Monday, February 25, 2013
Friday's possible government spending cuts triggered by sequestration could affect residents of Bethlehem.
The Bethlehem Health Bureau could lose funding for vaccinations, health screenings and for surveillance of communicable diseases such as tuberculosis and bacterial meningitis, if automatic federal "sequestration" spending cuts take effect on Friday. According to Bethlehem Health Director Kristen Wenrich, sequestration could also threaten HIV testing and women’s health initiatives, such as screenings for breast and cervical cancer and clinics for low-income expectant mothers and children. Passengers at Lehigh Valley International Airport may have to wait in longer lines for security checks. And desperate homeowners facing foreclosure might not be able to get help from the Community Action Committee of the Lehigh Valley. Statewide, cuts …
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Growing mean spiritedness is used to justify abandoning those laid low by the economy.
There’s a concept in social psychology that goes something like this: When other people err, we attribute it to flaws in their character; when we screw up, we blame it on circumstances – the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. So when someone else runs up credit card debt, we think “spendthrift.” When we do it, it’s because of a medical emergency and necessary student loans. Alan Jennings, executive director of the Community Action Committee of the Lehigh Valley, says he has seen this type of thinking amplified since the economy tanked. Instead of sympathizing with those who lost their jobs or homes, some blame the poor for their plight – which makes it so much easier to justify not helping them. These critics have found a home on …
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Two-thirds cut to anti-poverty agency leads to a heated e-mail exchange between officials.
Allegations that officials in the Callahan administration have been guilty of political payback for perceived slights or betrayals surfaced Tuesday night as City Council’s Finance Committee discussed proposed cuts to Bethlehem’s Community Development Block Grant allocations. Most of the conversation fixed on a two-thirds cut to the Community Action Committee of the Lehigh Valley’s program for home ownership and foreclosure mitigation. City Councilwoman Karen Dolan, who raised the issue of “political payback” during the discussion said the cuts to Community Action, which has been a city partner in anti-poverty work, is a “stunner,” especially considering the other budget cuts that the regional agency is currently facing from federal and …
CronyCrookedLehighCounty
7:07 pm on Friday, March 1, 2013
I hope this budget crisis adversely affects the crooks running Washington twp. Lehigh County. I am tired of their self-voted raises and their persecution of the residents. I say "let them go belly up!". We should just start all over again! more ›