Lancaster Mayor: Advantages Of College Use Of Former Armory Site Outweigh Price

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

When Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology officials came to City Hall and asked the city to sell them the former National Guard armory site, Mayor Rick Gray’s answer was “no.”

The armory was an unexpected windfall for the city, but the city needed it badly.

The buildings which had been used to service military vehicles would become a new maintenance garage to replace the city’s crumbling facility.

But, eventually, college officials persuaded Gray an expansion of the technical school was in the best interests of the college and the surrounding neighborhood.

Read more: http://lancasteronline.com/lancaster/news/mayor-advantages-of-college-use-of-former-armory-site-outweigh/article_1b928054-0646-11e4-b8d3-0017a43b2370.html

Delivery Of Road Salt Falling Short Across Western Pennsylvania

Penn Township in Westmoreland County ordered 500 tons of rock salt Jan. 21, 500 more Jan. 23 and 500 more Jan. 30, for a total of 1,500 tons. As of Friday, only 350 tons — less than enough to deal with two typical accumulating snowstorms — had arrived.

The township is not alone. Communities throughout the state and across the Midwest and Northeast are struggling to keep up with a winter that has gnawed away at their salt supplies.

There is no shortage, according to one major supplier. The problem is twofold: recurring snowfalls, none of them blizzards but with enough accumulation to require road treatment, and bitter cold that has iced rivers and slowed the progress of barges carrying salt to depots.

“We have plenty of salt,” said Peggy Landon, director of corporate communications and investor relations for Compass Minerals, parent of Kansas-based North American Salt, which ships rock salt to 5,000 destinations in North America. “It’s being transported every single day.”

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/local/region/2014/02/10/Shortage-of-road-salt-growing-in-Western-Pennsylvania/stories/201402100071#ixzz2sw8Bkboz

West Bradford SPCA Land Sale Raises Objections

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

Accusations of high euthanasia rates and lack of management aren’t the only issues officials at the Chester County SPCA are facing these days.

The organization and especially board president Conrad Muhly are hearing the sharp sounds of criticism amid accusations of wrongdoing over a land deal that detractors say was fishy from the start.

Today, in the second installment of a two-part series, the Daily Local News looks into allegations that the nonprofit is acting improperly in selling land it received from the state of Pennsylvania in West Bradford to a developer who has ties to Muhly and, thus, the CCSPCA.  On Sunday, the Daily Local published complaints from former volunteers about practices at the shelter in West Goshen.

The shelter currently holds 20 acres of land that abut the 220-acre Embreeville State Hospital parcel that was purchased by Embreeville Redevelopment, LP.  The group currently has controversial plans of building more than 1,000 new homes and commercial development on that land.

Read more: http://www.dailylocal.com/general-news/20130915/west-bradford-spca-land-sale-raises-objections