Car on the tracks

Emergency personnel were called to the scene of a car stuck on the railroad tracks near the entrance to Columbia River Park shortly after 4 p.m. today. According to Columbia Borough Police, the driver erroneously drove the car up the runway between the sets of tracks after suffering a medical incident that caused him to veer off the road at the railroad crossing on Route 441. After the car traveled a short distance, the front passenger-side tire crossed one of the rails, snagging the vehicle. The driver was taken to the hospital by ambulance. The car was freed and removed by Midway Collision Shop.

Columbia woman to trial for shooting outside Mussers

A Columbia woman is heading to trial for allegedly shooting another woman last month outside a market.

Ashley Rose Curry is charged with aggravated assault and related counts for allegedly shooting Jamie J. Roland outside Musser's Market at 960 Lancaster Ave.

MORE:
http://m.lancasteronline.com/columbia/news/woman-to-trial-for-shooting-another-after-yelling-racial-slurs/article_456f194a-c659-11e4-b86c-f737522336db.html?mode=jqm

Out for a Sunday flight

Five C-130s thundered over River Park at about 11:20 this morning and then turned left at the Wrights Ferry Bridge, proceeding westward to parts unknown.

94 years ago - Columbia fire dept. arrested for arson

This article from the March 9, 1921 edition of the New York Times recently appeared on the radar.
(Click on image for larger, clearer view.)

As oil trains continue to derail, top Pennsylvania officials demand federal action

An analysis of those in danger in case of an oil train fire released last week by PublicSource showed three schools and a day-care center in Marietta and Columbia within the evacuation zone of Norfolk Southern's Port Road rail line along the Susquehanna.

They are the Susquehanna Waldorf School in Marietta, Little People Day Care in Columbia, and Park Elementary School and Our Lady of the Angels Catholic School in Columbia.

"The potential for disaster is too great to ignore," Gov. Tom Wolf wrote in a Feb. 27 letter to President Barack Obama in which he said oil train safety is a top priority for his administration.

MORE:
http://lancasteronline.com/news/local/as-oil-trains-continue-to-derail-top-pennsylvania-officials-demand/article_034b7204-c43b-11e4-8e0b-1fc76ffb9c9f.html

Making fasnachts was a 40-year tradition for this Columbia family

For 40-plus years, it was a tradition for her family to make fasnachts at the Columbia church that is Lancaster County's "Fasnacht Central."

Former Columbian Josetta Grimes, now of Ohio, submitted this photo of her mother Bernice Stein (on the left) and her aunt, Rosemary Donnelly, who are twins, with NBC-TV's Williard Scott when the "Today Show" weatherman came to Columbia to broadcast in 1989.

The whole family has helped with fasnacht-making at Columbia's Holy Trinity Catholic Church for years, Grimes recalls.

MORE:
http://m.lancasteronline.com/news/local/lancaster-that-was-making-fasnachts-was-a--year-tradition/article_6d7564f8-c1db-11e4-910c-7396d9a80614.html?mode=jqm

There’s no proof Daylight Saving Time saves electricity, so why do we even bother?

The overall DST effect on electricity consumption runs counter to conventional wisdom: DST results in a 1-percent overall increase in residential electricity demand, and the effect is highly statistically significant.

MORE:
http://qz.com/357821/theres-no-proof-daylight-savings-time-saves-electricity-so-why-do-we-even-bother/