012