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

Quote for today… and all of a sudden, it seems, September is almost gone – “The crickets still sing in October. And lilly, she’s trying to bloom. Tho she’s resting her head on the shoulder of death, she still shines by the light of the moon.” – Kevin Dalton

• Media sources have been flooded with news about the dearth of affordable housing in Lancaster County. Today’s LNP – Always Lancaster‘s Perspective section leads with three separate viewpoints about housing: “Lancaster County lags state in affordable housing, new study shows“ –  “Solving this problem is key to economic growth” –  “Let’s remove obstacles in path of homebuyers here” – as well as an editorial entitled “Building the housing our community needs.”

• Columbia’s direction of “landlorditis” continues, though as all the deeds transaction listed in today’s newspaper involve landlord acquisitions. Prime Home Investments, LLC, 1525 Oregon Pike, Suite 2001 Lancaster LANCASTER PA 17601 – created 10/02/2014 and B & E Operations, LLC, 126 Buck Hill Road Kinzers LANCASTER PA 17535 – created 09/29/2014acquired properties, ostensibly as rentals. Prime Investments, LLC’s Website states, “Prime Home Investments is focused on finding great properties in the central PA area, and turning them into beautiful rentals and homes to fit the budgets and desires of a wide range of retail and investment customers.”

• POLICE LOG: Among the listings from lots of county municipalities and juristictions in today’s LNP – Always Lancaster, there are reports about a Columbia person being cited in Mount Joy Borough for driving under the influence of drugs; a Salunga man for stealing merchandise valued at #2.12 and a Conestoga Township report about two men charged with stealing lead ingots and trying to sell them at a local scrap yard. No reports listed from Columbia Borough’s Police Department, however.

• “USA TODAY Opinion has launched Policing the USA, a website designed to foster an ongoing discussion about law enforcement in America. This ongoing multimedia project includes analyses and reader responses solicited about police brutality, police deaths and police incidents in America. The project includes a video contest, interactive data and commentary.”

• Restaurant Inspections – In York County – The York Dispatch

• In Lancaster County – Schools and churches, too, get inspected and have violations. –  Lancaster Online.

• A complete listing of all inspections at food serving facilities in Lancaster, York counties and the entire state, except those in Columbia, are listed at the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture Website. “Inspections are a “snapshot” of the day and time of the inspection. Also, at the time of the inspection, violations are recorded but are often corrected on the spot prior to the inspector leaving the facility. Inspection results are posted as inspections are conducted, and only represent eating and drinking establishments and retail food establishments that fall under the inspection jurisdiction of the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, and those county and local health departments which have elected to post results.”

• Of course, if you’re trying to see the results of any food serving establishment in Columbia, you’re out of luck – Columbia’s codes folks choose not to share that information, if it exists, unless a right-to-know request is submitted.

• Here’s one area of consistency in the inconsistent practices of the borough’s codes department: the folks operating it don’t follow the rest of the state – they use their own inspection forms and formats and they don’t share the results of the “inspections” with anyone unless you pay for them!

• Head on over to Stover’s; think there’s another winning ticket there?

• No, really? “Water contaminated in Pa. after chemical spill at drilling site” – PennLive