voicesweb's blog

Apr
18

Gas company's lost "Landsman's Handbook" reveals the deceptive practices of the Marcellus fracing industry

“Do not discuss the chemicals” Lessons from the landman’s handbook The story of the "Landman’s Manual" hit the Internet with a flourish last week. Many of you may have seen this from other news sources and listservs. First, a bit of background. The term landman refers to an agent hired by a gas company to negotiate with landowners in order to get a lease signed at the lowest possible price per acre, with the lowest possible royalty payments for any extracted gas. John Trallo, an RDA member and resident of Sullivan County who has been tireless in his efforts to oppose the gas industry’s industrialization of PA, tells the story as it unfolded. Trallo writes: “A few weeks ago, I received an email from a woman in Ohio regarding gas drilling. Apparently, someone had forwarded some emails and postings I sent out. The woman had expressed serious concerns about drilling, stemming from reports of problems in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Arkansas, and Texas that included ground water contamination, reduction in air quality, public health and safety issues, and property devaluation.Read more »
Apr
05

Incorporate Your Uterus

If your uterus is incorporated, the republicans will not be able to regulate it.

http://incorporatemyuterus.com/

Jan
31

First Thursday State College kicks off February 3rd!

 

Contact: Kathleen O’Toole

Volunteer Coordinator, Downtown State College Improvement District

(814) 238-1126, [email protected]

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

State College (January 31, 2011) — First Thursday State College kicks off February with a performance by Stacy Glen Tibbets at 7 p.m. at Schlow Library. Parking is free that evening at all municipal street meters, the parking lots on Fraser Street and on Beaver Avenue and Allen Street (across from the Municipal Building), and the McAllister parking deck. All events are open to the public and admission to First Thursday events is free. In addition to the performance at Schlow, events for February 3rd include:

 

Christian Science Reading Room and Bookstore:

5:30–7:30 p.m. "Spiritual Solutions to Problems—Explore the Bible and Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" to find spiritual solutions to life's challenges. Readings feature others who have had healings of allergies, cancer, migraines, lack of housing or money, etc, giving them freedom in life. Read more »

Jan
26

Landowner Margaret Burgwin donates land to protect brook trout

BUCK RUN CONSERVATION EASEMENT PROTECTS LAND AND BROOK TROUT ClearWater Conservancy helps landowner keep 60 acres in its natural state   State College, PA –A conservation easement finalized today will ensure that Buck Run’s brook trout population will be protected, thanks to the combined conservation efforts of ClearWater Conservancy and local property owner Margaret Burgwin.                 “Everyone’s all smiles at the closing of easements,” said conservation easement manager Bill Hilshey. “I am always delighted to see the landowner satisfied that they did something good for their property.” Ms. Burgwin’s property is unique in that it contains the only brook trout stream in the Deer Creek sub-watershed. The good quality of the water of Buck Run caught the attention of Trout Unlimited, a national organization that works to conserve North America’s coldwater fisheries. “Buck Run is one of the last remaining brook trout streams in the area that has not been damaged by abandoned mine drainage,” said Rachel Kester, Project Coordinator for the Eastern Abandoned Mine Program at Trout Unlimited.Read more »
Jan
11

Media Matters linked to a recent VOICES article

Well, this is a feather in our cap, lol.

The famous national website MEDIA MATTERS linked to a item we posted this weekend, related to the tragic shootings in Arizona. Thanks to our local celebrity mystery man veblen for clueing us in.

In a piece on the gulliablity of winger hacks, Media Matters has linked to this story.

On Saturday, several people created fake profiles for the shooter, including this one, captured by Voices of Central Pennsylvania, a monthly community newspaper. Read more »

Dec
07

Local CBICC offical quoted in Politico article about Chamber of Commerce election spending

I think it's good to see that our local CBICC people aren't happy with the way the Chamber of Commerce meddled in politics by exploiting the horrific loophole created by the Supreme Court with the Citizens United ruling that allowed unlimited anonymous spending by multinational corporations to manipulate elections, while individuals are limited to a few thousand dollars at most. (And of course few ordinary citizens can afford to spend even that amount.)

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1210/46049.html  

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is under fire from some local chambers over its hard-hitting $75 million ad campaign to elect a Republican House, with dozens of groups distancing themselves from the effort and a handful even quitting the national group in protest.

“We were getting pounded. We felt here, in central Pennsylvania, that the ads they were running were not professional ads,” said David Wise, president of the Chamber of Business and Industry of Centre County, which is considering dropping its national membership. “This was not a unifying event.

Read more »
Aug
26

Famed and admired local community emeritus Rustum Roy has died

Voices people, Just a heads up that Rustum Roy has died. It was not unexpected as he has been ill for some time. The service is this Sunday at 1:30  pm at the University Baptist and Brethren Church on Burrowes. 
Jul
10

A video message from Webster's Bookstore Cafe

It's been wonderful to see the whole community react to the potential loss of our totemic community meeting place. Here's a message from Elaine, the principle of the bookstore, explaining some of the details of the situation:

(Transcribed from the video above)

"As it stands now, this 30-day notice is a bit of a death sentence. The downtown location on Allen street is about 80% of my business's cash flow, so taking that away suddenly means I have 12 employees that I don't have jobs for, it also means that I can't make my monthly "nut", as you call it, let alone getting (new) financing.

The response to this has been, to say the least, overwhelming, and I am truly grateful from the bottom of my heart."

Jul
07

Message from the Editor - SPECIAL BULLETIN on Websters

Dear Voices Reader,    Circumstances came to light right after we published July 1 that cause us to alert you to an important situation: Webster's Bookstore Cafe in downtown State College has been given 30 days' notice to vacate due to falling behind on rent (although full payment was eventually offered to the landlord).     Voices was the first in the county to post this news to our website and Facebook page and start getting the word out, but due to our volunteer workforce and the summer holidays, we don't have people on the ground reporting. We do have Art Goldschmidt and other Voices supporters actively helping owner Elaine Meder-Wilgus. To that end:   1. Elaine has requested that Webster's supporters write a 500-word letter about what Webster's means to you and deliver it to the store (or email to [email protected])  so she can use it with banks, future landlords or even the current landlord to get an extension.     2. She also has asked people to buy books (1/2 off) to help her liquidate.     3. And we ask you to sign the petition being circulated now and during Arts Fest  so that it may also be used in support of Webster's. The paper petition is down at the bookstore, but if you can't get to town to sign that please sign this online petition:  Save Websters Bookstore Cafe - the online petition     4. Read more »