News, Entertainment, Enlightenment
Someone suggest you move to a cold, barren land of ice and rocks and you answer that you’ll have Nunavut.
Nunavut is the Canadian province north of Manitoba. It is the second-largest governmental subdivision in North America after Greenland and makes up about a fifth of Canada. About 37,000 people live there on 787,155 square miles.
Corruption Caused Pension Crisis
By Leo Knepper 
No matter what pension plan design reforms the legislature enacts for future employees, the Commonwealth will still have a massive unfunded liability. The unfunded liability is the result of over-promising retirement benefits, poor investment performance, investment performance, but mostly a willful redirection of necessary pension contributions by the Pennsylvania government to other purposes. This gross negligence on the part of elected officials has been bipartisan. It started with the 2001 pension increase signed into law (Act 9) by Governor Ridge and continued through the Rendell years when he signed legislation that purposefully underfunded the pension systems (Act 40 in 2003 and Act 120 in 2010).
Decades of mismanagement have resulted in a combined $63.3 billion in unfunded liabilities, based on the market value of assets. The longer the unfunded liability persists, the worse it becomes. It’s helpful to look at the unfunded liability as a loan. This “loan” has a 7.5 percent annual rate. In Year 1, the principal is $63.3 billion. If no payments are made, the amount due increases to $68 billion next year, then $73.2 the following year and so on. In other words, the unfunded liability grows year after year unless the payment made exceeds interest and the cost of newly earned benefits. And, just like any other loan we need to be making payments on the principal.
The loan example conveys the basics of the problem. Rep. John McGinnis (R-79) introduced HB 900 last year to address the unfunded liability. In his co-sponsorship memorandum, McGinnis states:
“Right now, just the annual interest on the pension debt is over $4 billion, equivalent to the full yearly salary and benefits for over 50,000 teachers. The situation is so dire that there are likely scenarios where the pension assets will become exhausted in the next 8 to 15 years. When that happens, benefits paid to retirees may well consume 40 percent to 50 percent of the general fund. The consequences for our future only get worse as we delay dealing effectively with this problem.
“The right approach is to follow the recommendation of the 2014 Blue Ribbon Panel on Public Pension Funding commissioned by the Society of Actuaries and commit ourselves to paying off the current UALs [unfunded accrued liabilities] of SERS and PSERS over 20 years with level dollar funding. It is not just the responsible thing to do after more than 10 years of serious underfunding–it is absolutely necessary to prevent substantial and irreversible harm to the future of Pennsylvania.”
We can avert the fiscal catastrophe. However, every day the General Assembly does not act, the unfunded liability grows. HB 900 is currently in the House State Government Committee. Please, contact your representative today at this link and urge them to take action.
Mr. Knepper is executive director of Citizens Alliance of Pennsylvania.
America’s oldest gas station is Reighard‘s in Altoona, Pa. It opened in 1909.
Choosing Evil Is Not Voting — One of the annoying tropes that has occurred in the internet era is the tired claim that the “lesser of two evils is still evil.”
It’s not.
What is evil is to fail to fight evil. This means being unwilling to mitigate it. This means burying your talent which includes claiming that neither choice meets your pure standard hence you will not choose and escape blame.
It doesn’t work like that.
This November it appears the presidential race will be between a man with many flaws and a woman with no virtues.
A guy who occasionally says stupid and rude things, and a woman who is the subject of a serious criminal investigation, who has been a reputed liar since entering pubic life, whose irresponsibility (putting it charitably) led to the unnecessary deaths of brave public servants and strengthened our enemies, who got a man imprisoned to cover up her failures, whose top assistant has close relations to our sworn enemies, and who has quite credibly committed the most base form of treason — selling out our national interest for mere cash.
And there are still some who are too “pure” to oppose this person.
That’s shameful.
Heroin Oxy Plague in York County
By Sen. Scott Wagner
This column concerns a very serious crisis that is plaguing our communities in Pennsylvania.
The crisis I am referring to is the prescription drug and heroin crisis.
In the summer of 2014 one of my Senate colleagues, Senator Gene Yaw from Lycoming County in Northern Pennsylvania who serves as Board Chairman for The Center for Rural Pennsylvania, announced to our Senate caucus that The Center was holding hearings around the state to highlight the heroin crisis.
The Center for Rural PA has held nine public hearings across Pennsylvania over the last two years.
I attended and participated in a hearing held in Reading on the heroin crisis in June of 2014.
I invited David Sunday – senior deputy prosecutor from the York County District Attorney’s office to attend the hearing with me.
What I learned that day was alarming. I learned that Baltimore is the heroin capital of the United States.
Click here for a story
York County is approximately 50 miles north of Baltimore – a short drive up Interstate 83. The majority of my Senate district borders the Maryland line.
While driving back to York from the hearing in Reading, Dave Sunday continued to educate me on just how large the heroin problem really is.
Dave Sunday discussed the interest that he and York County Coroner Pam Gay had in forming a Heroin Task Force in response to the heroin crisis in York County.
In the initial stages of the formation of the task force we received alarming York County drug death statistics from Pam Gay.
As a result of a combined effort the York County Heroin Task Force was co-founded by Senior Deputy Prosecutor Dave Sunday from the York County District Attorney’s office and York County Coroner Pam Gay in July 2014.
The mission of the York County Heroin Task Force is to form a partnership of community, medical and government agencies dedicated to reducing the abuse of heroin in our communities.
Click here to see the York County Heroin Task Force website –
I have personally known for years that prescription drug abuse was growing at an alarming rate.
As an employer, I noticed employees who experienced sprain or strain injuries being prescribed highly addictive pain killers.
The injured employees were treated at medical facilities and in many instances were given 30 day prescriptions for pain killers such as Vicodin or Oxycodone – both highly addictive drugs.
Approximately four years ago I had an informational piece printed regarding workers compensation system reforms that were needed in Pennsylvania – I sent the printed material to each and every Pennsylvania State House and Senate member to highlight changes that needed to take place within the workers compensation system, specifically the number of prescription drug pills that could be dispensed to an injured worker.
Surprisingly, only one House member contacted me to discuss ideas that I had.
I always knew that 30 day prescriptions to painkillers led to addiction, the cost to Pennsylvania businesses via the cost of the drugs, addiction treatment costs, lost work time, and absenteeism, to name a few are staggering.
In my opinion, prescription drug addiction has to easily be costing Pennsylvania businesses between $5 billion – $10billion per year.
Statistics show that some people who become addicted to prescription drugs move on to heroin due to the lower cost and availability.
The prescription drug problem is a national epidemic.
The prescription drug industry is a multi-billion dollar industry – Drug companies pay cash inducements to doctors as an incentive to promote their drugs.
There are many articles on the internet that validate the size of the prescription drug industry and cash paid to doctors.
Many young teenagers have experimented at parties where a large bowl is passed around containing hundreds of various prescription drug pills obtained from family medicine cabinets – many teenagers become addicted to prescription drugs and due to the cost and availability they move on to heroin and become addicted.
I met with a group of York County school administrators in September of 2014 and I told them of my involvement in the Heroin Task Force and what I had learned. I stated that drugs were available in their schools and that a fifty dollar bill could be given to most children in their school and they could go into the school and purchase heroin or prescription drugs.
I clearly remember the reaction from some of the school administrators. They were very upset with me for making these statements and they were sure that there were no drug issues in their schools.
During several conversations Dave Sunday stated to me that there are drug dealers standing on street corners or in alleys grossing $10,000 per week selling drugs.
The drug dealers have sophisticated operations and as a result drugs are everywhere – in the cities, at the malls, on street corners, convenience stores, in schools, at parties and at many places of employment.
This summer will be two years ago that the York County Heroin Task Force was formed.
We have all learned so much about the prescription drug and heroin crisis.
One of our Task Force members, Charlene Sciaretta, shared the story of her son Danny who was taken by heroin.
Click here to view a video by Charlene about her son –
Charlene Sciaretta’s message is very clear.
Heroin does not discriminate.
Heroin does not know if you are black or white, rich or poor, young or old.
Heroin doesn’t care if you want to stop, if you’re clean and sober, rebuilding your life or have a family to take care of.
Heroin will eat you alive until you have nothing left, and then it still wants more.
Heroin is the type of drug that if you try just one time, you may be an addict forever.
Coroner Pam Gay continues to report death statistics monthly – the numbers are alarming.
We have seen an increase in heroin and prescription drug-related deaths since 2013, with a 3.5x increase in heroin-related deaths in just one year.
Below is a graph showing the increase in heroin-related deaths in York County from the 2013 – 2014 – 2015 years.
The goal of the York County Heroin Task Force is to reduce drug-related deaths and crime in our communities through public education, advocacy, media, law enforcement and legislation.
The Task Force is educating our citizens on the prevalence of the heroin problem, the signs and symptoms of addiction and the resources available.
Members of the Heroin Task Force and the York County Coroner’s Office have presented school and community heroin awareness programs approximately 70 times since July 2014 to church groups, middle and high schools (public and parochial), rotaries, lions clubs, police departments, fire departments, mayors groups, senior groups, township managers groups, borough supervisor groups, physicians, nurses and many more entities.
Since its formation, the Heroin Task Force has many notable accomplishments.
Members of the Heroin Task Force, in particular the District Attorney’s Office, were instrumental in obtaining Narcan / Naxolone for our local law enforcement in every police jurisdiction and the Pennsylvania State Police. Since implementing the use of Narcan by York County Law Enforcement in April 2015 it has resulted in saving 99 lives by Law Enforcement personnel last year. Unfortunately not everyone who is saved by Narcan is grateful someone just saved their life – in many cases they can not wait to get their next dose of heroin.
It has partnered with the Byrnes Education Center to bring heroin and prescription drug education into middle schools and high schools. The Program is called, “Heroin: The Wake-up Call.” It is being funded by grant money. The program has been presented multiple times since January in York County and others.
The Task Force has and implemented use of prescription drug drop boxes in every York County Police Department and began a mobile program in Delta, PA in 2014 – in 2015, 4,460 pounds or 2.3 tons of prescription drugs were turned into the drop boxes and disposed of.
It has made recommendations to York-Adams Drug and Alcohol regarding treatment needs in 2014-15. As a result, additional funding obtained and detox/rehab and medication assisted treatment capacity has increased and is continuing to increase.
Members of the Heroin Task Force participated in several days of programming over a week-long prescription drug and heroin-related educational series that Central York High School offered to its students in April 2016, the first such series offered by any school in York County.
For a long time many people wanted to deny that their community, friend, child, spouse, co-worker, or family member was addicted to either prescription drugs or heroin.
Times have changed. People are dying in record numbers. Crime is up. Drug treatment facilities are overflowing with people that are addicted and need treatment.
The reality contains really bad news. People who are addicted to heroin only stand a 20 percent success rate of overcoming their addiction.
If you go to Google and search “prescription drug crisis America – heroin crisis – heroin needles in parking lots” story after story pops up.
I applaud Senior Deputy Prosecutor Dave Sunday, Coroner Pam Gay, and all the members of the York County Heroin Task Force for their involvement and participation to educate everyone in our community to address the prescription drug and heroin crisis.
I encourage you to learn more by visiting the York County Heroin Task Force website and Facebook page to see how you can get involved and what you need to do to help.
Click here to visit the Heroin Task Force website.
Sen. Wagner represents the 28th District in the Pennsylvania Senate.
Afghanistan was once Greek.
Sad Celebrities Get No Sympathy
Given the huge implications of the recent presidential primaries, this column could easily have been about the newly shaped presidential race.
Instead, it’s about something more important: The need to call out arrogant celebrities whose sense of entitlement is perversely affecting our children. Rather than living up to their responsibility as role models, these “stars” are teaching all the wrong lessons about how we should conduct ourselves when things don’t go as planned.
And let’s be honest: in our 24/7 social media culture, people – especially kids – emulate pop culture icons substantially more than they do the president of the United States, sad as that may be.
Granted, it’s the nature of the business for celebrities to exhibit a certain level of conceit, born from big fan bases and the ever-present sycophants. But the level of pretentiousness is out of control. And that expectation of privilege, with accompanying tantrums, will only grow if we don’t stop excusing their reprehensible behavior. Since 99.9 percent of our children won’t have multi-million dollar paychecks on which to fall back when they storm out of a situation not to their liking, we better get ready to reap the whirlwind.
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Consider these recent gems:
–“Live” talk show host Kelly Ripa reportedly threw a fit and stormed out of the studio after discovering that co-host Michael Strahan would be departing to take a full-time position with Good Morning America. She left the show (for which she is paid $20 million annually) and was unable to be reached, leaving network execs scrambling to find replacements for the four days she was MIA. And why her diva antics? Ostensibly because she wasn’t informed of the Strahan decision earlier.
ABC’s reaction? A free pass, with a nice cover story that she was on a “previously-scheduled vacation.” Sure she was.
Outside of a few criticisms from anonymous sources (the height of cowardice), there was no pushback from the network. Instead, she’s back to work and continues to rake in the dough. Since she didn’t apologize, Ripa must think she did no wrong, and was fully entitled to act in such an unprofessional way.
Sure, Ripa has a fan base, and exudes some, albeit not much, charisma. But no one is irreplaceable, especially when the hardest job requirement is reading a monitor – for 20 mil, no less. The network’s coddling effectively condones Ripa’s prima donna attitude, making her actions seem not only justifiable, but admirable to many young people.
–Last month, Chicago White Sox player Adam LaRoche walked away from a guaranteed $13 million (for what amounts to a six-month work year) because the team simply asked that his 14-year old son Drake not spend so much time in the clubhouse. Not only was Drake with him (and the team) virtually every day, but he even had his own locker.
So because the organization (and some players) expressed concern that the locker room should be, first and foremost, for the privacy of the players, and was not always an appropriate place for a child, LaRoche decided to quit, walking out on his team in the process.
Sure, sharing part of a dream job with a family member is admirable, and many players do – now and then. But every day? LaRoche took advantage of a generous situation afforded him by team officials and fellow players, and exploited it past all bounds of common sense.
Far from carrying the mantle of “most committed parent,” LaRoche instead became the poster boy for the “you-offended-me, so-I’m-quitting” movement. He sent the message to every young ball player that if your coach (or leader, teacher, or parent) asks you to do something you don’t like, it’s OK to walk out on your teammates, friends, and family, with no regard for anything but your “hurt feelings.”
What’s next? Should an office worker be allowed to bring his child to work every day? And at what age? Eighteen months? Fourteen years? Newsflash: that’s why God made daycare and school. In the real world, such an action would never be considered by a rational person because of the sheer ludicrousness of it.
As a coddled celebrity, LaRoche obviously thought he was entitled to do as he pleased, and upon not getting his way, he quit like a petulant child. But what happens when people follow LaRoche’s example in a real world job, without the cushion of millions to make such a decision possible?
— Perhaps worst of all, we have Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Sam Bradford. Just two months after signing a $36 million dollar contract (with $22 million guaranteed), he’s demanding a trade and telling the organization he won’t be attending the “voluntary” workout camps.
Why the outrage? Was he relegated to third string? Placed on the practice squad?
No. Much worse: The Eagles decided to select a quarterback in the NFL Draft.
Yep. That’s it. Despite assurances from the Eagles that he would, in fact, be their starting QB – and one would hope so, given the eyebrow-raising contract he was just given – Bradford threw a fit, causing needless disruption amongst his players.
Bradford is no Joe Montana, as evidenced by his underwhelming 7-7 performance last season. And his health has always been an issue, evidenced by this being the first spring since 2013 where he is able to practice at 100 percent. Bottom line: The Eagles made a sound business decision. (And since when is a little competition a bad thing?)
It didn’t matter to Sam that the Eagles are acting in the best interest of the team (and Sam) by preparing for all contingencies. Nor did it matter to Sam that his childish antics have been detrimental to team cohesion, with players wondering whether he will stay and be their leader, or is just buying time until he gets shipped off. Uncertainty leads to turmoil, which leads to toxicity. And toxicity always – always – kills any chance for a serious playoff run.
And just like that, the cautious optimism in the post-Chip Kelly era has been replaced by a wholly avoidable cancer. But instead of calling Bradford out for being a rich brat, and telling him to get his derriere in gear, the Eagles, unsurprisingly, are responding with fluff, and likely entertaining offers to trade him. And if that’s true, why sign him to such a lucrative contract in the first place?
All appeasement does is lower the bar for the next disgruntled mega-millionaire athlete to disregard contracts and jettison loyalty in favor of even more outrageous “it’s all about me” demands.
Pouting over things that are “unfair” (things that, incidentally, often teach children about life) is imbued in the young generation. They have been coddled by their parents so much that they don’t know how to fail. And since they haven’t learned how to fall, they can’t pick themselves up to try again. Instead, they are growing up in an artificial world of absolutes where everything must be to their liking – or they sulk away.
If we are to ever break the harmful cocoon into which we are placing our children, their role models must be called out when they act like privileged jackasses.
Otherwise, we might as well just punt because it will soon be game over.
Delaware is home to more than a million corporations. It has less than a million residents.
Ceremony Honors Woman Pilot, Korean War Vet — This month’s Casket Flag Ceremony at the Delaware County Veterans Memorial is 6 p..m., Sunday, May 8. It will honor a young woman pilot from Radnor who died in a World War II plane crash and a father of eight from Lansdowne who served in the Korean War.
The ceremonies are being held the second Sunday of the month through November at the Memorial, 4599 West Chester Pike, Newtown Square, Pa. 19073, notes Barbara Ann Zippi of the Casket Flag Committee.
Mary Holmes Howson graduated from Radnor High School and joined the Women Airforce Service Pilots in 1943. She was killed in a mid-air collision in Sweetwater Texas on April 16, 1944.
Mary was born Feb. 16, 1919. She was the daughter of Richard and Mary Howson and had three brothers, two of whom would also serve in the military.
She attended private school in Devon for middle school, then Radnor High School graduating in 1936. She then attended Smith college, and took on a teaching job at the Oak Lane Country Day School. In 1942-1943 she learned map-making from aerial photographs in classes at Bryn Mawr College. She then started working for the U.S. Geological Survey Office in Washington, D.C. and spent every spare moment learning navigation and practiced flying at a nearby field before joining the service.
She is buried in the cemetery of Washington Memorial Chapel at Valley Forge National Historical Park. John Corry, a friend of Mary’s from Radnor High remembers her as, “an outdoors type of girl with a daredevil spirit.”
Torpey White was born in March 1930 in Philadelphia and graduated in 1948 from West Catholic High School. He enlisted in the US Army in 1952. He served in Korea and the reserves and was honorable discharged with the rank of Sargent in 1960. He obtained a degree in industrial management from LaSalle College and also became a master plumber. He retired in 1993.
He married Mary Ellen (Rogers) then settled in Lansdowne and raised five children. He had an incredible sense of humor and loved making people laugh. He was active with his family, church and helping those in need of his skills. He passed away in January 2014.
The public is welcome to attend the ceremony.
Reservations are being taken for July and August for those wanting a ceremony for a loved one. Send a request to: info@DelcoVeteransMemorial.com.
You don’t speak Espanol to understand the Spanish national anthem. There are no words to it. It’s called the Marcha Real or “Royal March”.
Here it is:
