According to the National Center for Health Statistics, 36 million Americans (17%) have some degree of hearing loss, making it the third most common health issue facing Americans after heart disease and arthritis. But individuals with hearing loss and their family members often have trouble finding the resources they need to adjust to living with…
With the onset of an ever-increasing gas boom in our region, the weight of the impact is being considered by many of us with great concern over the future of our community as a whole. Living a stone’s throw from Rt. 664, I have had fi rsthand experience with the increased truck traffic and the…
Successful people and successful organizations set goals and make plans to achieve them. A Comprehensive Plan is focused on the future, encouraging people to think about what kind of community we really want and attempting to define a shared vision in terms of goals and objectives. We know tomorrow will be dramatically different from today.…
Are the Occupy movements starting to drift toward the classrooms? On November 17, several Pennsylvania College of Technology students “occupied” outside the Academic Success Center on Third Street, protesting against high tuition and demanding education equity. Like members of the Occupy Movement in New York, the Penn College students want to demonstrate that the movement’s…
The Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street are polar opposites in their political commitments and policy goals. The former articulates a militantly right-wing ideology with particular emphasis on reducing the size of government social programs. The latter, while much newer and still inchoate insofar as specific proposals are concerned, certainly stands for more robust regulation…
Zuccotti Park in Manhattan is named not for some obscure Italians revolutionary hero or an oddly shaped pasta, but for John Zuccotti, co-chair of the board of Brookfield Properties, the company that owns the land on which the park is situated. A former deputy mayor of New York City, he has an annual salary of…
The creative, cultural entrepreneurs and explorers who pioneered new lifestyles in dilapidated urban neighborhoods are identified as the “creative class,” a term coined by Richard Florida in his 2004 ground-breaking book The Rise of the Creative Class. Florida traces the fundamental theme that runs through a host of seemingly unrelated changes in American society: the…
There’s a famous quote I’ve heard numerous times, sometimes attributed to 18th-century politician and philosopher Edmund Burke, that goes something like this: All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. Recently, the nation has been captivated by an unbelievable tragedy that has been brought to light at Penn…
The Executive Director of AIDS Resource in Williamsport, Kirsten Burkhart, is a national HIV Hero! Kirsten won the honor in a nationwide contest to identify the heroes who help victims fight HIV in their communities every day. Winners were chosen by a panel of judges including Grammy Award-winning singer Dionne Warwick, actor Wilson Cruz, movie…
The YWCA of Northcentral PA has had a long history within the Williamsport community of providing unique services to the area. Founded in 1893, the YWCA began as a community-minded organization and has continued to adapt to the needs of Lycoming County for over 100 years. Today the organization has grown and developed into three…
On November 22, in Tunkhannock, Terry Engelder of Penn State University gave a PowerPoint presentation advocating forced pooling. Our regular contributor Ralph Kisberg presented the following counterpoint to Engelder’s presentation. On the surface, no pun intended, compulsory pooling flies against the instincts of most of us. My property, my rock, my gas, my consent or…
State grants given to build Kohl’s department store in downtown Williamsport: $5 millionRetail jobs at Williamsport Kohl’s: 130Personal pay “earned” by NY hedge fund profiteer John Paulson last year by suckering investors & betting that the U.S. real estate market would collapse: $5 billionNumber of high-paying jobs John Paulson claimed to have created: 100Loan guarantee…
Dear Editor: For the past three months I had the privilege of serving on the Citizens Marcellus Shale Commission, which hosted five hearings across Pennsylvania to give citizens a voice on Marcellus Shale gas drilling. More than 400 citizens attended and dozens testified, eager to have their voices heard. Last week, the Commission released its…
To all concerned citizens: As a Pennsylvania resident, business owner and employer of 75, I have very serious concerns about the pace of the development of Hydraulic Fracturing in Pennsylvania. As a property owner in Sullivan County, PA, I have firsthand knowledge of the Gas Industry and the high pressure tactics that the energy companies…
Ever since Steve Jobs died, I’ve been thinking about my heroes. Steve Jobs changed my life by thinking differently. In the mid 80s I walked into a computer shop with my fiancé. We were two kids in our early 20s who looked as if we didn’t have two dimes to rub together, so no one…
Have you ever wondered whether you’re a cynic or a romantic? If so, I have an hour and a half quiz for you. It’s a new critically acclaimed film called Like Crazy. I always assumed I was a romantic, at least when it came to my taste in movies. My list of all-time favorite films…
In part one of this interview, I focused on the artistic side of Williamsport Sun-Gazette Arts and Entertainment Editor Matt Parrish. The second part of my conversation with him focuses on other areas of interest in his professional and personal life. WG: How do you combine your writing with your art? How do they flow…
MISPLACED GRATITUDE
The plaque just inside the front door of Penn College’s spectacular Madigan Library contains this message to former State Representative Brett Feese: “Your tenacity, skill and leadership provided the resources necessary for our dream to become a reality. We will be forever grateful.” Now that a jury has determined that Rep. Feese employed that same…
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