2009-07-03 00:01:00
JEFF HAWKES
Sen. Arlen Specter in Lancaster on Wednesday said that being a Democrat "feels very comfortable."Specter had better realize his comfort level is beside the point.Since he switched parties at the end of April, what matters is whether Democrats are comfortable with Specter....
2009-07-03 00:01:00
TOM MURSE
Republican Charlie Smithgall has understood from the get-go he would be fighting an uphill battle against Rick Gray, the city's Democratic mayor, in a rematch of 2005's mayoral election."I am absolutely an underdog," he said.But th......
2009-07-02 10:07:00
TOM KNAPP
Municipalities that don't have their own police departments soon may be asked to pick up the cost of state police coverage.A measure to impose fees on those municipalities — about 20 percent of those in Pennsylvania, including several townships in Lancaster County — passed ......
2009-07-02 10:01:00
BERNARD HARRIS
When political candidates announce they are running for office, they often hold a press conference in which they are backed by a crowd of family and friends.When former Lancaster Mayor Charlie Smithgall said last Friday that he would challenge current Mayor Rick Gray, he stood alone outsid......
2009-07-02 00:19:00
TOM MURSE
The decades-long effort to open a federal courthouse in Lancaster has taken perhaps its biggest step forward: President Barack Obama is allocating $27 million for the project in his budget proposal for 2010."This is the first time we've gotten this far," U.S. Sen. Arlen Spect......
2009-07-02 00:11:00
TOM MURSE
U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter came to town Wednesday morning to talk about the $5 million in federal stimulus money going to Red Rose Transit Authority. ...
2009-07-01 00:05:00
TOM MURSE
Now that the deadline to pass a state budget has come and gone and there's no prospect of an agreement anytime soon, you might be wondering: What makes this year different?It is true that the Legislature and Gov. Ed Rendell haven't been able to approve a spending plan before July 1......
2009-06-30 00:06:00
TOM MURSE
Forget midnight.In fact, some Harrisburg insiders say, forget July.The disparate factions warring over next year's state budget are still miles apart, which means reaching an accord before the constitutional July 1 deadline — or even over the next several weeks — is ......
2009-06-30 00:01:00
TOM MURSE
Wesley A. Snyder was able to keep his $29 million mortgage brokering scam hush-hush, for a time, by withholding crucial information — namely account statements — from his clients.Such a practice soon will be illegal.Gov. Ed Rendell on Monday signed into law a measure tha......
2009-06-27 00:41:00
BRIAN WALLACE
Lancaster city residents appear split on whether Charlie Smithgall's decision to run against Mayor Rick Gray in the fall election is a good idea.In a sampling of patrons at Friday's Celebrate Lancaster! festivities downtown, five people said they don't support Smithgall, and fo......
2009-06-25 01:01:00
JEFF HAWKES
With inner-city Fulton Elementary School as his backdrop, Gov. Ed Rendell defended his call for higher state taxes as a "moral obligation" to children.Noting that Republican lawmakers have drawn a line in the sand against a tax increase, the governor drew his own line.&quo......
2009-06-24 00:32:00
DAVE PIDGEON
Mayors of five Pennsylvania cities — Lancaster, York, Reading, Easton and Bethlehem — announced Tuesday they've formed a coalition to meet the challenge of paying for municipal government.The cities had been the subject of a study earlier this year by the Pennsylvania Econo......
2009-06-24 00:24:00
BRIAN WALLACE
Gov. Ed Rendell issued a simple warning Tuesday to Republican lawmakers who want to slash millions in public school funding from next year's state budget: "Don't mess with education."Education is too important to the state's future to fall victim to cost-cutting in th......
2009-06-18 00:01:00
Budget battles in Pennsylvania are rarely collegial. Rather than working to bridge the gap between revenue and expenditures, the two parties tend to migrate to their own aisles and throw barbs at each other.Faced with the largest deficit in state history, lawmakers this year have reverted ......
2009-06-17 01:02:00
DAVE PIDGEON
An income-tax increase proposed Tuesday by Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell probably won't pass, state lawmakers said Tuesday.But as Democrats and Republicans look to slash spending in ways that will have consequences for local governments, most people will probably end up paying higher taxe......
2009-06-16 00:19:00
DAVE PIDGEON
The Joe Pitts-Lois Herr rivalry has become a trilogy.The Federal Elections Commission confirmed Monday that Democrat Lois Herr filed paperwork to make her third run at unseating Pitts, the venerable Republican congressman from the 16th District who first took office in 1997.Should P......
2009-06-10 01:13:00
DAVE PIDGEON
A local Republican and the Democratic governor will hold dueling press conferences today to lay out ideas about how to jumpstart the housing industry and the general economy.State Rep. John Bear, a Lititz Republican, will go first at 10 a.m. from the steps of the state Capitol. He will int......
2009-06-10 00:31:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
I just checked the Weather Channel on TV. I wanted to make sure hell hadn't frozen over.The reason I suspected this might have occurred is that I find myself agreeing with a letter to the editor written by fellow Ephratian Anna Mae Ressler. I know Anna Mae and, politically, we don'......
2009-05-29 10:40:00
PAUL FRANZ and GIL SMART
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2009-05-28 00:36:00
P.J. REILLY
Lancaster County commissioners are listening to the chatter in Harrisburg about the state's 2009-10 budget.What they're hearing has them worried."The goal of Senate Bill 850 is no tax increases, and I think that notion is a fallacy," Commissioner Craig Lehman said.......
2009-05-22 00:01:00
The Berlin Wall fell, but for years thereafter American Cold Warriors were mocked for not giving up on the old fight they seemed to have grown to love.Well, Obama's in the White House, but some Democrats appear to be stuck on the past like a fading "01-20-09" label on a Prius......
2009-05-22 10:45:00
PAUL FRANZ and GIL SMART
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2009-05-20 20:08:00
LARRY ALEXANDER and P.J. REILLY
Correction — In a tight primary race in Manheim Township, incumbent commissioner Rick Casselbury polled 101 votes more than the next nearest candidate, James M. Martin. The wrong number was included in the article below, posted on LancasterO......
2009-05-20 17:41:00
JENNIFER TODD and BRIAN WALLACE
Correction — Timothy Craven, who is running for Ephrata Area school board, will appear on the November ballot as a Democratic candidate. The article below, posted on LancasterOnline Wednesday, contained inaccurate information about his statu......
2009-05-20 03:44:00
DAVE PIDGEON
Tuesday turned into happy hour for those who wanted to overturn a prohibition on alcohol sales in West Lampeter Township.Because residents voting in a referendum chose to reverse the township's 74-year-old ban on alcohol sales, major changes are likely in store for Willow Valley Resort......
2009-05-20 03:06:00
TOM KNAPP and MICHAEL YODER
C. Chuck Mummert, an Elizabethtown Borough councilman for the past four years, handily snatched the vacant mayor's seat away from political newcomer Donald Keller in one of six Republican face-offs for mayoral slots in Lancaster County.Mummert, a salesman for a home-re......
2009-05-19 01:14:00
JEFF HAWKES
As President Barack Obama puts health care reform on the front burner, at least one observer thinks the White House has learned from mistakes that doomed the Clinton administration's efforts.In a talk to a Lancaster audience, Andrew Webber, head of the National Business Coalition on He......
2009-05-19 01:01:00
DAVE PIDGEON
Rick Gray could stay inside his North Prince Street home. But he won't.Gray has no opponent today in the Democratic primary, but that doesn't mean the incumbent Lancaster city mayor won't be putting shoe leather to pavement."I'm just going to go around to the pr......
2009-05-19 00:01:00
It would be encouraging to report that today's primary election was attracting lots of attention. We would like to tell you that voters here are just as interested in municipal and judicial elections as they are in voting for president. We would like to see more than 60 percent of eligible voters......
2009-05-14 00:19:00
BRIAN WALLACE
Voters will head to the polls Tuesday to decide which school board candidates get to run for office in the November general election.While the outcome of the primary is far from certain, it's clear the fall ballot will feature plenty of new faces.Thirty-two seats are contested i......
2009-05-13 01:21:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
What's happening to Lancaster County?First we had "unrepentant terrorist" William Ayers at Millersville University spreading his radical philosophies on how to improve inner city schools.Then Richard Wolff, a professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts Am......
2009-05-13 00:33:00
BRIAN WALLACE
The five candidates for four seats on the School District of Lancaster board shared their views Tuesday night on everything from school board protocol and parental involvement to phonics, early education and Everyday Math.Real-estate agent Nick Jabbour of 427 Rabbit Hill Lane, attorney Ric......
2009-05-12 00:01:00
Most would agree that Pennsylvania's state police are very good at what they do. They patrol highways, arrest bad guys, break up drug rings and respond when called.But as well-trained as they are, they cannot be in two places at the same time.Yet, they are being asked to do more......
2009-05-09 01:18:00
BRIAN WALLACE
The five candidates running for four seats on the School District of Lancaster board in the May 19 primary will participate in a candidates' forum Tuesday at Fulton Elementary School.The forum, scheduled from 6:30 to 8 p.m., was organized by district parents John Moore, a member of the......
2009-05-04 11:13:00
RYAN ROBINSON
Some Southern Lancaster County Republicans are crying foul over a Democrat filling a previously GOP-held township supervisor position. Little Britain Township Supervisors voted 3-1 at a special meeting Thursday night to appoint Democrat Curtis Jones to replace Dave Eller, who died suddenly Apri......
2009-05-04 00:02:00
DAVE PIDGEON
He glided with broad shoulders through downtown Lancaster during the Fall of 2008 as if he'd come back to the city block where he grew up. One of the most recognizable Republicans anywhere, he mingled with shop owners and competed in a good-spirited jabfest......
2009-04-30 00:48:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
Local politicians and medical professionals are not high on a proposal coming out of Harrisburg.State Rep. Mark Cohen, a Democrat representing Philadelphia County, has introduced a bill that would permit the use of marijuana for medical purposes."As time goes on, citizens and g......
2009-04-30 00:32:00
DAVE PIDGEON
Republican Matt Holden announced Wednesday an unusual measure in his bid to win a seat on Lancaster City Council — he's trying to nab one of four Democratic nominations as well as one from the GOP.Holden, the only GOP candidate in the race, said Wednesday he's urging Democrat......
2009-04-30 00:28:00
MICHAEL YODER
State Sen. Mike Brubaker's initiative to provide oversight of the spending of billions of dollars from the federal stimulus program passed its first hurdle Tuesday.Senate Bill 6, which was unanimously approved by the State Government Committee, would create a bipartisan commission to p......
2009-04-30 00:23:00
BRIAN WALLACE
State Rep. Mike Sturla has introduced legislation that would revamp Pennsylvania's special-education funding formula.The Lancaster city Democrat is co-sponsoring House Bill 704, which would replace the current funding formula with one based on the 2007 "costing-out" study com......
2009-04-30 16:30:00
PAUL FRANZ and GIL SMART
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2009-04-29 11:00:00
TOM MURSE
U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter's defection to the Democratic Party achieved what many thought impossible. It united the Republican Party. At least for a few minutes. Conservatives and moderates alike — including many who have bemoaned the GOP's rightward shift and seeming lack ......
2009-04-29 01:16:00
DAVE PIDGEON
Intrigue and disappointment ran deep in Lancaster County's political circles Tuesday in the wake of U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter's switch from 44-year Republican to the state's newest Democrat.The centrist Specter announced Tuesday in Washington, D.C., that he would run for re-elect......
2009-04-29 00:01:00
He voted for the death penalty, for permanent tax breaks, for a federal "flat tax," against gun-control measures including a ban on assault weapons and against the Employee Free Choice Act. He entered the 1996 presidential primary because, he said, President Bill Clinton was neglecting ......
2009-04-28 12:32:00
STAFF and WIRE REPORTS
Veteran U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, facing what would have been the political fight of his life in 2010's Republican primary, announced today he is switching parties to become a Democrat. The 79-year-old, five-term Pennsylvania lawmaker said in a statement announcing the switch: "I am ......
2009-04-28 01:21:00
JEFF HAWKES
The sky might be falling on Sen. Arlen Specter.The latest poll has the five-term Republican incumbent down by 21 points to right-wing challenger Pat Toomey.The same poll shows that nearly 60 percent of Republicans are less likely to vote for Specter because he crossed party lines to......
2009-04-24 14:00:00
PAUL FRANZ and GIL SMART
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2009-04-23 00:01:00
DAVE PIDGEON
A bill approved Tuesday by the state House on Tuesday would add more stringent requirements for landscape architects to acquire a license to practice in Pennsylvania.The bill would mandate anyone wishing to obtain a landscape architecture license pass an exam and take 24 total hours of con......
2009-04-21 10:57:00
TOM MURSE
Lancaster County has purged nearly 13,000 inactive, deceased or relocated voters from its rolls ahead of this year's municipal primary, shrinking the gain made by Democrats before the hot 2009 presidential contest. Still, the biennial cleaning of voter rolls left intact an important if symb......
2009-04-16 01:26:00
BRETT HAMBRIGHT
Mayor Rick Gray and police Chief Keith Sadler joined Gov. Ed Rendell on Wednesday in a plea to Congress to reinstate a ban on assault weapons like the one used recently to kill three Pittsburgh police officers. ...
2009-04-16 01:02:00
MICHAEL YODER
The rally cry of a frustrated public weary of more taxes and larger government arose across the nation Wednesday, all the way from Lancaster, Calif., to Lancaster, Pa.More than 400 people braved a steady downpour of cold rain Wednesday afternoon to attend the Lancaster Tea Party in Musser ......
2009-04-14 01:06:00
JEFF HAWKES
First-term County Commissioner Scott Martin railed against Somali pirates last night in an address to a joint session of Congress."Lawlessness on the high seas cannot stand," Martin said in a 96-minute prime-time address interrupted 17 times by applauding members of Congress and ......
2009-04-09 00:56:00
P.J. REILLY
Democratic Lancaster County Commissioner Craig Lehman on Wednesday accused his Republican colleagues of "pandering and trying to score political points" and of attempting to "divide this board" through a resolution targeting the proposed Employee Free Choice Act of 2009....
2009-04-07 00:01:00
Sen. Stevens was victim of prosecutorial misconduct, but doesn't merit reinstatement•••Let's get one thing straight at the start.The Justice Department — the Republican Justice Department of the Bush administration ......
2009-04-03 01:02:00
P.J. REILLY
Republican Lancaster County commissioners Dennis Stuckey and Scott Martin see the proposed Employee Free Choice Act of 2009 as a threat to workers' "fundamental right" to vote on unionizing by secret ballot.Democratic Commissioner Craig Lehman disagrees."This act ......
2009-04-02 01:28:00
DAVE PIDGEON
The state Senate overwhelmingly passed a bill Tuesday that would bar illegal immigrants from accessing public benefits such as Medicaid.But the bill's future is in doubt as it moves to the Democrat-dominated state House, and Gov. Ed Rendell has signaled his displeasure with it.T......
2009-04-01 00:36:00
DAVE PIDGEON
Republican state Sen. Mike Brubaker said Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell's attempts to bring accountability to how federal stimulus funds are spent don't go far enough.Rendell announced Tuesday the creation of a bipartisan Pennsylvania Stimulus Oversight Commission, charged with reviewi......
2009-03-18 01:09:00
DAVE PIDGEON
Republican state Sen. Mike Brubaker has joined with other GOP lawmakers in calling for legislative involvement in determining how federal stimulus funds will be spent in Pennsylvania.On Tuesday, Brubaker introduced in the state Senate a bill that would create a nine-member bipartisan commi......
2009-03-17 00:01:00
State Sen. Vince Fumo, once the most powerful senator in Harrisburg, is now a convicted felon.Monday, a jury of 10 women and two men found Fumo and aide Ruth Arnao guilty on all counts of defrauding the state Senate, a nonprofit and a museum of more than $3.5 million, as well as destroying......
2009-03-16 13:21:00
MARYCLAIRE DALE, Associated Press Writer
Vincent Fumo, once one of the most powerful figures in Pennsylvania politics, was convicted today of more than 130 counts of corruption for schemes that defrauded the state Senate and others of more than $3.5 million and helped pay for his lavish lifestyle. The 65-year-old former state senator ......
2009-03-13 11:00:00
PAUL FRANZ
Sunday News columnist Gil Smart on the recent spate of Rick Santelli-inspired tea parties. In Harrisburg last Saturday, a crowd of about 1,000 gathered on the western steps of the state Capitol to protest President Obama's stimulus plan. ...
2009-03-13 00:39:00
MICHAEL YODER
Sam Rohrer senses average Americans have grave concerns about rapid and aggressive changes coming from the federal government.The state representative from Berks County said that, as a result of that concern, a growing number of his constituents are calling on legislators to re-examine the......
2009-03-13 00:29:00
BRIAN WALLACE
Four newcomers will be replacing four incumbents on the School District of Lancaster board at the end of the year.Incumbent board members Jackie McCain, Nenita Miller, Patrick Snyder and Marta Howell are not seeking re-election.Five SDL board candidates, including two attorneys, are......
2009-03-09 00:01:00
DAVE PIDGEON
The ship has struck rocks and is taking on water before it even sails out of harbor.Gov. Ed Rendell's proposal to have a commission study the viability of merging the state's 501 school districts into 100 regional territories had all the makings of a long-term Democratic Party plat......
2009-03-07 00:43:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
Despite the efforts of seven Lancaster County state legislators, William Ayers' March 19 lecture at Millersville University will go on as scheduled.The seven Republicans — Reps. Scott W. Boyd, John Bear, Tom Creighton, Bryan Cutler, Gordon Denlinger, David Hickernell and Katie Tr......
2009-03-07 00:01:00
U.S. Rep. Joe Pitts took to the floor of the House of Representatives the other day to decry President Barack Obama's proposed budget.This, of course, came as no surprise. Pitts, a solid conservative Republican, so far has found little to like about the plans and programs of the new De......
2009-03-05 01:09:00
DAVE PIDGEON
Long derided as pork or praised as investment in community and economic development, a taxpayer-funded program may vanish from the state budget for the next fiscal year.Last month when Gov. Ed Rendell proposed cutting 101 programs out of his budget, he included on the list the Community Re......
2009-03-04 02:13:00
DAVE PIDGEON
Life is transitioning from tragedy to advocacy for 22-year-old Jacy Good.Good is in the midst of restructuring her life after a May 2008 car crash that took the life of both her parents and left her in a temporary coma.Starting next week, she'll try to sway state legislators to ......
2009-02-25 11:25:00
CINDY STAUFFER
The nurse, the manufacturing manager, the physical therapy assistant and the floor installer all had hope today. Hope that President Barack Obama will be successful in reviving the national economy. Hope that his ideas and plans will make life better for Americans. Hope that he will be able to ......
2009-02-25 00:50:00
DAVE PIDGEON
Republican U.S. Rep. Joe Pitts said Tuesday night he favored much of President Barack Obama's first speech to a joint session of Congress, in which the Illinois Democrat laid out much of his first-term agenda. ...
2009-02-24 22:07:00
JOHN FRIEL
A political initiative begun in anger is moving forward seeking harmony.At Blue Ball Fire Hall Thursday night, Elanco School District residents met six citizens who each want one of four school board seats available in this year's election. About 30 people attended the event, sponsored......
2009-02-23 00:01:00
DAVE PIDGEON
Any organization with a $2.3 billion budget hole is going to desperately seek new revenue sources.And there's new interest in Harrisburg for charging municipalities that depend on state police coverage a fee.The state House Appropriations Committee held a hearing Thursday on the......
2009-02-21 00:01:00
Democrats in the U.S. Senate made a mistake when they bowed to racial power politics and voted to confirm Roland Burris to the Senate seat vacated by President Barack Obama.Now it's time for Burris to step down on his own.From the moment of his appointment by disgraced former Il......
2009-02-18 00:17:00
DAVE PIDGEON
He's a stocky former sheriff raised on an Ephrata-area farm who turned his career toward finance.Now Craig Ebersole is the new chairman of Lancaster County Republican Committee.Ebersole, currently in the middle of his second four-year term as Lancaster County treasurer, defeated......
2009-02-17 00:33:00
PATRICK BURNS
Elanco Taxpayer Alliance members believe the ball is squarely in their court following their successful skirmish last year with the Eastern Lancaster County school board.The citizens' group has now formed a political action committee.Alliance founder Tim Shay said the PAC will w......
2009-02-15 00:16:00
PAUL FRANZ
City Democrats spoke in agreement Saturday morning, as they unanimously endorsed Rick Gray for a second term as mayor and backed four City Council candidates. "The party has been successful in the city," Gray said, citing a litany of issues, including stricter gun control, which the c......
2009-02-13 10:55:00
BERNARD HARRIS
Matthew Holden won't be traveling lightly as he goes door to door in Lancaster City. For the next nine months, Holden will carry the weight of Republican hopes. Holden, 24, is now — and is likely to remain — the sole Republican candidate running for office in the heavily-De......
2009-02-13 00:23:00
DAVE PIDGEON
If Lancaster City Republican Committee is destined to make a comeback in 2009, its hopes appear pinned to a youth movement.Matthew Holden, a 24-year-old insurance claims manager, became the first — and what appears to be the only — Republican to announce a bid for one of four o......
2009-02-12 00:01:00
DAVE PIDGEON
The moment Vice President Joe Biden strolled into the state Capitol's media center, the fortunes of the Obama administration's first legislative battle began looking more favorable.Just an hour earlier, as Biden with Gov. Ed Rendell walked over a crumbling Cumberland County bridge,......
2009-02-11 20:13:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
Correction — The institution where William Ayers, who will speak at Millersville University next month, teaches was misidentified in the article below, posted on LancasterOnline Wednesday. He is a professor at the University of Illinois at C......
2009-02-06 22:00:00
U.S. REP. JOE PITTS
I understand people may be frustrated with what they see as partisanship in Washington. The House passed a $1.2 trillion (when you include the interest on the borrowed money) "stimulus" plan this week. I, along with all of my Republican colleagues in the House, opposed the bill. Let me ......
2009-02-06 00:23:00
DAVE PIDGEON
House Democrats rolled back a few reforms that grew out of the 2005 pay-raise controversy Wednesday night, an action that drew little notice as Gov. Ed Rendell's proposed budget dominated media discussions."Now, unfortunately, because of these rules before us, it's a step back......
2009-02-05 00:36:00
P.J. REILLY
Gov. Ed Rendell slipped a surprise proposal into his budget speech Wednesday that would give counties the ability to impose their own sales tax.He suggested that counties be allowed to tack on a sales tax of up to 1 percent on top of the state-imposed 6 percent sales tax in the name of doi......
2009-02-05 00:35:00
DAVE PIDGEON
Democrat Ed Rendell, the barrel-bodied governor with the husky voice and knack for rhetorical persuasion, inspires both support and distrust among legislators from Lancaster County.Three of those local legislators will have prominent voices in how Rendell's recently proposed budget wil......
2009-02-04 00:22:00
DAVE PIDGEON
At some point recently, Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell considered how to plug a $2.3 billion chasm between costs and revenue when constructing his proposed 2009-10 state budget.While increasing personal income or sales tax rates must have seemed tempting, Rendell never gave it a thought, accor......
2009-02-02 00:31:00
DAVE PIDGEON
State Sen. Mike Brubaker is taking another crack at reforming the mortgage industry.Brubaker, a Warwick Township Republican, intends to reintroduce a pair of bills that together would protect whistle-blowers and prevent mortgage brokers from withholding key information from their customers......
2009-02-02 00:30:00
DAVE PIDGEON
Imagine this:You're watching evening television. It's September 2010. On your television screen, in high definition, comes a political advertisement.IMAGE: A husband and wife at a kitchen table. Their faces look concerned. They are perusing bills (could be mortgage, electric......
2009-01-28 00:26:00
DAVE PIDGEON
As of Tuesday evening, five members of the Lancaster County delegation had returned their 2009 pay raises to the state Treasury and two others had donated theirs to charity."People are getting laid off," said state state Rep. Scott Boyd, a West Lampeter Township Republican who ha......
2009-01-21 00:35:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
Tuesday night was a chance for Lancaster County Democrats to howl.More than 200 people, mostly Democrats with a smattering of Republicans, gathered at the Lancaster Elks post at 219 N. Duke St. to join, at least in spirit, the partying going on in Washington, D.C., to celebrate the inaugur......
2009-01-17 00:24:00
CINDY STAUFFER
Young Democrats president talks about inauguration, his group•••Tuesday, the fledgling Lancaster Young Democrats will send four buses filled with more than 200 people to President-elect Barack Obama's inauguration.In the 10 m......
2009-01-15 21:11:00
DAVE PIDGEON
Correction — Guests of the Washington Plaza Hotel who purchased a two-night package through the Pennsylvania Democratic Party will receive a complimentary bottle of Rhapsody in Blue, produced by the Bainbridge-based Nissley Vineyards & W......
2009-01-15 02:02:00
LORI VAN INGEN
Lancaster County Council of Churches' second annual Unity Prayer Breakfast will honor and encourage elected officials as they begin a new year of service.The event, slated for Friday, will bring together leaders from the Democratic and Republican parties and the faith community "t......
2009-01-12 00:02:00
DAVE PIDGEON
She's the gregarious, boisterous lady in the candy-red hat seen at numerous Lancaster County Democratic functions.And she doesn't want to be known as the first female mayor elected in Mountville history who also failed to win re-election.She's Connie Guy."I&#......
2009-01-07 00:18:00
DAVE PIDGEON
Lancaster County's newest state senator on Tuesday decided to pick up where his predecessor left off.Shortly after taking the oath of office, State Sen. Lloyd Smucker introduced legislation to increase penalties for violations of the state's open government laws.Smucker, alo......
2009-01-06 00:22:00
DAVE PIDGEON
The story of 9-year-old Fayra Molina's journey from a crowded living room on East Lemon Street to expansive Washington, D.C., for Inauguration Day is the stuff of dreams.The towering monuments, the patriotic crowds — and President-elect Barack Obama taking the oath of office with......
2009-01-06 00:01:00
Remember those ads calling President-elect Barack Obama the "most liberal" presidential candidate in history?Well, let history record that if his Cabinet choices are a reflection of the way he hopes to govern, then the person the nation elected to office is a centrist, not a radi......
2009-01-01 00:02:00
DAVE PIDGEON
Pennsylvania's unemployment rate is rising, state tax revenue is lagging by $658 million and the 2009-10 state budget is facing a projected $1.6 billion deficit.Where else would two businessmen turned state senators want to be than on the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee, which......
2008-12-23 00:01:00
What is it about President-elect Barack Obama and ministers?First, it was the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, whose sermons on patriotism and race threatened to undo Obama's attempts to reach out to moderate and conservative Americans. It led, ultimately, to a very public divorce between Obama a......
2008-12-18 10:10:00
BERNARD HARRIS
Lancaster Mayor Rick Gray went into his first term saying he would govern as though he was not going to run for re-election. Now, he wants to lead the city for another four years. The 64-year-old Democrat stood outside his downtown home Wednesday afternoon and announced plans to seek a sec......
2008-12-18 00:52:00
DAVE PIDGEON
Rick Gray wants four more years.Gray, 64, ended weeks of speculation Wednesday afternoon by announcing in front of his North Prince Street home he will ask Lancaster city voters for another four-year term as mayor.If he is re-elected, City Hall would begin focusing on improving the ......
2008-12-17 00:01:00
In the wake of the November elections, the Republican Party has been doing some soul-searching. Should it move to the center or stay to the right? Should it recast itself? What does it need to become dominant again?Last week, a pair of Republicans who are leaders in their own camps said th......
2008-12-09 01:05:00
DAVE PIDGEON
Lancaster Mayor Rick Gray is about to graduate — Class of 2008, Electoral College.The goateed and always bow-tied Gray will be among 21 Pennsylvanians Monday who will cast Electoral College ballots, officially electing Democrat Barack Obama the 44th president of the United States....
2008-12-04 00:39:00
DAVE PIDGEON
The state Legislature's new session is still about a month away but Democrats and Republicans already are at odds as the two sides sparred Wednesday over an old topic — pay raises for legislators.The row began when House Democratic leaders announced Wednesday morning they would f......
2008-12-03 10:58:00
TOM MURSE
House Democratic leaders say they are voluntarily giving up this year's 2.8 percent pay hike in light of the faltering economy and the state's dire financial situation. And they are encouraging all rank and file in the 203-member House to pay back their own $2,151.35 raises — a......
2008-11-26 00:29:00
DAVE PIDGEON
The bespectacled and bow-tied Rick Gray slouched in his chair late Tuesday afternoon, and his eyes drooped toward a 43-page budget document resting on his lap.Gray, the mayor of Lancaster city, was in the middle of his third newspaper editorial board meeting in 24 hours about his proposed ......
2008-11-14 02:54:00
JON FERGUSON
James McMurtry used to steer clear of political songwriting.The Texan always figured that the surest way to ruin a perfectly good tune was to sharpen it to a fine polemic point."Most of them suck," McMurtry said of political songs during a telephone interview, "and th......
2008-11-13 00:53:00
DAVE PIDGEON
Politicians from Lancaster County remembered Lt. Gov. Catherine Baker Knoll on Wednesday night as a woman who smashed gender barriers yet treated even her toughest political opponents with respect.Knoll lost her four-month battle with cancer Wednesday at the age of 78, ending an accomplish......
2008-11-12 01:14:00
DAVE PIDGEON
In the aftermath of last week's election, a showdown for the top positions in the state House is brewing, and that could force Lancaster County-based legislators to make some tough choices.At stake are the most influential posts inside the chamber — house speaker and majority lea......
2008-11-11 01:03:00
MADELYN PENNINO
In the week since Barack Obama won the presidential election, Lancaster County gun dealers have seen a spike in business.Gun shop owners and managers here attribute the surge in gun purchases to the election of Obama, who has said while he respects Americans' Second Amendment right to ......
2008-11-09 00:22:00
HELEN COLWELL ADAMS
John McCain won Lancaster County on Tuesday with about 20,000 fewer votes than the winning margin for President Bush in 2004. And Barack Obama got about 20,000 more votes than Democrat John Kerry did in losing to Bush four years ago. Where did those 20,000 votes come from? Did Republi......
2008-11-09 00:20:00
GIL SMART, Associate Editor
Savor it: The first weekend in months without a single political commercial. Call it the calm after the storm, and it was a hurricane indeed. In the final month before the Nov. 4 election, the presidential campaigns of Barack Obama and John McCain combined to spend more than $3 million on adver......
2008-11-06 15:40:00
PAUL FRANZ and GIL SMART
Gil Smart hails the beginning of a post-racial era with the election of Barack Obama, and discusses some lingering questions about the lingering impact of Sarah Palin. ......
2008-11-06 01:10:00
DAVE PIDGEON
The buzz of clippers blended with the R&B bass groove on the stereo at Champ Hall's Barber Shop in Lancaster city Wednesday afternoon. Black youths silently sat in barber chairs and watched in the wall-length mirrors as stylists trimmed their hair and beards.For at least five month......
2008-11-05 11:00:00
CINDY STAUFFER
Sen. John McCain needed to win big in Lancaster County to help him win big in Pennsylvania. Neither happened, and Sen. Barack Obama won the presidential race Tuesday, sweeping into office on a message of change and hope in a country feeling battered by the economy and unhappy with the current R......
2008-11-05 03:13:00
DAVE PIDGEON
Nelson Polite suddenly stood, leaned forward and tried to peer through the crowd huddled in front of the television.NBC News at 10:58 p.m. declared Democrat Sen. Barack Obama the nation's first black president-elect.Polite, the venerable 85-year-old civil rights leader and Lanca......
2008-11-05 02:58:00
P.J. REILLY
Lancaster County voters said "no" to home rule in overwhelming numbers Tuesday.As a result, the county's form of government, which has remained relatively unchanged for the past 277 years, is preserved."It's done," said county Commissioner Scott Martin. &......
2008-11-05 02:44:00
MICHAEL YODER
Lloyd Smucker began Tuesday morning with a tickle in his throat: the beginnings of a cold. He still had his voice when he talked to voters in Manheim Township in the afternoon, but he could barely speak by the time he was savoring victory around midnight at Penn Cinema in Lititz.Smucker, a......
2008-11-05 02:31:00
JENNIFER TODD
While Democrats made considerable gains in Congress on Tuesday, U.S. Rep. Joe Pitts pulled off a solid GOP victory in the 16th District.Pitts, a Kennett Square Republican, said he was confident voters would consider his experience and responsible fiscal record and elect him to a seventh tw......
2008-11-05 02:10:00
TOM KNAPP
The desire for change that seemed to sweep the nation Tuesday appears to have left the 98th state House district alone.Republican incumbent Rep. Dave Hickernell easily defended his seat Tuesday, earning a fourth term from voters in northwestern Lancaster and eastern Dauphin counties....
2008-11-05 01:54:00
SUSAN E. LINDT
For a city steeped in diversity, we don't mix it up much here.Churches, neighborhoods and bars tend to be black, white, or Latino, gay or straight, old or young.But Tuesday night, Lancaster's Democratic headquarters was a sea of color charged with uncommon energy and unity....
2008-11-05 01:38:00
CARLA DI FONZO
As the Republican GOP gathering drew to a close Tuesday night, attendee Jennifer Davis sighed deeply."Wow, that election was like a marathon," the Lititz resident said, looking at her friends. "Is anybody else tired?"No one can say we didn't campaign hard. It......
2008-11-04 16:20:00
PAUL FRANZ and GIL SMART
Sunday News columnist Gil Smart comes to you with an election day special of "Smart Remarks" and discusses the potential impact of a massive Democratic victory tonight.
Click the "Video" tab to watch. ......
2008-11-04 00:05:00
DAVE PIDGEON
Election Day has finally arrived, and when it concludes, Lancaster County will learn if Democratic registration gains here have affected local, state and maybe even national races.Lancaster also will learn whether America will elect its first black president or give the nod to a Vietnam Wa......
2008-11-02 00:16:00
JEANNETTE SCOTT
Fayra Molina, of Lancaster, gave the Obama campaign 71 $9 money orders at a rally for the Democratic presidential candidate at Penn Square Saturday afternoon. Nine dollars because Molina is nine years old. But her first money order was $22 because she collected it April 22, the date of the......
2008-10-30 00:29:00
JENNIFER TODD
Rep. Joe Pitts knows that when voters head to the polls Tuesday, many will have change on their minds.But the Republican congressman said he is confident voters will consider his record and experience and elect him to a seventh term in the 16th District."They need someone in th......
2008-10-30 00:04:00
DAVE PIDGEON
Tennessee's former Sen. Fred Thompson stumped for Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain here on Wednesday, and Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey Jr. did the same for Democrat Sen. Barack Obama, the same day a new statewide voter survey showed Obama maintaining a solid lead.Thomp......
2008-10-29 01:14:00
DAVE PIDGEON
The Vietnam War veteran, dressed in a dark suit and blue tie, still stiff from wounds he received as a POW but nonetheless smiling, leaned into the microphone and told about 10,000 supporters inside the Giant Center he would win the presidential election come Tuesday."I'm not afra......
2008-10-27 00:05:00
DAVE PIDGEON
All right, Pennsylvania. Get ready for the political limelight.Whether or not it makes sense, Republican Sen. John McCain appears to be making a last stand in our state, essentially willing Pennsylvania into being his gateway to the White House.And Democratic Sen. Barack Obama has n......
2008-10-25 00:33:00
MADELYN PENNINO
Since an apparent act of vandalism at the GOP headquarters this week, all has been quiet.However, Lois Herr, the executive director of the county Democratic Committee, said people are calling Democratic headquarters daily to report signs being stolen from their property."I woul......
2008-10-24 01:41:00
MICHAEL YODER
Claudia Sciarretta supports Sen. Barack Obama in his run for president, and she's sick of receiving e-mails saying the Illinois Democrat is a Muslim and a socialist who hangs out with terrorists.So when she opened up a copy of a local advertising newspaper this week with a voters' ......
2008-10-24 01:28:00
DAVE PIDGEON
The Straight Talk Express bus pulled up to a Lancaster city curb beneath a building whose windows were decorated with campaign signs for Sen. Barack Obama."It's a 'We're Not Bitter' tour!" said former Gov. Tom Ridge, stepping off the bus to the welcome of a local ......
2008-10-23 02:20:00
DAVE PIDGEON
Who's winning the race for president depends on who's asking the question.A poll released by Franklin & Marshall College on Wednesday says Democrat Sen. Barack Obama is up 5 percent nationally over Republican Sen. John McCain among likely voters.But wait. An Associated P......
2008-10-22 01:29:00
DAVE PIDGEON
Republican Sen. John McCain attempted Tuesday to sow doubts about his Democratic opponent's readiness to handle a crisis by using the words of Sen. Joe Biden."This weekend, Sen. Biden guaranteed that if (Democrat Sen. Barack Obama) is elected, we will have an international crisis ......
2008-10-21 01:28:00
DAVE PIDGEON
Pennsylvania's secretary of state accused state Republicans on Monday of filing an "unwarranted" lawsuit against him and the community activist group ACORN to undermine the upcoming election.The state GOP filed the suit Friday, accusing ACORN of fostering voter registration f......
2008-10-19 00:21:00
PAULA WOLF
With the GOP ticket trailing in national and swing state polls as the general election draws near, Republican vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin urged a crowd of about 8,000 supporters Saturday who packed Clipper Magazine Stadium to help McCain-Palin pull off a comeback win. The Alaska gover......
2008-10-19 00:18:00
JON RUTTER
"Isn't She Lovely?" A handful of Sarah Palin detractors didn't see her that way Saturday morning. But legions of her fans did. They cheered loudly when the Republican vice presidential candidate took center stage in Clipper Magazine Stadium, Stevie Wonder's 19......
2008-10-19 00:16:00
PAUL FRANZ
"Sarah Palin is the attack dog, but she's distracting us from what we should be really focusing on," said David Cruz, who lives in Lancaster city. After the Palin rally ended Saturday afternoon, Cruz and about 25 others stood in front of Clipper Magazine Stadium to protest the Rep......
2008-10-18 01:03:00
MICHAEL YODER
As the sun cast long shadows on the infield of Clipper Magazine Stadium on Friday evening, more than a dozen workers set up steel barriers, a stage and a walkway stretching the entire length of the right-field line in preparation for a political powerhouse.This morning, Alaska Gov. Sarah P......
2008-10-17 01:03:00
DAVE PIDGEON
Joe the Plumber was the star of Republican Sen. John McCain's rally here Thursday.McCain, speaking to about 2,000 supporters inside a gymnasium, said small business owners like Ohioan Joe Wurzelbacher — whose videotaped sparring over taxes with Democrat Sen. Barack Obama thr......
2008-10-16 01:17:00
DAVE PIDGEON
The final presidential debate between Democrat Sen. Barack Obama and Republican Sen. John McCain may not have produced an obvious winner, except maybe a new icon for the American middle class: "Joe the plumber."That was the conclusion of several political observers from the regio......
2008-10-16 01:05:00
DAVE PIDGEON
A tidal wave of Republican politicos is bearing down on the region less than three weeks before the Nov. 4 election.Republican Sen. John McCain is scheduled to rally supporters in Downingtown around noon today, the second time in as many weeks that he has followed up a high-profile televis......
2008-10-15 01:11:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
A side effect of presidential elections is the proliferation of campaign signs decorating lawns.Invariably, some of those signs end up missing when supporters of one candidate take offense to such a visible show of support for the other side.Given the contentiousness of this year......
2008-10-15 01:00:00
DAVE PIDGEON
Republican Sen. John McCain told a GOP crowd in this Philadelphia suburb the nation's economic conditions require the "government to act," as the presidential hopeful unveiled a new $52.5 billion plan.The plan includes making unemployment benefits tax exempt, slashing capital......
2008-10-15 00:56:00
MICHAEL YODER
Educational issues took center stage Tuesday night at McCaskey High School in a debate between candidates for the 13th District state Senate seat.Lancaster Foundation for Educational Enrichment and Good Schools Pennsylvania hosted the forum with the three candidates seeking incumbent Sen. ......
2008-10-15 00:28:00
MADELYN PENNINO
U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter didn't mince words Tuesday when he talked to local college students about the recent Wall Street bailout or Republican vice presidential candidate Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's credentials to lead the country. ...
2008-10-14 00:16:00
DAVE PIDGEON
Former White House hopeful Sen. Hillary Clinton led 2,000 people in chants of "Jobs, baby, jobs!" during her second day stumping for Democrat Sen. Barack Obama in Pennsylvania.Her 30-minute speech to a modest crowd gathered in the pastoral setting of Graeme Park, the 18th-century......
2008-10-13 00:04:00
DAVE PIDGEON
The loud thud you heard coming from Harrisburg last week was the sound of Gov. Ed Rendell's second-term agenda hitting the floor of the state Senate.Whether it can stagger back to its feet remains in serious question.Senate Republicans — arguably the most influential polit......
2008-10-11 00:35:00
CHAD UMBLE
As an eighth-grader during the 2000 U.S. presidential campaign, Martine Elianor used a class presentation to make the case for Al Gore.While Gore failed in his presidential bid, Elianor got an "A" on the assignment, which she says jump-started her political interest."......
2008-10-09 01:46:00
DAVE PIDGEON
As Democrat Sen. Barack Obama pulled away in Pennsylvania polls, Republican Sen. John McCain tried to outflank him Wednesday on the housing crisis during a boisterous rally at Lehigh University.However, comments by one of the rally's speakers about Obama's middle name threatened to......
2008-10-09 01:30:00
P.J. REILLY
Passive electioneering will be allowed in all Lancaster County voting places Nov. 4.That means voters will be allowed to wear T-shirts, hats, buttons and other items promoting their favorite candidates and issues.But they can't do anything to "actively" call attention ......
2008-10-09 01:27:00
MICHAEL YODER
U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter said he has been noticing a sense of anger among Pennsylvanians over the $700 billion Wall Street bailout package approved by Congress last week.Speaking briefly to reporters outside the Hamilton Club on Wednesday morning after meeting with local GOP officials, Spec......
2008-10-08 02:34:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
If the campaign posters polluting our landscape and the empty promises polluting our airwaves didn't clue you in, I have news for you: It's Election Time.Even though I'm a registered Democrat — for many Lancaster County residents, that's on par with being a registered......
2008-10-08 02:14:00
DAVE PIDGEON
The verdict: Not a game changer.Local political observers said neither Democrat Sen. Barack Obama nor Republican Sen. John McCain emerged triumphant from Tuesday night's debate in Nashville, Tenn."Tonight would not be a game changer in my judgment," said Steve Peterson......
2008-10-07 01:58:00
DAVE PIDGEON
A comment Sen. Barack Obama made more than a year ago has emboldened America's enemies more than Osama bin Laden eluding capture for seven years, U.S. Rep. Joe Pitts said Monday.Republicans Pitts and Ryan Aument, Lancaster County Clerk of Courts and an Iraq war veteran, seized on somet......
2008-10-07 01:40:00
P.J. REILLY
It's been three years since city resident Eugene Freeman voted in an election.This year, he and his wife, Glenda, decided it was time he got back into the electoral game."I felt I need to now," the National Novelty Brush Co. employee said Monday afternoon. "The wa......
2008-10-06 11:45:00
TOM MURSE
The number of registered voters in Lancaster County surged by 20,000 in the past year, a dramatic 6½-percent jump fueled by the hotly contested Democratic primary and the race for president. With a 5 p.m. registration deadline looming today, the county said it had 322,595 voters — ......
2008-10-06 00:03:00
DAVE PIDGEON
Welcome back to the Nest, where we're tempted to crack open a cold one to mark just one more month to the Nov. 4 election.Tempted, but part of my code for living is not to celebrate until the job's done. We'll call that the "Thomas E. Dewey Rule." So the special brew ......
2008-10-05 00:17:00
PAULA WOLF
Gov. Kathleen Sebelius may not have been in Kansas anymore, but she seemed right at home Saturday speaking to a crowd of excited, and motivated, Democrats in Lancaster city's Binns Park. The two-term Kansas governor, representing the campaign of Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama,......
2008-10-03 18:45:00
TAYLOR BUNDY, 18, Freestyle
Everybody noticed the balloon arch first. As students filed into the room, their eyes wandered toward the red, white and blue display which stretched over the stage.Manheim Township High School seniors entered the school's Convocation Hall and took their seats before a stage strung wit......
2008-10-03 01:10:00
DAVE PIDGEON
U.S. Sen. Joe Biden accomplished his goals of taking Republican Sen. John McCain to task and defending Democrat Sen. Barack Obama, but Thursday night's debate belonged to Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, according to two Elizabethtown College pundits. ...
2008-10-02 00:26:00
LORI VAN INGEN
On Sunday, 33 pastors in 22 states defied the Internal Revenue Service's regulation against certain tax-exempt organizations endorsing political candidates on the grounds that it was their First Amendment right to speak freely about politics and moral issues.Local church officials, how......
2008-10-02 00:25:00
DAVE PIDGEON
Polls show a shift in voter sentiment away from Republican Sen. John McCain and toward Democrat Sen. Barack Obama, with one putting Obama up by 15 percentage points in Pennsylvania.What's of particular concern for Republicans, however, are the numbers 43 and 42.The first number ......
2008-10-01 00:29:00
MADELYN PENNINO
This year's presidential election is turning college students who were once apathetic about elections into activists with an urgent message for their peers: Get out and vote.Elizabethtown College senior Megan Hoffa said she didn't give a thought to politics until she heard Democrat......
2008-09-30 10:45:00
TOM MURSE
LANCASTER, PA — Of the more than 1,000 calls into U.S. Rep. Joe Pitts' office since Friday about the $700 billion bailout plan, about 950 were from people who, to paraphrase a bit, had this to say: "Do not let Wall Street's mistakes become our burden." Or, &......
2008-09-30 00:42:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
Stocks tumbled almost 778 points Monday, the largest point drop ever, fueled by Congress's rejection of a $700 billion bailout agreement.And while on Capitol Hill, Democrats and Republicans blamed each other, on the streets, taxpayers fretted over what the economic woes mean for them....
2008-09-30 00:29:00
DAVE PIDGEON
U.S. Rep. Joe Pitts said Monday afternoon Congress would pass a Wall Street bailout this week despite partisan bickering that helped lead to the downfall of a historic $700 billion proposal just hours earlier.And the Chester County Republican who represents Lancaster County pointed the fin......
2008-09-28 00:17:00
Helen Colwell Adams
Steve Williams just wanted to get a voter registration form for his son Jonathan. But while the Willow Street man was at county Democratic headquarters, he found that he had been purged from the rolls for missing a few elections. So the elder Williams filled out a form, too. He turned out ......
2008-09-27 01:11:00
LORI VAN INGEN
Local pundits believe the first presidential debate of 2008 ended in a tie, with each candidate scoring points."Both candidates had strong performances but interesting differences," said Adam B. Lawrence, assistant professor in Millersville University's department of governme......
2008-09-27 01:02:00
CARLA DI FONZO
Lancaster shoppers say there are better things to do with taxpayers' money. Some cite health care, the environment and education as more worthy causes.•••When Lancaster residents were asked to give their opinions about the $700 bill......
2008-09-26 00:29:00
JENNIFER TODD
Sen. Joe Biden was always the "leader of the pack," his younger sister said — not because he was a bully, but because he had a gift for inspiring people."He was always encouraging, always saying, 'Go ahead, just try it,' and other kids looked up to him for that......
2008-09-26 00:10:00
DAVE PIDGEON
Bruce Beardsley stood with a massive grin on his face Thursday as he reminisced about a time when local Democrats had a harder time feeling fervent about, well, being Democrats."I remember in the New Holland parade a few years ago," Beardsley said, referring to a time when local ......
2008-09-25 01:18:00
DAVE PIDGEON
Ideas on how to help the economy? Politicians with local and state ties have a few.Rep. Joe Pitts said Wednesday the way to help the struggling economy is not bailout legislation but extensive tax cuts.He proposed eliminating capital gains taxes "for a couple of years" plu......
2008-09-25 00:58:00
MICHAEL YODER
Tom Corbett says he takes comfort in the wisdom of Dr. Seuss.The Pennsylvania attorney general, speaking at Wednesday afternoon's meeting of the Rotary Club of Lancaster, said he still reads the Seuss book "Oh, the Places You'll Go!" for inspiration.A few lines fro......
2008-09-24 01:10:00
DAVE PIDGEON
Former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum told a radio show in January that a Sen. John McCain presidency would be "very, very dangerous for Republicans" because McCain often sided with Democrats on domestic issues.Santorum's perspective, however, has changed.During an interview ......
2008-09-20 00:55:00
DAVE PIDGEON
The presidential candidates are men, but women may determine who wins Pennsylvania's vital 21 electoral votes."Women are 53 percent of the vote; that's what the exit polls show," said G. Terry Madonna, director of the Franklin & Marshall College Center for Politics &a......
2008-09-18 07:07:00
CATHY MOLITORIS
You can't turn on the TV, log on to your computer or open a newspaper without seeing something about the upcoming presidential election. If you're too young to vote this time around, don't despair. Just head to Park City Center, noon to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, for the UR Vo......
2008-09-18 01:02:00
DAVE PIDGEON
Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama released a national television ad Tuesday highlighting a Pennsylvania factory that closed four years ago and blaming tax policies embraced by his opponent, Republican Sen. John McCain, for the job losses.The factory — Corning Inc.'......
2008-09-17 00:58:00
DAVE PIDGEON
Although Democratic vice presidential candidate Sen. Joe Biden has been campaigning in the media shadow cast by Sarah Palin, he asks Lancaster County residents to consider the Alaskan governor's accessibility to interviewers."The truth of the matter is we don't know what her r......
2008-09-17 00:37:00
P.J. REILLY
Lancaster County Commissioner Craig Lehman said Tuesday that his board should not be interfering with the work of the county's government study commission."On a personal note, I don't believe the board of commissioners should be the referee when it comes to the home-rule issue......
2008-09-15 00:22:00
DAVE PIDGEON
Pennsylvania's senior senator, Republican Arlen Specter, is in Lancaster this morning visiting Lancaster County Prison, and he plans to meet with not only prison officials and local law enforcement but prisoners as well.Why? Specter's leading the charge for a bill in the U.S. Senat......
2008-09-13 01:04:00
DAVE PIDGEON
The microphones have been turned off, the colorful signs stashed away and the stages torn down. Lancaster County's brief moment at the center of America's presidential campaign has passed.Yet the county remains a vital front in what could prove to be the battleground state......
2008-09-13 00:40:00
DAVID O’CONNOR
College campus brings challenges•••Maureen Kelly walked into the boardroom at Franklin & Marshall College, and looking back at her was a room full of college officials, students and others.She was interviewing for the post of......
2008-09-12 18:21:00
TAYLOR BUNDY, 18
I suppose you could say I was thankful. Or maybe not. Because you could also say I was anxious, expectedly nervous, exhausted, hopeful, determined, hungry, optimistic, exhausted, enlightened, competitive, celebratory, exhausted and thoughtful. Yes, most profoundly, I was thoughtful.As a na......
2008-09-10 01:26:00
DAVE PIDGEON
Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain brought his campaign to Franklin & Marshall College on Tuesday afternoon, promising a charged, sign-waving crowd of 7,000 that he's the real agent of change in this year's election. ...
2008-09-10 01:17:00
CARLA DI FONZO
To some people, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is a "rock star."Or at least, that's what some attendees of the "Road to Victory" rally at Franklin & Marshall College's Alumni Sports & Fitness Center on Harrisburg Pike said Tuesday afternoon."I was s......
2008-09-10 00:55:00
SUSAN E. LINDT
Only a handful of protesters appeared Tuesday afternoon at Franklin & Marshall College for the McCain/Palin rally, but they seemed to get under the skin of some fans waiting in lines thousands deep.Keystone Progress, a nonpartisan organization just six weeks old, protested Republican v......
2008-09-09 01:53:00
DAVE PIDGEON
Sen. John McCain and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin get their turn today.The Republican presidential and vice presidential nominees will spend most of the day in Lancaster County, culminating with a rally at Franklin & Marshall College this afternoon, just five days after Democratic nominee B......
2008-09-09 01:43:00
DAVE PIDGEON
Gov. Ed Rendell Monday summed up Sen. John McCain's campaign and the Republican National Convention last week with three words: "The Big Lie."Making his first remarks here since the GOP convention, Rendell convened a news conference Monday afternoon on the grass-and-concrete ......
2008-09-09 01:15:00
LORI VAN INGEN
Horns were sounding Monday evening in Penn Square in response to signs that encouraged drivers to honk if they wanted change.About 20 people, organized by Lancaster Coalition for Peace and Justice, held signs saying "Tax Credits for People, Not Big Business," "End Violence N......
2008-09-09 01:06:00
JENNIFER TODD
Eighteen months ago, the last thing on Dan Wagner's mind was the millions of people suffering from extreme poverty and disease in Africa.But after watching a simulcast in which U2 front man Bono spoke on behalf of the ONE Campaign, which seeks to promote international aid, the Franklin......
2008-09-08 00:08:00
JENNIFER TODD
Karin Cramer exited Republican headquarters Sunday afternoon with a smile on her face a mile wide.In her hand were two tickets to Tuesday's rally at Franklin & Marshall College for GOP presidential nominee Sen. John McCain. More importantly to her, they were tickets to see McCain&#......
2008-09-08 00:01:00
DAVE PIDGEON
Just when you thought it was safe to go back into Harrisburg's political waters, the Legislature is going back in session next week.For the House and Senate, Sept. 15 will mark the first time either chamber has convened since state Attorney General Tom Corbett charged an ex-lawmaker, a......
2008-09-05 11:12:00
TOM MURSE
Democrat Barack Obama used the idyllic setting of Lancaster's Buchanan Park to strike back at a week's worth of Republican attacks Thursday, calling presidential opponent John McCain and the GOP hopelessly out of touch with average Americans. The U.S. senator and presidential nominee......
2008-09-05 02:15:00
DAVE PIDGEON
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama fought back Thursday against Republican attacks during a rally under the shade of oak trees in Lancaster's Buchanan Park.As a crowd estimated at 15,000 and a horde of local, state and national media watched from the parched lawn of the cit......
2008-09-05 01:50:00
JENNIFER TODD
Suzanne Yoder can rattle off a term paper's worth of reasons why Sen. Barack Obama should be the next president of the United States.Not only does Obama have new and inspiring ideas, but more importantly, he also has a plan to see them through, the Franklin & Marshall College sopho......
2008-09-05 01:42:00
P.J. REILLY
Willow Street resident Ann Gerz is no fool.She baked in the hot sun for nearly two hours Thursday afternoon, waiting in line at Buchanan Park to get inside the secure area to see Barack Obama.But when Gerz realized it was almost 6 p.m. — an hour after Obama's scheduled arr......
2008-09-05 01:39:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
Thursday's visit to Lancaster city by Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama kicked local law-enforcement and emergency personnel into high gear — without much notice."We had basically a day to get organized," said Lancaster Mayor Rick Gray, who just return......
2008-09-05 01:36:00
SUSAN E. LINDT
It was just another steamy Thursday in Columbia's historic Market House — until the Secret Service surrounded the building and a presidential candidate dropped in.Sen. Barack Obama made an unscheduled stop at the market on his way to a rally at Buchanan Park.Within minutes......
2008-09-04 01:39:00
DAVE PIDGEON
On the day his Republican rival officially becomes the GOP standard-bearer, Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama will rally supporters on the lawn of Buchanan Park, his campaign confirmed Wednesday.Obama's visit comes at a time when the Illinois senator is trying to hold o......
2008-09-04 01:32:00
DAVE PIDGEON
Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain will make a campaign stop Tuesday on the campus of Franklin & Marshall College for a town hall meeting, several Republican sources told the Intelligencer Journal Wednesday.McCain will appear at the F&M Sports & Fitness Center, ac......
