SUNDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2019 n $3.00 n LANCASTERONLINE.
COM
LIVING
How the living reach
out to the dead
through paranormal
investigation.
n Page B1
ZIPPER
HAEADLINE
HERE S;LDF
WHAT?
CHAD UMBLE
CUMBLE@LNPNEWS.COM
Dear Lancaster County: You can’t
handle the zipper merge.
You get angry.
You cut people off.
You block other drivers.
Sometimes you even crash.
Your inability to grasp a seeming-
ly simple traffic pattern — designed
to safely bring two lanes of traf-
fic into one — has even flustered
state police and Pennsylvania’s top
transportation experts.
They’ve thrown up their hands.
They’ve abandoned the idea of
teaching drivers the art of the zip-
per merge here.
Why?
In the state Department of Trans-
portation’s words: Too many of us
are impatient behind the wheel.
“I don’t know what it is about our
area, but we have a lot of people
with a lot of road rage,” said Frit-
zi Shreffler, a spokeswoman for
PennDOT.
A winning design
Zipper merge is the con-
cept that traffic flow
and safety are im-
WHAT’S A E?
proved at lane clo- MERG
sures if motorists use ZIPPER THIS.
both lanes up un- NOT al .
MERGE, page A6
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY
TY LOHR | DIGITAL STAFF
ELECTION 2020
Dems look for front-runner to emerge
Party faces chaotic season as candidates face questions, unpredictable events
JULIE PACE, THOMAS
BEAUMONT AND
STEVE PEOPLES
ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON — A Democrat-
ic presidential race that had been
largely static through the summer
has tumbled into a chaotic fall,
shaped by unpredictable events
and the deepening impeachment
crisis surrounding President Don-
ald Trump.
INDEX LOTTERY................... A2
CLASSIFIEDS........... CL1 MONEY........................ D1
DEATHS REPORTED...A23 OBITUARIES............A13
LIVING......................... B1 PERSPECTIVE............E1
Your Connection from Lancaster
to Pittsburgh and Beyond.
Fly the PIT Connector from Lancaster Airport, connect at Pittsburgh
International Airport and then continue on to a variety of destinations
around the world.
For easy and affordable travel options visit pitconnector.com/Lancaster
MONEY
With drop in
occupancy rate, .
it’s a crucial time .
for local hotels.
n Page D1
an actu
See how e works on
e rg
zipper m. See videos on
r portunity zones.”
Page A6 ct at Lancaste
the subje line.com
On
Less than four months before
voting begins, front-running can-
didates are facing urgent ques-
tions about their ability to chal-
lenge Trump, prompted by a
health scare for Sen. Bernie Sand-
ers, an uneven response by Joe
Biden to the president’s efforts to
tie him to the impeachment in-
quiry and nagging questions about
liberal Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s
electability. Lower-tier candidates
REAL ESTATE..........RE1
SPORTS....................... C1
TRAVEL.....................B10
TV WEEK..................TV1
Going places
Boys soccer teams from McCaskey,
Warwick, Manheim Township
and Lampeter-Strasburg
earn spots in semifinals
n Sports, Page C1
are struggling just to be heard.
The uncertainty is heightening
anxieties among Democrats des-
perate to defeat Trump in 2020.
Although impeachment could im-
peril Trump’s presidency, the pro-
cess also has highlighted Trump’s
skill at discrediting his opponents,
sometimes with baseless conspir-
acy theories. And Democrats ap-
pear no closer to sorting out what
ELECTION, page A13
68 47 H
TODAY’S WEATHER
FORECAST, PAGE C14
PERSPECTIVE
Generation Z(eal) voice
wonders what it might
mean that humans can
mourn for a machine.
n Page E6
REAL ESTATE
Program
to revive
troubled
areas lags
‘Opportunity zones’ struggle
to live up to their intentions
CHARLOTTE KEITH
SPOTLIGHT PA
NEW CASTLE — The cracked glass
doors of the vacant post office building
reflect back the historic town center in
this western Pennsylvania city. Behind
the padlocks, a dusty staircase strewn
with crumbled plaster leads to an empty
foyer.
Across the town center, known by
locals as “the Diamond” for its shape,
another former anchor of downtown
is dark. Once the headquarters of util-
ity company Penn Power, part of the
cavernous ground floor now houses the
city’s Christmas decorations. Wreaths of
green tinsel stacked against the windows
flash in the sunlight.
Bill Mitsos, 55, is the co-owner of the
M&P Coney Island hot dog restaurant,
one door down from the Penn Power
building. He said he remembers when
the family business, founded in 1923,
attracted a crowd every day for lunch.
Now, almost all of their sales come from
another location in the suburbs.
“It’s one of the few places left down-
town, and we’ve kept it open on pur-
pose,” Mitsos said.
A federal tax incentive program
passed in 2017 by Republicans in Con-
gress has been hailed by President
Donald Trump as a lifeline for ailing
Rust Belt cities like New Castle, in Law-
rence County along the Ohio border,
where residents share an all-too-famil-
iar struggle despite the rebound of the
U.S. economy.
The central premise of the program is
simple: Offer wealthy investors gener-
ous tax breaks for putting money into
real estate or businesses in distressed
areas. Those areas were designated “op-
In Pennsylvania, however, early signs
REAL ESTATE, page A8
THE NEW YORK TIMES
Candidates vie for attention during the Democratic presi-
dential debate in Houston, Sept. 12. Left, former Vice
President Joe Biden and Sen. Elizabeth Warren.
225th Year, No. 119
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