If you are like many Penn State students, some aspects of the rural lifestyle, like shoefly pie or The Prairie Home Companion, are foreign to you. The start of deer hunting season is for many a day of importance just behind Christmas. Employers offer the day off; students have a temporary reprieve from the drudgery of school.
The billboards along 322 approaching State College, Town and Gown magazine publisher, PSU trustee, real estate developer, community legend. While few current students may know Mimi Barash, she has had a hand in shaping PSU and State College. An advocate for students and the underdog, she is not afraid to call out perceived wrongs, or highlight achievements. On the day of her interview with Onward State Publisher Davis Shaver and this author, she wore a pin on both lapels of her blouse--a nittany lion and pink breast cancer awareness pin.
"Amazing," "exciting, "energy independence," "clean energy," "economic growth" were all buzz words thrown around yesterday at the 2010 Marcellus Summit held at the Penn Stater and sponsored by Penn State University. The Marcellus Shale, by some accounts, has enough natural gas to supply the USA for 100 years, make the USA less reliant on foreign oil, decrease our reliance on dirty carbon-based sources like oil and coal and rejuvenate rural communities in PA.
The fiscal situation of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and municipalities within is incredibly precarious and bound to only get worse. In yesterday's New York Times Business Section, the abominable fiscal situation of the City of Harrisburg was featured as a clear example of what might and will happen to other local governments. Harrisburg basically defaulted on its most recent bond payment last month, being bailed out by the Governor and the State at the last minute.
Susan Sestak, wife of Democratic Senatorial Candidate Joe Sestak, spoke about the importance of the youth vote to an audience composed mainly of members of the College Democrats and people eligible for their AARP member discounts at the movie theater.
There is always a significant chance that a student will have an interaction with a police officer of the State College Borough. More than likely it will be while in an intoxicated state, as there are almost 1,500 citations a year issued for alcohol-related crimes. As part of a continuing conversation on solutions to the culture of alcohol abuse, Onward State sat down with State College Borough Police Chief Tom King to gain perspective on the role of the police in resolving this challenge.