Woman Arrested After Green Paint Found On Smithsonian Statue, Organ At National Cathedral

Washington National Cathedral at twilight, view from the north (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A wave of vandalism continued to mar some of Washington’s more popular landmarks Monday with at least three more attractions spattered with green paint, and authorities announced the arrest of a woman near one of the incidents at the Washington National Cathedral.

The latest crimes occurred three days after the Lincoln Memorial was defaced in similar fashion; on Monday, the light-green paint was discovered on an organ in the cathedral’s Bethlehem Chapel, in the cathedral’s Children’s Chapel and on the granite base of a statue next to the Smithsonian Castle on the National Mall.

D.C. police announced Monday evening that they had charged Tian Jiamel, 58, whom they belive to be homeless, with one count of defacing property.

Read more:  http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/green-paint-found-on-smithsonian-statue-organ-at-national-cathedral/2013/07/29/3d65169a-f884-11e2-b018-5b8251f0c56e_story.html

Weiner Deflates After Sexting Revelation: Drops To Fourth Place In NYC Mayoral Poll

Former member of the United States House of Representatives. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Anthony Weiner has fallen to fourth place in the New York City mayoral race, according to a new survey from Quinnipiac.

The poll of likely Democratic primary voters gives Weiner 16 percent of the vote. City Council President Christine Quinn leads with 27 percent, followed by 21 percent for Public Advocate Bill De Blasio and 20 percent for former comptroller Bill Thompson.

Read more:  http://isearch.avg.com/search?q=washington%20post&cid={E4DEB632-E5A0-4A7B-86FD-7E8D6752650D}&mid=c0f12bf6242047d0adc706583490a966-80da26585214da00bee8ac924a3515f2bb6784dc&lang=en&ds=AVG&pr=fr&d=2012-10-04%2019:18:33&v=15.3.0.11&pid=avg&sg=0&sap=nt

Pittsburgh’s Larimer Revival Concerns Residents

A map of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with its neighborhoods labeled. For use primarily in the list of Pittsburgh neighborhoods. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Plans to revamp Pittsburgh’s Larimer section promise the creation of a new kind of neighborhood, where low-income residents are no longer clustered in housing projects or crumbling apartments, where subsidized housing units are scattered among market-rate ones.

But some are worried that the blueprints for the $100 million housing development would push residents in two places slated for demolition — East Liberty Gardens and a Pittsburgh Housing Authority-owned project — farther from transit lines and business districts.

“[The housing authority] is talking about moving me somewhere else,” said Robert Morton, who lives in one of 27 units in the Auburn/Hamilton-Larimer complex, which is owned by the housing authority. Mr. Morton, 64, uses a wheelchair.  “I can’t just uproot and go somewhere else.”

The city is currently preparing an application for a highly competitive $30 million grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, with hopes of building some 350 units of mixed-income housing in the struggling neighborhood, to support jobs, parks and businesses similar to those in neighboring East Liberty.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/neighborhoods-city/pittsburghs-larimer-revival-concerns-residents-697299/#ixzz2aRwXiz1o

More Choices Coming To Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport

Locator map of the Scranton-Wilkes-Barre Metropolitan Statistical Area in the northeastern part of the of . (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Private charter flights from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport to at least one new destination appear likely to start by the end of the year with the airport’s expanding relationship with Aviation Technologies.

Michael Gallagher, chief financial officer of Aviation Technologies, identified Pittsburgh, Washington, D.C., Florida, Myrtle Beach, S.C., and the Bahamas as potential destinations of interest.

Gallagher hopes the company can “make an announcement” regarding some sort of expansion of service in the fall, with an eye toward the flights becoming available on Dec. 1.

Airport officials are negotiating a long-term contract with Aviation Technologies to take over many important functions at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, such as airplane maintenance and running the flight school.

Read more:  http://citizensvoice.com/news/more-choices-coming-to-avoca-airport-1.1527453

Signs Of Declining Economic Security Widespread

President Barack Obama announces the Economic Recovery Advisory Board. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

WASHINGTON — Four out of five U.S. adults struggle with joblessness, near poverty or reliance on welfare for at least parts of their lives, a sign of deteriorating economic security and an elusive American dream.

Survey data exclusive to The Associated Press points to an increasingly globalized U.S. economy, the widening gap between rich and poor and loss of good-paying manufacturing jobs as reasons for the trend.

The findings come as President Barack Obama tries to renew his administration’s emphasis on the economy, saying in recent speeches that his highest priority is to “rebuild ladders of opportunity” and reverse income inequality.

Hardship is particularly on the rise among whites, based on several measures.  Pessimism among that racial group about their families’ economic futures has climbed to the highest point since at least 1987.  In the most recent AP-GfK poll, 63 percent of whites called the economy “poor.”

Read more:  http://www.timesleader.com/news/news/710055/Signs-of-declining-economic-security-widespread

Is Wilkes-Barre’s Irem Temple Next On The Demolition List?

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Luzerne County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

WILKES-BARRE, PA — At some point something has to be done with the Irem Temple, and Rick Williams and others hope it’s not torn down like the nearby Hotel Sterling.

Last week demolition crews razed a good portion of the rear of the hotel.

They’re moving to the North River Street side today to continue to reduce the landmark structure to rubble.  The hotel opened in 1898, and nine years later, the temple, designed in Moorish revival architecture complete with four minarets and dome, was completed on North Franklin Street.

Like the hotel, it’s been vacant for years, and architect Rick Williams fears its brick walls could be bashed to pieces by the steel buckets and blades of excavators, like those leveling the hotel.

Read more:  http://www.timesleader.com/news/local-news/707441/Is-the-Irem-Temple-next

Survey: Chester County Residents Upbeat But Hate Traffic, High Taxes

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Chester County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Chester County residents like the county’s open space and scenery, but also value highly its proximity to metropolitan areas. They use its libraries and parks like gangbusters, and are confident its 911 and emergency response systems.

They do not, however, like the traffic and road conditions they encounter or the taxes they pay.  They wish the county government would do more to help create job and business opportunities and manage the suburban sprawl that continues to plague the countryside.

In general, county residents see they place they live as an excellent place to raise a family, get a good education, and buy a home — even if they have a sense that it might not live up to the same expectations when looking to retire, open a business, or find a job.

Those, in part, are the results of a unique survey done to assess the quality of life in Chester County, completed earlier this summer by the Center for Social & Economic Policy Research at West Chester University.  The survey results follow up on a similar project completed in 2009 by Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster.

Read more:   http://www.pottsmerc.com/article/20130729/NEWS01/130729442/survey-chester-county-residents-upbeat-but-hate-traffic-high-taxes#full_story

‘Diversity’ Essays Wins Pottstown Quarterback $30K Foundation Scholarship

Location of Pottstown in Montgomery County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

POTTSTOWN — The Greater Pottstown Foundation has awarded a $30,000 scholarship to a graduating Pottstown High School senior as the result of an essay he wrote about the impact of growing up and going to school in Pottstown and what it taught him about diversity.

The Shandy Hill Scholarship, named after the founding editor and publisher of The Mercury, was awarded to Sage Reinhart.

Paul Prince, chairman of the foundation, called Reinhart’s essay “intriguing” in the letter he sent to Pottstown High School Principal Stephen Rodriguez announcing the award.

Reinhart “perceptively comes to understand that quality is not inherently fair and skill and talent do not necessarily result in advancement,” Prince wrote,

Read more:  http://www.pottsmerc.com/article/20130729/NEWS01/130729439/-diversity-essays-wins-reinhart-30k-foundation-scholarship

State School Subsidy For Reading District Tells Only A Partial Story

Map of Berks County, Pennsylvania, United States Public School Districts (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The number looks enormous.

$117 million.

That’s how much the Reading School District will get from the state in the coming school year in basic education funding, the main channel through which state funds flow to local school districts.

It is by far the largest total of any district in Berks County and ranks the third-largest in the state, behind only Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.

Read more:  http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=497613