2012-01-30 08:50:00
RYAN ROBINSON
No one was hurt when a gas leak prompted the evacuation of much of a Lancaster city block Sunday night, a fire official said.
The leak was reported near 406 S. Lime St. at 7:20 p.m., city fire bureau Capt. David Longenecker said.
Some residents said they started smelling gas Frida......
2012-01-19 23:08:00
BERNARD HARRIS
The executive director of the Lancaster County Convention Center Authority on Thursday publicly proposed an increase in the county's hotel room tax.
Kevin Molloy, whose position has not been adopted by the board of the public authority, said he raised the specter of a higher tax to start ......
2012-01-12 23:12:00
BERNARD HARRIS
Three years ago, extensive exterior renovations returned Thaddeus Stevens' home and law office to the appearance "the Great Commoner" would have recognized before he died in 1868.
Recently, another artifact Stevens would have recognized was recovered just down the street.
The "Swa......
2012-01-02 13:55:00
TOM MURSE
A Quarryville man has been charged with running over a pedestrian while drunk, then fleeing the scene as the victim lay unconscious on the ground late Thursday night.
Dustin J. Lewis, 26, of South Lime Street in the borough, turned himself in to police the next morning and was charged wit......
2011-12-17 22:35:00
SUZANNE CASSIDY
Tiffiani Butler is a busy mom whose work as a bartender requires that she keeps a close eye on everything that is happening before her, so that nothing gets past her.
So when she recently took her 6-year-old daughter, Aryana, to see Santa Claus at the Lancaster Marriott at Penn Square, sh......
2011-12-13 23:04:00
CHAD UMBLE
ForknSpoon Café has opened at 126 N. Prince St., reviving a small downtown restaurant location.
Owner Jennifer Thompson oversaw some $90,000 in renovations to a spot that had formerly housed La Casa Bella.
The work included putting in new kitchen equipment and flooring, pai......
2011-12-09 22:18:00
BERNARD HARRIS
When proponents of a downtown convention center unveiled their plans in 1999, they projected 200,000 visitors would come to the city and county annually for events at the facility.
What they didn't project was the center opening in the longest, toughest economic downturn in nearly a centu......
2011-12-09 20:32:00
DAVID O'CONNOR
When all the votes were counted, one union leader walked into the crowded lobby of the Heritage Hotel on Friday afternoon and made an announcement:
"We're going back to work!" he said, as a few dozen workers from Marietta's Armstrong World Industries ceiling plant cheered. "And we're glad......
2011-12-06 13:37:00
TIM MEKEEL
The nearly five-month lockout at the Marietta ceiling plant of Armstrong World Industries might come to an end Friday.
Negotiators for the firm and the union representing the 260 locked-out workers have reached a tentative agreement on a new contract.
Armstrong announced the tenta......
2011-11-21 22:13:00
JENNIFER TODD
Four people are facing charges after a large fight broke out early Sunday at the Hotel Brunswick.
Officers responding to 151 N. Queen St. shortly after 2 a.m. encountered about 200 people in the hotel's lobby and a conference room, Lancaster city police said.
Many of the people, p......
2011-11-21 21:53:00
JIMMY PIANKA
The Christmas tree in Penn Square is decorated.
Workers were out taking care of that on Monday, a prelude to the kickoff of the holiday season in downtown Lancaster.
That celebration will begin Friday night, with the Mayor's Tree Lighting and Tuba Christmas.
The evening wi......
2011-11-10 23:14:00
STEPHEN KOPFINGER
Correction Nov. 11, 2011 — James Futty is a co-owner of The Fridge. His name was omitted in an earlier version of the story below.
•••
You won't find le......
2011-11-04 23:17:00
BERNARD HARRIS
The revitalization of Lancaster city has caught the attention of developers in the Mid-Atlantic region interested in getting in on the action.
But, all too often, they can't make the numbers work, said Lisa Riggs, executive director of the James Street Improvement District.
Riggs,......
2011-11-04 22:50:00
DAVID O'CONNOR
In his youth, Robert Egger dreamed of running an upscale establishment along the lines of Rick's Café Américain, made famous by Humphrey Bogart in "Casablanca."
Instead, the 53-year-old Egger, of Washington, D.C., has made a name for himself in another way.
In 1989, ......
2011-11-01 22:33:00
BERNARD HARRIS
Over the summer, Charlie Smithgall raised more than twice as much money for his Lancaster City Council campaign as his three Democratic opponents combined.
And, with a week to go before the election, Smithgall is sitting on a war chest with five times as much money as his opponents.
......
2011-10-27 23:01:00
BERNARD HARRIS
The Lancaster County Convention Center is projected to lose $1.3 million next year.
And, that's a good thing.
The public meeting center was always projected to operate at a loss. The annual question is always the amount of the loss.
Proponents maintain the benefit of the c......
2011-10-27 15:31:00
LAURA KNOWLES
In its more than 235 years as a tavern, the place now known as Reflections has had many reincarnations.
Early on, it was a wayside inn where weary wagon train travelers stopped for a night's rest. In 1935, Obie Miller purchased the hotel from the Wacker Brewing Co. Eventually, it evolved ......
2011-10-24 23:21:00
DAN NEPHIN
The United States holds the keys to energy independence, but the country is largely stymied by a federal government that acts at cross-purposes, according to Shell Oil's former president.
Politicians put their interests ahead of the country's and the government simply has too many entitie......
2011-10-21 23:03:00
DAVID O'CONNOR
Matt Bupp had a slight smile as he looked at the expanse of green before him.
The area is being refurbished (and has a ways to go), but in the near future it could be the entranceway and courtyard for Bupp's proposed Mill Complex in Manheim Township.
"We've had a lot of various pr......
2011-10-20 15:07:00
BY JACK ROBERTS and ALEJANDRO RIOS
Once again it's time to rock and roll with Rios and Roberts, the two guys who keep you up to date on the local music scene.
• Ah, there's good news today.
McCleary's Public House in Marietta is back up and running after being flooded last month with something besides beer and......
2011-10-16 21:12:00
DAN NEPHIN
Five weeks after Tropical Storm Lee, its impact is still being felt.
Residents displaced from their homes still are waiting to return, infrastructure that was seriously damaged still hasn't been returned to form and people still are in need of help.
The good news is that many have......
2011-10-06 15:05:00
JANE HOLAHAN
Vivian Abel, of the Town and Country Garden Club, knows October might not be the most traditional time to be putting on a flower show.
"The growing season is pretty much over, so it's harder to come up with various things to showcase," she says. "But it's a beautiful and colorful time of ......
2011-10-01 11:32:00
TIM MEKEEL, Business Editor
One city hotel's description of "deluxe accommodations" is getting one item longer. At the Lancaster Arts Hotel, it soon will include a place where guests can charge their electric cars. The 300 Harrisburg Ave. property, known for its original works of art and historic setting, will be ......
2011-09-30 20:55:00
TIM MEKEEL, Business Editor
One city hotel's description of "deluxe accommodations" is getting one item longer. At the Lancaster Arts Hotel, it soon will include a place where guests can charge their electric cars. The 300 Harrisburg Ave. property, known for its original works of art and historic setting, will be ......
2011-09-28 22:31:00
BERNARD HARRIS
Six years ago, the Lancaster County Convention Center was still being argued over and the arts were just beginning to make their impact felt in the city's downtown.
Now, downtown streets are packed with people every First Friday, gallery and restaurant openings have become almost commonpl......
2011-09-08 15:04:00
BY JACK ROBERTS and ALEJANDRO RIOS
Once again it's time to rock and roll with Rios and Roberts, the two guys who keep you up to date on the local music scene.
We've got the blues.
And that's a good thing, right?
• The Blues Society of Central Pennsylvania thinks it is. And we say "Right on!"
Th......
2011-09-06 19:50:00
CHAD UMBLE
Correction Sept. 8, 2011 — The story below included the wrong hours for The Fridge. The hours are 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday to Thursday, 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday, noon to 6 p.m. Sunday
...
2011-09-02 23:36:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
Large groups of rowdy and "disorderly children" led Lancaster city police to clear Penn Square late Friday night, a police sergeant said.
"We've been dealing with boisterous groups of kids going back and forth causing problems," Lancaster police Sgt. Philip Berkheiser said. "Some are havi......
2011-08-26 22:33:00
TIM MEKEEL
The third time was not the charm.
Negotiators for Armstrong World Industries and its Marietta ceiling plant's unionized workforce briefly resumed bargaining Friday.
But the 75 minutes of bargaining — the third round since Armstrong locked out the 260 workers July 17 — ......
2011-08-25 23:25:00
BERNARD HARRIS
The Lancaster County Convention Center Authority board voted unanimously Thursday to refinance $63.9 million in debt.
The move comes near the end of a five-year bond indenture agreement on construction bonds used to finance the Penn Square meeting center.
The $177.6 million combin......
2011-08-11 21:11:00
TIM MEKEEL
Talking but not progressing.
Negotiators for Armstrong World Industries and its locked out Marietta workers returned to the bargaining table Thursday.
But the five-hour session ended with nothing to show for their time.
"The union continues to present unrealistic proposals......
2011-08-11 13:06:00
CINDY STAUFFER
Lancaster city police used a stun gun to subdue a 16-year-old who was carrying a revolver in his waistband, one of two arrests of teens carrying guns early Thursday.
The incidents happened in the 500 block of Poplar Street and at the Hotel Brunswick, 151 N. Queen St.
In the Poplar......
2011-08-11 15:14:00
CINDY STAUFFER
La policía de la ciudad utilizó una pistola paralizante para someter a un adolescente de 16 años de edad, llevaba un revólver en la cintura, en una de dos detenciones de adolescentes con armas de fuego la madrugada de hoy.
Los incidentes ocurrieron en la cuadra......
2011-08-08 20:39:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
It's the sole survivor of Ephrata's 19th-century crown jewel, the Mountain Springs Hotel, and it's getting a new lease on life.
The 200-year-old mansion, once the home of Joseph Konigmaker, who built and operated the popular 1800s resort, is undergoing a massive internal upgrade.
......
2011-08-08 20:38:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
It's the sole survivor of Ephrata's 19th-century crown jewel, the Mountain Springs Hotel, and it's getting a new lease on life.
The 200-year-old mansion, once the home of Joseph Konigmaker, who built and operated the popular 1800s resort, is undergoing a massive internal upgrade.
......
2011-07-28 15:13:00
BY JACK ROBERTS and ALEJANDRO RIOS
Once again it's time to rock and roll with Rios and Roberts, the two guys who keep you up to date on the local music scene.
• Get out of town!
Dave Wilson is, anyway.
The jazz saxophonist is taking his Dave Wilson Quartet -- Baltimore's Bob Butta on piano, Philly's To......
2011-07-19 14:19:00
TOM MURSE
Former owners and operators of the Lancaster Host Resort & Conference Center have agreed to pay $675,000 to a predominantly black church to settle claims that it denied parishioners rooms because of their race, court records show.
Fine Hotels Corp. and two related firms denied allegat......
2011-07-18 23:55:00
TOM KNAPP
Christmas came early to Rock Ford this year.
The venerable plantation, home of Revolutionary War General Edward Hand, is mugging for photographers Tuesday for the Christmas edition of Early American Life magazine.
As the mercury rocketed into the mid-90s Monday and Lancaster Count......
2011-07-14 15:38:00
Staff
Concerned about what school budget cuts have done to the arts -- and the students who are interested in them -- local artist Tom Hermansader is offering free art instruction for anyone "age 6 through senior citizens."
The instruction, with the theme "Draw and Paint Historic Columbia 2011,......
2011-07-07 15:46:00
STEPHEN KOPFINGER
There's been a change name at Frank's Place, but not to worry, there's no change to the menu.
Well, OK, there is, and it's pleasing one. They've added more stuff. Which is appropriate, given Frank's new title.
The family-friendly restaurant at 454 New Holland Pike, smack by the La......
2011-07-05 17:30:00
CLAUDIA W. ESBENSHADE
Before you jump on the "skinny drink" bandwagon, you might want to read the ingredients of these lower-calorie cocktails.
The skinny drink trend has caught on over the past year with the help of Bethenny Frankel of Bravo fame. Frankel launched into limited distribution of her Skinnygirl M......
2011-07-01 22:59:00
RYAN ROBINSON and CINDY STAUFFER
An early morning explosion Friday leveled a carwash just south of Lancaster, and the blast woke up people two miles away.
The preliminary estimate of damage in Engleside was $1.5 million, according to West Lampeter Township police.
The blast at 3:30 a.m. blew apart the carwash at ......
2011-05-19 20:07:00
NICOLE HERMAN
A concert fundraiser for Diane Grabowski, who is battling an aggressive type of cancer, will be held Sunday.
The Cancer Kickin' Concert will be held at the Magnuson Hotel at 2250 Lincoln Highway East. The concert, brimming with local talent, will begin at 3 p.m. and continue until 7......
2011-05-19 14:38:00
JANE HOLAHAN
Peter Sculthorpe came to live in the Philadelphia area when he was 14. It was a big move from Canada for the teenager, and a tough one.
But he found his artistic home when he started taking bike trips through the Brandywine Valley.
"I discovered it pretty quickly and everything st......
2011-05-06 22:59:00
BERNARD HARRIS
Under federal pressure to stop sewage overflows into the Conestoga River, and ultimately the Chesapeake Bay, Lancaster city officials have been formulating plans to keep stormwater from ever reaching the sewer system.
Last week, state officials announced funding to put the first of those ......
2011-04-29 21:42:00
TIM MEKEEL
Back in eighth grade at Ephrata Middle School, Joseph D. Wirbick and his classmates took a field trip to Boston.
Wirbick, struck by the city's impressive downtown buildings, commented to a teacher that one day he'd have office buildings of his own.
Now he's under way.
Wirb......
2011-04-24 19:37:00
STAFF
Summaries of local news stories from the pages of the Intelligencer Journal and Lancaster New Era appear in this space each Monday. They are researched and compiled by staff member Tim Buckwalter. Full versions are available on microfilm at the Lancaster Public Library, 125 N. Duke St....
2011-04-18 23:22:00
BERNARD HARRIS
A pair of downtown Lancaster structures could be demolished and replaced by a new restaurant and office building under a proposal presented to the city's Historical Commission on Monday.
High Associates, owner of 14 and 16 E. King St., has proposed razing the existing structures and erect......
2011-04-08 14:22:00
BERNARD HARRIS
Philadelphia Eagles running back LeSean "Shady" McCoy came from humble beginnings in Harrisburg.
But he followed his dream of playing professional football through Bishop McDevitt and at the University of Pittsburgh before being selected by the Eagles in the second round of the 2009 draft......
2011-04-07 23:34:00
BERNARD HARRIS
Oliver Cromwell Kelly and his companions didn't have a lot of information to work with when they reached Lancaster County in 1848.
Kelly, who was later known as O.C. Gilbert, and his companions dropped to their knees after crossing the Susquehanna River, thinking they had reached Canada....
2011-03-31 16:50:00
RAY GRUNNERT
"There is probably more creative jazz in New York City on any given night than in most European countries in many, many weeks and months." So says the newest edition of "The Penguin Jazz Guide: the History of the Music in the 1001 Best Albums."
After 20 years of cranking out a definitive ......
2011-03-15 23:07:00
BERNARD HARRIS
Marie Breneman recalls fondly the times she spent quilting with her mother.
They would spend hours together stitching, with her mother telling stories of her childhood.
"It was just a wonderful experience to sit there and visit with her and quilt with her," Breneman, 61, of Willow......
2011-02-28 17:51:00
CLAUDIA W. ESBENSHADE
Doodling can say a lot about a person. Some people do it mindlessly, others do it with thought and purpose.
This is evident from the scrapbook displayed in the lobby of the Lancaster Arts Hotel, 300 Harrisburg Pike.
Last month, the hotel management began to encourage its guests to......
2011-02-22 21:38:00
RYAN ROBINSON
A Maryland man was caught with illegal drugs and then damaged his cell at Lancaster city police headquarters, police said.
Police were called to Hotel Brunswick, 151 N. Queen St., for a disturbance in progress at 1 a.m. on Sunday.
At that time, police said, they found Donald Eugen......
2011-02-14 17:57:00
CLAUDIA W. ESBENSHADE
It's a memory that many daughters and fathers share. The memory usually entails a young daughter balanced with her toes on her father's slick dress shoes while they spin around a dance floor at a wedding, in a family living room or at a park while listening to music.
"It is a memory that ......
2011-02-13 00:06:00
GIL SMART, Associate Editor
Revenues from the county's two hotel-room taxes rose last year to their highest level since 2007, presenting the second-highest totals on record, according to figures from the Office of the County Treasurer. But the taxes, enacted in 2000, continue to generate significantly le......
2011-02-04 09:33:00
CINDY STAUFFER
Traffic was rerouted around Penn Square for about 15 minutes Friday morning after a man threatened to jump from the roof of the Lancaster Marriott at Penn Square.
An employee of the hotel called 911 shortly before 9 a.m. and said he was going to jump from the 19-story building, police sai......
2011-01-27 20:57:00
BERNARD HARRIS
"I heard it from a friend, who … heard it from a friend, who … heard it from another … "
That REO Speedwagon is coming to town.
On Aug. 26, the platinum-selling rock band will be the first big musical act to perform in the Lancaster County Convention Center....
2011-01-24 22:40:00
BERNARD HARRIS
There are places to get a good pizza in Lancaster city, and there are places where you can find a variety of craft-brewed beers.
Kevin Brown and James Futty hope to enter the market this summer with a great place to get both.
The Fridge, a restaurant they plan to open in a former ......
2011-01-13 22:57:00
BERNARD HARRIS
The directors of the Lancaster County Convention Center poured over event bookings and numbers Thursday evening, while one floor directly above them, teenage girls were preparing for one of the biggest events of their year.
The girls were assembling plastic mats for a volleyball tournamen......
2011-01-13 21:29:00
BERNARD HARRIS
Sometimes it seems like it takes years for trends to reach Lancaster. Sometimes that's a good thing.
The down economy finally reached Lancaster city's building industry last year.
The city saw its worst year for building in at least five years.
The $58.4 million in constru......
2011-01-11 18:09:00
PATRICK BURNS
About 80 West Cocalico Township residents departed with some satisfaction from a special planning commission meeting Thursday after the board tabled a vote on whether to advance a revamped zoning code.
Residents received notice of the meeting — along with a summary of the proposed c......
2011-01-07 07:33:00
STAFF
Seven area establishments were recently cited by the Pennsylvania State Police Bureau of Liquor Control Enforcement office.
Establishments and alleged violations are:
Beer Ink., 530 Centerville Road, sales to a minor.
BPOE Lancaster Lodge No. 134, 219 N. Duke St., failed t......
2010-12-30 14:56:00
LAURA KNOWLES
In case you are wondering, there really was someone named Haydn Zug.
Today, the restaurant in the heart of East Petersburg that bears his name stands as a tribute to the colorful character who once owned the general store at the corner of State Street and Route 72.
"Haydn Zug was ......
2010-12-16 22:26:00
BERNARD HARRIS
For more than a year, the Stevens/Smith historic site has been stuck.
It has been that long since work was completed on the façades at South Queen and East Vine streets.
And fundraising for the $9 million museum has struggled to get past the $741,255 owed in construction co......
2010-12-15 00:11:00
CHAD UMBLE
As part of its official reopening, Hotel Brunswick, 151 N. Queen St., has unveiled Masala Grille, an Indian food restaurant. The restaurant, which opened last week, features authentic Indian food dishes, including vegetarian offerings, chicken tandoori and lamb chop grilled masala.
Masala......
2010-11-21 00:06:00
DAINA SAVAGE
Jerome Hershey likes to play with his words. The Lancaster artist, known for his bold, brilliant abstracts, is weaving a literary energy into the language of his paintings. For the past year, in his 34 1/2 N. Queen St. studio, Hershey has been creating work that takes ins......
2010-11-18 17:00:00
JANE HOLAHAN
Back in 1975, when he was 25 years old, Jerry Hershey went to a workshop in Lake Placid that changed his life.
It wasn't the workshop so much, or the art he was creating there.
It was coming together with his fellow artists in the morning to watch the sun rise over the lake.
......
2010-11-04 22:18:00
BERNARD HARRIS
Last week, more than 4,000 people attended Global Awakening's "Voice of the Apostles" conference in Baltimore.
Another 22,384 in 84 countries viewed the conference across the world through a live webcast.
Next year, that message of revival and spiritual healing will reverberate on......
2010-11-03 22:25:00
AD CRABLE
"Good night. Don't let the bedbugs bite."
Joanne Moore used to think that old saw was funny.
Not so much anymore.
Not since Moore, 58, a retired Air Force major, awoke one night in September in her Lititz home to record a dream.
She switched on the flashlight and w......
2010-10-27 19:38:00
BERNARD HARRIS
A real estate developer wants to build 600 homes and a commercial area on a "couple of old parking lots" in a former industrial site along New Jersey's Delaware River shoreline.
The developer, however, can't get financing until he gets an agreement that New Jersey Transit's River LINE tra......
2010-10-27 17:05:00
TOM MURSE
Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele has shut down media access to his scheduled speech in Lancaster tonight.
Steele, a former lieutenant governor of Maryland, is scheduled to rally the GOP at the Republican Committee of Lancaster County's $75-a-plate fall fundraising ban......
2010-10-26 23:11:00
JENNIFER TODD and TOM MURSE
Howard Dean talked a lot Tuesday night about the new age of politics.
An age where campaigns are built through websites such as Facebook and Youtube.
Where young people extend their political views beyond gay marriage and abortion and want action on issues such as poverty, climate......
2010-10-26 18:19:00
TOM MURSE
Former chairman of the Democratic National Committee and one-time presidential hopeful Howard Dean delivered a passionate endorsement of Democratic congressional hopeful Lois Herr on Tuesday, saying she would bring "new blood, new energy" to the House.
"You're going to have a real congres......
2010-10-25 21:33:00
TOM MURSE
The final push is on.
The candidates are calling in the big guns.
Howard Dean, Haley Barbour and Michael Steele — Lancaster County will play host to those and other national political figures seeking to energize voters in the last full week of campaigning before Election Day......
2010-10-25 21:22:00
STAFF REPORT
Willis W. Shenk, who brought Lancaster Newspapers Inc. into the computer age, will be honored Thursday by the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association for his 65-year career.
Shenk, of Lancaster, will receive the association's 2010 Lifetime Achievement Award at the organization's annual convent......
2010-10-19 21:33:00
BERNARD HARRIS
The sun shone brightly on Lancaster County on the recent Columbus Day weekend, and when that sun set, visitors to the county took to hotel rooms — many hotel rooms.
Nearly all the county's hotel rooms — 97 percent — were occupied during the busy holiday weekend.
......
2010-10-19 18:19:00
CINDY HUMMEL
A Lampeter-Strasburg senior asked the school board to accept a 300-pound glass-blown sunburst chandelier that he plans for his senior project.
Neil Maser said he took a glass-blowing class at The Goggle Works in Reading about a year ago, then began working with Kevin Lehman, who has a pot......
2010-10-14 22:37:00
BERNARD HARRIS
The Lancaster County Convention Center is decorated with dozens of paintings, sculptures, photographs and other art works to showcase the talent of local artists.
Yet on the second level of the downtown meeting center is a two-story wall that remains blank 14 months after the building ope......
2010-10-04 14:43:00
BERNARD HARRIS
No ha habido ninguna amenaza. Nadie se ha aparecido a la puerta de la Fundación de Preservación Histórica del Condado de Lancaster con puños de acero.
Nadie ha estado allí para pedirle con amenazas a la organización sin fines de lucro de pre......
2010-09-30 22:08:00
TIM MEKEEL
John Martin Jr. sees his New Holland furniture-making firm doing more custom work.
So he didn't blink when the phone at Martin's Chair Inc. rang this summer with a one-of-a-kind order:
A new gavel for the state Senate.
"I've made a gavel or two for a couple of auctioneers,......
2010-09-23 21:35:00
TOM MURSE
Let's play a little game, shall we?
See if you can predict the number of times our gubernatorial candidates will use the word "reform" over the next month and a half.
Republican Tom Corbett and Democrat Dan Onorato — not to mention their han......
2010-09-23 21:28:00
STAFF REPORT
The Economic Development Co. of Lancaster County on Thursday gave its first Founders Awards to five local firms and business leaders.
The recipients were Armstrong World Industries, Lancaster Newspapers Inc., S. Dale High and the High Cos., attorney John O. Shirk of Barley Snyder and the ......
2010-09-17 22:58:00
JANE HOLAHAN
The Keys for the City Finale, held Friday night in Lancaster Square, was a celebration of music and a chance to mingle with friends, listen to bands and maybe play a tune — or at least plunk a key or two — on one of the 21 pianos that spent the summer outside at spots throug......
2010-08-19 23:14:00
MIKE GROSS
The Big Ten Network — college sports programming from one league on one cable television outlet 24 hours a day — is a surprising and unqualified success.The network has helped make the Big Ten, comprising 11 universities including Penn State, the revenue leader among college sp......
2010-08-18 21:54:00
AD CRABLE
Thomas P. Matthews, who turned the Lancaster Parking Authority from an enterprise headed for bankruptcy into one consistently in the black even while taking on a new technological face, is leaving after 10 years on the job.Matthews, 66, will retire as executive director of the authority at......
2010-08-17 18:12:00
CHAD UMBLE
A Tea Affair opened last week in Lititz at 69A E. Main St. The small shop sells loose teas, coffee, teapots and other accessories, including children's tea sets. It also has a small window counter where patrons can sit to drink tea or coffee.The new shop is a partnership of Lititz shop......
2010-08-15 19:23:00
STAFF REPORT
Summaries of local news stories from the pages of the Intelligencer Journal and Lancaster New Era appear in this space each Monday. They are researched and compiled by staff member Tim Buckwalter. Full versions are available on microfilm at Lancaster Public Library, 125 N. Duke St....
2010-08-12 20:55:00
CINDY STAUFFER and TOM MURSE
John M. Buckwalter, the chairman of the board of Steinman Enterprises, died unexpectedly late Wednesday while on a family vacation in Bar Harbor, Maine.The 79-year-old Manheim Township resident, known to everyone as "Jack," was remembered Thursday for being a savvy businessman, a......
2010-08-10 20:22:00
TIM MEKEEL
Watch a game and look for a job.The Lancaster Barnstormers will give job-seekers a chance to do both at no charge during Wednesday night's game at Clipper Magazine Stadium.Free tickets will be given to the first 1,300 job-seekers to bring their résumés to the stadi......
2010-07-25 00:18:00
MIKE GROSS, Assistant Sports Editor
The 1930 Philadelphia A's went 102-52, and beat the St. Louis Cardinals in six games in the World Series. The A's featured Hall of Famers Lefty Grove, Jimmie Foxx, Mickey Cochrane and Al Simmons. Really good team. Perhaps not historically great, but really, really good. Mor......
2010-07-23 17:44:00
Bernard Harris
Cuando la fachada del antiguo edificio Empire TV & Appliance se colapsó en abril, fue algo súbito e inesperado, y los escombros cayeron sobre un autobús de la Autoridad de Tránsito Red Rose que pasaba por el lugar.Remover la segunda cuarta parte del edificio......
2010-07-14 22:51:00
BERNARD HARRIS
The county tourism industry seems to be bouncing back after two dismal years.Statistics compiled by a national organization show that the number of people booking hotel rooms here so far this year has increased significantly.Josh Nowak, marketing director of the Lancaster Marriott a......
2010-07-14 20:34:00
DIANA MARTIN
Employees at Lancaster Preferred Partners, which assembles axles and chassis for heavy trucks at 2919 Old Tree Drive, near Centerville, began picketing Wednesday morning over what they label unfair labor practices.About 60 employees went on strike while 130 workers continued to assemble tr......
2010-06-27 00:04:00
JANE HOLAHAN
So let's say you're a tourist who wants to spend a weekend at one of Lancaster County's many bed and breakfasts. But you've got certain interests. Maybe you're a history buff, especially interested in the Underground Railroad. Then go to the Fassitt Mansion in S......
2010-06-17 22:37:00
BERNARD HARRIS
A year ago, amid anticipation and fanfare, the most expensive building project in Lancaster history opened its doors.The Lancaster County Convention Center and Lancaster Marriott at Penn Square hotel, with a combined $177.6 million price tag, was heralded as a project that would bring thou......
2010-06-17 16:40:00
JANE HOLAHAN
It started with a small deep-edged canvas and her daughter's white boxer.Lisa Madenspacher got the canvas as a Christmas present from her husband, Joe, several years ago, but she didn't know what to do with it.And one day, inspiration hit.It would be the perfect size ......
2010-06-16 20:39:00
JEFF HAWKES
On Shelby Nauman's walking tour of Lancaster, the city didn't always put its best foot forward.Two blocks from our start at the Marriott at Penn Square, we eyed the yawning pit on North Queen that's the site of a future parking garage.We paused beside the former home of ......
2010-06-08 08:32:00
RYAN ROBINSON
A Lancaster man was arrested at the Hotel Brunswick on Sunday morning and charged with drug offenses, city police said.Aaron Quinton Handy, 24, of 447 Manor St., was charged with possession with intent to deliver cocaine and marijuana, possession of heroin and defiant trespassing, police s......
2010-06-07 21:06:00
JENNA EBERSOLE
Lebanon County couple Edward H. and Jeanne Donlevy Arnold were honored Thursday night in an annual presentation of Boy Scouts of America's Distinguished Citizen Award by the Pennsylvania Dutch Council.The Arnolds were lauded as exceptional civic leaders at a dinner after a speech by Na......
2010-06-06 18:17:00
STAFF
Summaries of local news stories from the pages of the Intelligencer Journal and Lancaster New Era appear in this space each Monday. They are researched and compiled by staff member Tim Buckwalter. Full versions are available on microfilm at Lancaster Public Library, 125 N. Duke St....
2010-05-13 22:59:00
BERNARD HARRIS
The Lancaster County Convention Center has played host to volleyball players, preachers, politicians and quilters.Next month, the fighters come back. The Central Pennsylvania Warrior Challenge, a mixed martial arts competition in which fighters punch, kick and grapple with each other, will......
2010-05-10 22:20:00
P.J. REILLY
A year ago, it seemed as though the GOP could do nothing to stop the Democratic-Party juggernaut being led by President Barack Obama.But times have changed, said Mike Pence, a Republican Congressman from Indiana.In November races labeled by pundits as "referendums" on the ......
2010-05-09 00:20:00
CHIP SMEDLEY
In 2008, Kronos Hotels and Resorts and its CEO, Charles Morais, were the toast of the industry. The Malaysian-born entrepreneur's acquisition of eight hotels for $45 million in May raised the Atlanta-based company's holdings to 36 properties in 10 states with an asset value of $25......
2010-05-09 00:13:00
CHIP SMEDLEY
It's been a long, strange trip for Tom Showalter. The Lancaster native started out cleaning rooms in the hotel industry in 1992, left town in 2000 to move up in the ranks at hotels in Florida and Georgia, then returned here in 2006 as front desk supervisor at the former Holiday Inn on Gr......
2010-05-06 16:54:00
Jack Roberts and Alejandro Rios
Once again it's time to rock and roll with Rios and Roberts, the two guys who keep you up to date on the local music scene.•Roll out the barrel -- of money.Music For Everyone (www.musicforeveryone.net) will be ho......
2010-05-03 22:00:00
TOM MURSE
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush said voters are growing "sick and tired" of President Barack Obama's agenda but argued that conservative Republicans need to hone their messages to capitalize in this year's elections.The two-term Republican, speaking Monday morning in Lancast......
2010-05-03 03:55:00
TIM BUCKWALTER
Summaries of local news stories from the pages of the Intelligencer Journal and Lancaster New Era appear in this space each Monday. They are researched and compiled by staff member Tim Buckwalter. Full versions are available on microfilm at Lancaster Public Library, 125 N. Duke St.25 years......
2010-04-08 21:28:00
BERNARD HARRIS
When the workers dug the foundation for the Historic Preservation Trust's planned museum to Thaddeus Stevens and his housekeeper, Lydia Hamilton Smith, they hit rock. Then they hit water. More than $2.4 million later, the architectural preservation group is between a rock and a hard plac......
2010-04-01 22:54:00
BERNARD HARRIS
The Lancaster Parking Authority wants to make it easy.Beginning this evening, parking in the city's public parking garages will cost $5 from 5 p.m. to 5 a.m. on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.That's $5 after 5 p.m., get it?"It's a flat fee. You know what your......
2010-03-28 00:10:00
STEPHEN KOPFINGER
Folks around here might get a warm, cozy feeling when someone mentions the name of Watt & Shand. It's kind of like curling up in a quilt, all safe and familiar. At the Lancaster Arts Hotel this Friday — First Friday — when downtown Lancaster showcases its many art galleries,......
2010-03-24 20:22:00
BERNARD HARRIS
An unannounced business opening sometimes is called a "soft opening."The reopening of Hotel Brunswick on Tuesday could not have been softer.The lights were on, but the hotel at North Queen and East Chestnut streets was eerily quiet Tuesday evening. If the automatic doors h......
2010-03-23 00:03:00
TOM KNAPP
If most Lancaster County residents had their way, nothing would change.But Tom Baldrige, president of the Lancaster County Chamber of Commerce & Industry, said Monday that change seems likely, given the dwindling number of available telephone numbers in the 717 area code.The 717......
2010-03-18 07:18:00
SUSAN JURGELSKI
Lancaster County is rich in stitches.Quilts are seamlessly threaded into the fabric of the area, not unlike pot pie and Amish buggies.For those bewitched by layered stitchery — and longtime quilters like Sue Reno of Columbia — there's a new neighborhood venue for fin......
2010-03-16 00:01:00
JEFF HAWKES
If you've got a job opening, Shondreya Greggs, 19, is all ears.She wants to work as many hours as possible, and she's open to just about anything promising a steady paycheck."Right now, (the kind of work) doesn't matter," Greggs said. "I just got to help p......
2010-03-10 22:13:00
JENNIFER TODD
Police have arrested the last of five people charged in an October 2009 burglary at Hotel Brunswick.Craig A. Stoudt, 53, was taken into custody Tuesday night by Manheim Township police officers responding to a 911 hang-up call at his East Petersburg home, police said.He was turned o......
2010-03-01 00:00:00
STAFF
Summaries of local news stories from the pages of the Intelligencer Journal and Lancaster New Era appear in this space each Monday. They are researched and compiled by staff member Tim Buckwalter. Full versions are available on microfilm at the Lancaster County Library, 125 N. Duke St....
2010-02-27 00:03:00
BERNARD HARRIS
Lancaster's largest display of public art also will be its most fleeting.Workers of Caldwell, Heckles & Egan construction, who are renovating Lancaster's Amtrak station, recently completed the installation of fencing panels at the station site.Those panels — totali......
2010-02-11 17:30:00
Jack Roberts and Alejandro Rios
New videos — and artwork — from the Reach Around Rodeo Clowns Once again, it's time to rock and roll with Rios and Roberts, the two guys who keep you up to date on the local music scene. So what have Quentin Jones and The Reach Around Rodeo Clowns been up to on the West Coast l......
2010-02-11 00:04:00
BERNARD HARRIS
In the window of Lancaster's Prince Street Cafe hung a sign Wednesday morning: "Closed due to weather."The same could be said for most of Lancaster County.Schools, public libraries, government offices and stores closed as Lancaster County got buried under its third sig......
2010-02-03 22:31:00
P.J. REILLY
Eight local development projects were honored by the Lancaster County Planning Commission as recipients of the 2009 Envision Leadership Awards.The awards are given annually to foster and raise awareness of smart growth in Lancaster County.The winners' projects met smart growth i......
2010-02-03 17:06:00
RYAN ROBINSON
An alert newspaper reader helped city police nab a burglary suspect, police reported.The tipster, who police did not identify, saw a story about five people being charged in connection to a burglary at the Hotel Brunswick in ......
2010-02-03 00:03:00
BERNARD HARRIS
About 206 years after its debut, the William Montgomery house is again ready for its close-up — of the outside, at least.Representatives of Penn Square Partners, the business group that developed the Lancaster Marriott at Penn Square hotel, on Tuesday morning unveiled a pair of plaqu......
2010-02-02 11:25:00
CINDY STAUFFER
The Hotel Brunswick had been closed for several months, but the burglars hoped to find loot that had been left inside the shuttered building on Lancaster Square.They did.The haul: a whopping $12 worth of change and snacks; one walkie-talkie worth about $150; and copper piping and br......
2010-01-20 00:04:00
BRIAN WALLACE
School District of Lancaster has agreed to purchase a former Boys & Girls Club building on Dauphin Street for use as a school for special education students.The SDL board Tuesday unanimously agreed to purchase the former Steinman Clubhouse, at 333 Dauphin St., for $1.4 million.I......
2010-01-14 16:01:00
Staff
Dance Variety...........FRIDAY-SUNDAYThree days, three directors, three shows -- one dance festival. The 16th annual Winter Dance Festival takes place tonight through Sunday at Seventh Sister's Stahr Performing Arts Center, 438 N. Queen St. The celebration, co-directed by Melissa Goodl......
2010-01-12 06:14:00
BERNARD HARRIS
The private-sector economy may barely have a pulse, but the public sector is keeping the city building.Lancaster city benefited from significant public spending in 2009, with construction of schools and other public facilities boosting the city to its third-best year ever.The city h......
2010-01-07 18:14:00
Staff
Elmo's Garden ... through SundayEveryone knows that Elmo, that adorable monster from Sesame Street, is red. But you might not know he's got quite a green thumb. He and his friends are telling folks all about it in "Elmo's Green Thumb" now playing at the Giant Center. ......
2010-01-07 17:18:00
LAURA KNOWLES
Does the idea of a night in Havana conjure images of Ricky Ricardo, bongo drums, dancing the cha-cha-cha and sultry tropical rhythms?You might not expect this kind of experience right here in Lancaster, much less at the Fulton Theatre, but that's just what organizers for "A Night ......
2010-01-07 17:12:00
JON FERGUSON
Michelle Branch has experienced the good and the bad in almost equal measures during her nine-year career in the music business.Though the singer-songwriter, who will perform with her band tonight at the American Music Theatre, is just 26 years old, it sometimes must feel like a lifetime....
2010-01-04 07:59:00
SUSAN JURGELSKI
They are women, hear them revel.They've joined the club — the Old Girls Club — and among this group of strong, independent gal pals, you can't keep a good woman down.It's all about celebrating success — sharing it, nurturing it and paving more inroads t......
2010-01-02 08:09:00
ANDREW ROOSA, 17, Freestyle
10. "Donnie Darko" (2001)Disaffected suburban teen Donnie gets dire warnings about the future from a guy in a tatty rabbit suit: Is he losing his mind or is he the sole fixed point in a world whose center will not hold? It's among the most unique movies ever ......
2010-01-01 22:26:00
BERNARD HARRIS
Four years ago — when times were good — a proposal was made to build a downtown retail and condominium tower as many as 27 stories tall.There was one hitch. The city would have to do the environmental cleanup of the former gas station site.Then Rick Gray became mayor. Su......
2010-01-01 07:11:00
TIM MEKEEL
Most of the Top 10 local business stories in 2009 have a common cause.Their roots are in the recession, which created havoc for consumers and businesses alike.The feeble economy generated headlines every month as it made jobs, profits and peace of mind scarcer.Only three of 2......
2009-12-31 00:02:00
TOM MURSE
The aughties started with all the promise of the a millennium. We had survived the Y2K scare, the economy was rolling right along and everyone thought things could only get better.We were wrong.This decade in Lancaster County has been marked by perhaps the worst tragedy in its histo......
2009-12-30 17:35:00
LAURA KNOWLES
This First Friday, the first of 2010, will mark a tradition of nearly 100 First Fridays since 2001. That's one First Friday a month over eight years. And the enthusiasm for Lancaster's biggest arts, dining and social gathering hasn't dwindled. In fact, according to Lancaster......
2009-12-21 21:02:00
BERNARD HARRIS
The newest member of the Lancaster County Convention Center board is someone who is intimately familiar with the downtown site.After all, his family has been associated with it for four generations.Douglas Shand, whose great-grandfather, James Shand, started the Watt & Shand sto......
2009-12-18 00:01:00
AD CRABLE
The state's top environmental official said here Thursday that the state must make tough decisions that result in cleaner water flowing into the Chesapeake Bay or face unwanted dictates from the federal government or a judge.John Hanger, Pennsylvania's Department of Environmental P......
2009-12-13 00:19:00
GIL SMART, Associate Editor
Out on Route 30 in East Lampeter Township, Rodney Gleiberman is partying like it's 1999. And he's not happy about it. Gleiberman, general manager of the Continental Inn, says the sluggish economy continues to punish the local hospitality industry. "I've endured probably ou......
2009-12-02 00:01:00
TOM MURSE
Firefighter Ken Barton took his first steps Tuesday since falling 12 feet from a ladder truck during downtown Lancaster's Christmas tree lighting."It was a lot of pain, but it actually felt good to get up and go," the Lancaster city firefighter said during an interview from h......
2009-11-28 00:03:00
BERNARD HARRIS
The holidays are a time for tradition.A Christmas tradition for downtown Lancaster was revived Friday when Santa Claus returned to the roof of the former Watt & Shand department store for the first time in 14 years.Between 3,000 and 4,000 people watched as Santa appeared above t......
2009-11-25 08:14:00
BERNARD HARRIS
More than a year ago, Lancaster Alliance President Jack Howell identified the 100 block of South Queen Street as a neighborhood teetering on the edge.There were stabilizing institutions on the block, including the Southern Market Center at the north end and the Salvation Army at the south ......
2009-11-20 09:23:00
BERNARD HARRIS
The question has never been whether the Lancaster County Convention Center would lose money. The question has always been how much.The answer Thursday night: $973,084 next year.That number is the bottom line of the Lancaster County Convention Center Authority's operating budget ......
2009-11-19 16:50:00
JANE HOLAHAN
Sometimes, Rob Evans can become obsessive about his paintings. He'll become saturated with ideas, thinking about them sometimes for years before he begins working on them. He'll lose track of time as he paints late into the night. He'll do battle, wrestling with ideas a......
2009-11-14 06:51:00
STAFF REPORT
Bill Stull and John deVitry, two co-owners of Lancaster Arts Hotel, accepted the Community Development Award from Daniel Betancourt, president and CEO of Community First Fund, Friday at the organization's awards banquet, held at Lancaster County Convention Center.The Arts Hotel, which ......
2009-11-12 00:03:00
BERNARD HARRIS
Four months after Lancaster city officials closed Hotel Brunswick for fire-safety reasons, the downtown hotel received the all-clear from the city fire marshal.But those now-faded yellow signs in the hotel windows declaring the building unsafe are not quite ready to come down.The ho......
2009-11-08 00:15:00
JEANNETTE SCOTT
Many Lancastrians yearn for Christmases past, when Santa made his annual arrival by climbing a ladder to get into the Watt & Shand department store on Penn Square. Their nostalgic wish will come true Nov. 27, when the jolly fellow returns to the roof of what is now the Lancaster County C......
2009-10-16 00:01:00
TOM MURSE
There's an important milestone next week in the race for mayor in Lancaster and in contests across Pennsylvania's 2,565 other cities, townships and boroughs.It's the Friday deadline for candidates to file their one-and-only* pre-election report telling voters who has been givin......
2009-10-14 08:13:00
TIM MEKEEL
The fire-safety woes that led to the Hotel Brunswick's July closing are "99 percent" fixed, its owner said Tuesday.Hamid Zahedi plans in the next several days to ask city officials to inspect the hotel, to see if it can reopen.But even if city officials let the propert......
2009-10-13 07:38:00
TIM MEKEEL
An old favorite is returning to downtown Lancaster in a new building to be constructed at East King and North Christian streets.A Subway restaurant will open in February on the first floor of the two-story structure that's replacing a vacant drive-through bank office.The 30-year......
2009-10-04 00:17:00
STEPHEN KOPFINGER
You could call it cacophony meeting sweet harmony. There was no other way to describe the sounds bouncing around the lobby of Lancaster's Marriott at Penn Square Saturday night, where hundreds of dulcet-toned singers converged — when they weren't running into guests from a larg......
2009-09-27 00:18:00
GIL SMART, Associate Editor
A slumping economy has led to a drop in revenues generated by Lancaster County's hotel room tax. Money collected from the levy, which helps pay debt service on the Lancaster County Convention Center project on Penn Square and also funds local tourism marketing efforts, is down nearly 7 perce......
2009-09-18 00:01:00
TOM MURSE
A few notes, quotes and anecdotes from the week in local politics.Pitts not convincedPresident Barack Obama, speaking about health care reform on prime-time TV last week, forcefully denied that his plan would cover illegal immigrants or spend taxpay......
2009-09-16 10:09:00
JAMES BUESCHER
Plans for a new boutique hotel in a former downtown bank building will be reviewed today by Columbia Borough's Historic Architectural Review Board.The Timeless Inn proposal features 12 suites plus 8 rooms with a watch and clock theme, a spa and a bistro, developers said Monday at the m......
2009-08-30 00:04:00
DENNIS LARISON, Business Editor
Some of them follow the traffic signs to historic downtown Lancaster and end up at the counter looking a little lost. Some are steered there by merchants as the best one-stop source of information about downtown. And some wander across Penn Square from the new convention center as the f......
2009-08-28 08:21:00
TIM MEKEEL
The Hotel Brunswick remains closed indefinitely, after the hotel postponed an inspection set for Wednesday to see if it could reopen.The landmark at Queen and Chestnut streets was shut July 8 by city building-code and fire officials, citing a slew of violations."We were prepare......
2009-08-22 00:12:00
BERNARD HARRIS
A quilt show coming to the new Lancaster County Convention Center in March will be a big deal for those devoted to the fabric folk art. And it will will be a very big deal for the county tourism industry. The show promises to be the largest — possibly largest ever — event of it......
2009-08-20 18:34:00
JANE HOLAHAN
The first thing Janet Hammond wants to do, when she paints her subjects is to make them comfortable. It isn't just that she's polite. "I want the portraits to look like the subject just walked in and I caught them unaware," says Hammond, a Chester County painter whose ......
2009-08-11 09:33:00
JANE HOLAHAN
The ninth annual Clare House Jazz Fest will have a different look this year, moving into the brand-new Lancaster Marriott at Penn Square.The fundraiser is Friday, from 6 to 10:30 p.m."We are going to be in the Commonwealth Ballroom, on the second floor of the Marriott," sa......
2009-07-31 09:51:00
BERNARD HARRIS
The Lancaster County Convention Center has been open for more than a month, and Thursday night, with the bang of a gavel, the center authority board moved from its construction to operating phase.Art Morris, an engineer who had helped guide construction of the 220,000-square-foot conventio......
2009-07-22 08:01:00
CINDY HUMMEL
Charter Homes of Lancaster has asked the West Lampeter Township Board of Supervisors to decide between two timing options for its Millcreek Development."We are drawing a line in the sand," Rob Bowman of Charter Homes told the board at a July 13 meeting.Bowman said the firs......
2009-07-22 06:01:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
Leaking pipes left more than water stains in the recently opened Lancaster Marriott at Penn Square.Video that was shot before last month's grand opening — obtained by WGAL from an unnamed source — shows water leaking from a pipe and areas of black and yellow mold growing on......
2009-07-21 13:02:00
Staff
Firefighters are at the scene of a reported chlorine leak at the pool of the Holiday Inn Express Hotel & Suites near Lititz. Firefighters from Lititz, Neffsville, East Petersburg and Eden fire companies were dispatched to the hotel, 101 Crosswinds Drive, Lititz, shortly before noon......
2009-07-21 10:02:00
BERNARD HARRIS
At 210 feet, the wind is constant."That's why they call it a swing," Harry Lauver said Monday of the moving 2.5-foot-by-48-foot platform from which he was working.Lauver, foreman of a crew of five, was high above Lancaster working at the top of the new Lancaster Marrio......
2009-07-19 00:10:00
GIL SMART, Associate Editor
After an extraordinarily wet spring, Lancaster County is drying out. So, coincidentally, is its new luxury hotel. The Lancaster Marriott at Penn Square has repaired a plumbing problem that made 20 of the hotel's 300 rooms unusable for a few weeks. Six of those rooms were available to ......
2009-07-19 00:06:00
STEPHEN KOPFINGER
Editor's note: "On Your Plate" is an occasional series designed to sate the local appetite for newsworthy tidbits that relate to the local food-service industry.
"Welcome to Sherwood, my lady!" Erroll Flynn once said when he played the das......
2009-07-17 07:00:00
BERNARD HARRIS
Former state Sen. Gib Armstrong is vacationing in Erie this week, but he is planning to make the six-hour drive to be in Lancaster on Sunday for the official dedication of Lancaster County Convention Center. Armstrong, a longtime supporter of the meeting center and attached Lancaster Marriott a......
2009-07-17 00:02:00
KATY HOPKINS
On First Friday each month, people can visit downtown Lancaster for a night of food, fun and visual arts. What's not as well known is that people can kick off the third weekend of the month downtown, too, with Music Friday. Started more than a year ago and promoted more heavily lately,......
2009-07-15 08:03:00
BERNARD HARRIS
Lancaster looks good — and bad — on paper, an audit of the city's 2008 finances shows.The audit, which got its first review Tuesday night by the Lancaster City Council Finance Committee, had a few positive things to say about the city.Despite a significant decline in......
2009-07-14 10:31:00
BERNARD HARRIS
Three months ago, Ron Yarnell said, he sent a letter to Hotel Brunswick owner Hamid Zahedi telling him the fire alarm system in his building was "marginal at best."In the letter, Yarnell, an owner of Yarnell Security Systems, said the outdated system could put the lives of hotel ......
2009-07-11 08:01:00
BERNARD HARRIS
There was the holes in the walls, the wiring on the sprinkler pipes and, of course, the inoperable fire alarms system.But there also was the mildewed carpet, missing fire door and the extension cords that had to be replaced.At least on Friday afternoon, Hotel Brunswick owner Hamid Z......
2009-07-10 08:01:00
BERNARD HARRIS
Iris Andino thought it was a practical joke.The Brunswick Hotel had been closed by city officials, a friend told her fiancé Wednesday night.Yeah, right, the site of their wedding reception in 10 days. Very funny.Then they turned on the television and watched the news, ......
2009-07-10 00:14:00
TOM MURSE
A group of investors wants to open a 500-machine slots parlor at an upscale hotel on Route 222 near Reading, state gambling regulators have announced.Wyo Gaming is seeking a license to run a 12,000-square-foot gambling floor inside the Crowne Plaza Reading hotel, located in the Berks Count......
2009-07-09 00:07:00
TOM MURSE
Lancaster city inspectors shut down the Hotel Brunswick indefinitely Wednesday after finding numerous code violations, including the lack of working fire alarms, according to Mayor Rick Gray."The fire department, building and housing inspectors went through and gave them a notice to v......
2009-07-05 00:08:00
CHIP SMEDLEY
High Properties has purchased the tract of land at 521 Greenfield Road occupied by the former Holiday Inn that was the subject of local, state and federal investigations last September and October. According to the Lancaster County Recorder of Deeds, High purchased the property from the estate ......
2009-06-25 00:53:00
STEPHANIE WEAVER
Celebrate Lancaster is back for its 11th year, returning to Binns Park on Friday with the Lancaster Symphony Orchestra to kick off the Independence Day holiday week.The celebration, sponsored by the Mayor's Office of Special Events and Fulton Bank, begins at 11:30 a.m. with numerous fo......
2009-06-22 00:07:00
P.J. REILLY
Linda Ross of Marietta walked in the main entrance of the Lancaster Marriott at Penn Square Sunday afternoon and tried to match what she saw with her childhood memories of the former Watt & Shand department store."That was the candy place," she said, pointing toward the front......
2009-06-19 11:10:00
JACK BRUBAKER
The $178 million final bill for the Lancaster County Convention Center and Lancaster Marriott at Penn Square includes all costs since the project began a decade ago. That's all the architectural, legal, consulting, administrative and other fees that preceded construction, as well as constructio......
2009-06-19 10:52:00
BERNARD HARRIS
The first paying hotel guests are due to check in, the first diners will be served their meals and downtown workers will celebrate a Friday happy hour at the bar of the Marriott Lancaster at Penn Square hotel today. The hotel was opening at 3 today, following a ceremonial ribbon-cutting at the ......
2009-06-19 00:56:00
DAVE PIDGEON
The hotel/convention center on Penn Square opens for business today, a day after dignitaries and developers cut a large Marriott ribbon during an indoor ceremony."Well, we're here at last after a long journey," Mark Moosic, general manager of the $177.6 million complex, said ......
2009-06-18 11:40:00
JANE HOLAHAN
Art is all over the place at the Lancaster Arts Hotel and it's putting a new spin on the gallery scene in Lancaster. Yes, there is a traditional gallery space in the hotel, though the work that is shown there is not necessarily traditional. Carol Galligan's "Wing/Lotus Seri......
2009-06-18 09:29:00
STAFF
......
2009-06-18 00:21:00
DAVE PIDGEON
For the Penn Square hotel/convention center, today is one part finish line, one part starting gate.Developers and backers of the $174 million hotel/convention center on Penn Square this morning will participate in a ribbon-cutting ceremony, one day before the center is scheduled to open....
2009-06-15 00:01:00
DAVE PIDGEON
As Jimmy Buffett once wrote, "On the threshold of adventure, God, I do love this job so."I write this because not only will I be in attendance at the Buffett show Saturday in Camden, N.J., but because I find myself again on the threshold of adventure. This ship will be sailing on......
2009-06-13 00:06:00
JANET KELLEY
When Tim Carr and his friends bought a restaurant in downtown Lancaster, the dream of a new Lancaster County Convention Center was supposedly right around the corner.That was almost nine years ago.But next week, when the ceremonial ribbon is cut and the Lancaster County Convention C......
2009-06-11 00:59:00
DAVE PIDGEON
Developers of the $174 million hotel and convention center on Penn Square in downtown Lancaster promised Wednesday it will open June 19.A ribbon-cutting ceremony and possible open house for the public could come as early as June 18, officials said.Developers were forced to push back......
2009-06-07 00:06:00
DENNIS LARISON, Business Editor
The timbers supporting the upper deck of the outdoor dining pavilion at the Heritage Hotel converge like wheel spokes on a living tree growing through the project. The timbers extend past the handmade mortise and tenon joints that hold the structure together to point at the tree. At the other e......
2009-06-05 05:00:00
MARY BETH SCHWEIGERT
At the dawn of the American Revolution, there was one licensed tavern for every 90 men, women and children living in Lancaster City. Only one other trade was so well-represented: shoemaking. "The 18th century was a pretty bawdy era," says Robert K. Weber, director of library s......
2009-06-05 01:57:00
JEFF HAWKES
What's next for Lancaster?It's a question I'm asking now that the Marriott and convention center, 10 years in the making, are about to open.In yesterday's column, I asked a few community leaders if the city needs a new challenge along the lines of the convention cent......
2009-06-05 01:44:00
JENNIFER TODD
It's been a bumpy journey for city motorists the last few weeks, but smoother sailing is expected next week.Crews next week are scheduled to pave the first block of South Queen Street and the first blocks of East and West Vine streets as a months-long street reconstruction project near......
2009-06-04 11:28:00
BERNARD HARRIS
As the workers at the surrounding Lancaster County Convention Center prepare for an opening this month, the old buildings at the corner of South Queen and East Vine streets appear to be a long way from being ready for their close-up. Scaffolding — and behind that, boarded windows — ......
2009-06-03 17:34:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
Correction — The annual meeting of the Pennsylvania League of Cities and Municipalities is scheduled to be held in the new Lancaster County Convention Center and Lancaster Marriott Hotel June 24 through June 26. Between 300 and 400 people, i......
2009-05-29 01:39:00
TOM KNAPP
The new, brightly colored signs in the Duke Street parking garage are an unintentional flashback into Lancaster city's history.Provided as a service to garage patrons who might not be familiar with the area, the new signs point the way to Duke Street, Chestnut Street and the Brunswick ......
2009-05-23 01:02:00
P.J. REILLY
Another day. Another stamp of approval.A day after the integrated Lancaster County Convention Center and Lancaster Marriott at Penn Square hotel received a temporary occupancy permit from Lancaster city officials, Marriott officials on Friday completed a "life safety" inspection ......
2009-05-21 11:33:00
AD CRABLE
The county's 17-year-old waste-to-energy incinerator should undergo a $175 million expansion, paid for, in part, by burning another city or county's garbage, consultants recommend. The study for the Lancaster County Solid Waste Management Authority also suggests that recycling be expand......
2009-05-21 12:07:00
BERNARD HARRIS
The downtown convention center and hotel project passed another milestone this morning, one of many on the long journey toward opening. The integrated Lancaster County Convention Center and Lancaster Marriott at Penn Square hotel today received a temporary certificate of occupancy from Lancaste......
2009-05-21 00:53:00
JENNIFER TODD
A referendum approved Tuesday to permit liquor sales in West Lampeter Township is not expected to lead to an onslaught of new establishments in the municipality, officials said Wednesday."Honestly, I see this as having very little effect on the township right now," township manag......
2009-05-21 00:01:00
You may not have noticed, but historic changes took place in Pennsylvania on Tuesday.At least two townships — West Lampeter in Lancaster County and Warrington in York County, overturned liquor sales bans in the primary election.According to a Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board ......
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......
2009-05-19 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......
