Pike youth win funding for school board transparency project

PIKE COUNTY, PA — Four members of the Pike County Youth Coalition (PCYC) have won funding for a web-based initiative, “School Board 2.0,” developed for a conference titled “Constitutional Convention: Building Democracy 2.0,” held from January 9 to 11 at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia.

Convened by Mobilize.org, the conference included a discussion on the present state of American democracy, a simulated 21st-century Constitutional convention and a grant competition in which 11 teams competed for funding for youth-led civics projects. School Board 2.0 was one of only two projects that received a grant for full funding, amounting to $6,000.

PCYC’s Kathryn Braisted, Samantha Dutkus, Alex Lotorto and Ben McKean submitted the organization’s new initiative. The project will offer live streaming of each monthly school board meeting, an archive of relevant documents and video content and a hi-tech community forum to facilitate online deliberation. It is expected to launch in about two months.

For more information visit www.pikeyouth.org.

Calling the bailout bill to account

WASHINGTON, DC — The U.S. House of Representatives has approved, by a vote of 427-1, a measure authored by Congressman Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) that would require the Treasury Department to provide Congress with a detailed report on how the money it allocated to financial institutions as part of the financial bailout bill has been spent. Hinchey noted that more than $350 billion has been handed out by the Treasury Department to various financial institutions, but because the legislation had no accountability or disclosure requirements, Congress and the American people do not know how the banks have used that money.

Hinchey’s measure amends the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) Reform and Accountability Act, which now awaits Senate action.

Concert to replenish bare cupboard

WHITE LAKE, NY — The Blessing Food Pantry has exhausted most of its funds due to a virtual doubling of persons served between June 2008 and December 2008. The first of a series of concerts to help provide funding, a country gospel music concert by John Osborne Ministries, will be held at 7:00 p.m. on Saturday, February 7 at the White Lake Reformed Church on Route 17B. Renewed funding from New York State is expected in July of this year.

The Blessing currently serves 361 households and operates four distribution sites: the Callicoon United Methodist Church (845/887-4071), Hankins Assembly of God (845/887-8996), Body and Soul Fitness Center in Roscoe (845/439-4602) and the White Lake Reformed Church (845/583-4679). The eligibility requirement for a family of one is an annual income of $19,240 or $370 per week or less. For each additional family member add $6,660 per year or $129 per week. Eligibility is subject to verification by pay stub or tax record.

Those interested in making donations should call 845/482-5864.

Bat disease now threatens PA

SHINDLE, PA — The Pennsylvania Game Commission has obtained evidence that White-Nose Syndrome (WNS), a deadly bat disease, has surfaced in Pennsylvania.

In late December, DeeAnn Reeder, a biologist with Bucknell University, and Greg Turner, a biologist with the Game Commission’s Wildlife Diversity Section, found bats in an old Mifflin County iron mine that exhibited some of the signs of WNS during field investigations into bat hibernation patterns. Several bats were submitted to the National Wildlife Health Center in Madison, WI, which now is reporting that the bats have preliminarily tested positive for the cold-loving fungi found on many bats with WNS.

The disorder is known for wakening bats from hibernation prematurely. Their energy is quickly exhausted in the barren landscape and they die. To date, no dead bats have been found in Pennsylvania.

Bats are essential parts of the ecology both as pollinators and as voracious consumers of insects.

Sorensen sets up outreach blog

MONTICELLO, NY — Sullivan County Legislator (District 9) Alan Sorensen has established a new outreach website and blog at www.legislatorsorensen.com. He plans to open a Facebook page next month. He will use the web pages to communicate better with his constituents and others interested in Sullivan County affairs.

In a public notice, he wrote, “I ran for office on a platform of open government. I believe by having this website, it will provide a very personal link to my constituents and allow me to advise them of my efforts on their behalf on a first hand basis.”

The website also contains a link that allows readers to watch the monthly county legislature meeting on the third Thursday of the month, which Sorensen was instrumental in implementing.