For journalists, that means a late-night shift including the newsroom staple: the election night pizza.

Pizza is cheap, most people like it and low-paid journalists will do just about anything for free food.

The Daily Item had them, and so did a lot of other newsrooms, as evidenced by tweets coming out of newsrooms from across the state. Here’s just a small sample.

Re-routing to office. RT @madnewsboy Election night officially underway @wistatejournal with the arrival of THE PIZZA twitter.com/madnewsboy/sta…

— Nick Sunderland (@NSunderlandWSJ) April 2, 2013

Made it through my first election night, it was a lot of fun. Everyone showed great teamwork tonight. It might’ve been the pizza

— Amber Rosado (@DA_AmberR) May 22, 2013

Election night pizza at the PennLive office: instagram.com/p/Zl5aFwyugb/ …and wait for the results.

— PennLive.com (@pennlive) May 22, 2013

The worst part? Literally everything else. #Elex RT @merc_mike: The best part of working Election night? Pizza and wings in the newsroom.

— Frank Otto (@fottojourno) May 21, 2013

Election night pizza = the reason we journalists do what we do twitter.com/DustinCL/statu…

— Dustin Barnes (@DustinCL) May 7, 2013

Pizza has arrived far ahead of schedule. Cry ‘Havoc!, and let slip the journalists of election night. #pjsvotes twitter.com/ofadam/status/…

— Adam Gerik (@ofadam) April 9, 2013

We asked “How do we stop texting while driving?” while linking to a story about a woman who was charged with manslaughter for texting while driving before a fatal crash.

People had some good ideas.

I guess what struck me though, were those that said maybe it can’t be stopped.

They have a point: we outlaw texting while driving, drinking and driving, speeding, but that doesn’t stop people from doing it.

So can anything be done? Should technology take care of it?

I don’t know.

What do you think – can texting while driving be stopped?

PLEASE STOP HERE IF YOU DON’T WANT SPOILERS, BECAUSE, WELL, IT WILL PROBABLY HAPPEN.

OK, so I’m not a huge Star Trek fan. I essentially went into the movie blind, having never seen another Star Trek piece. Mike assured me that would be OK.

And for the most part it was. The movie plot was pretty much able to stand on its own, only with a couple references that had to be explained, though I was told if I had watched the first one, I would understand completely.

HOWEVER, the movie villain, in my humble opinion, well, wasn’t much of a villain.

CNN.com says Khans up there with Hannibal Lector, Lord Voldermort and Regina George.

Um…..did I miss a part of the movie?

I mean, Khan was out to kill people in Starfleet. No doubt about that. But at the same time, he did some good too, showing the characters what they couldn’t see themselves.

He essentially saved them from certain death – TWICE -  before, well, trying to kill them. But really, only because they didn’t use the resources they had in front of them.

Does that make him a bad guy? Yes.

A fearsome, loathesome villain? Maybe?

I don’t know. But apparently, Khan is one of the greatest Star Trek villains of all time. I just don’t buy that his new franchise reincarnation is all that terrible.

And I know Trekkies will love the movie while I look forward to The Hangover Part III.

What movie did you see this weekend? How was it?

Reblogged from Suquehanna Reporting:

Here’s a synopsis:

John “J.C.” Carlson was preparing to finish building a tree house for his daughter, Samantha, last Saturday when he received a notice from the borough zoning office informing him the structure is illegal.

He began building the eight-foot, by six-foot wood structure on a tree stump in the front yard of his 701 W. Spruce St. home a few weeks ago for his daughter’s 11th birthday.

Carlson didn’t give zoning regulations a second thought when he began construction.

“A tree house is a tree house,” he said. “What possible harm can it do to build one for an 11-year-old.”

Carlson’s tree house violates the zoning ordinance because it is located on his front lawn on a lot that doesn’t accommodate its large size, said deputy zoning officer Janet Powers.

When that story hit social media, it really took off, with people overwhelmingly on the side of the family wanting to build the treehouse.

It appears the borough is going to be receiving some phone calls and letters now that this story has gotten out.

I understand both sides of the issue: You have to enforce laws uniformly, no matter what a person’s intentions are. You can’t make exceptions for one person then refuse to help another.

But it’s really hard to stand up against a little girl and her treehouse. It’s going to be unpopular, no matter what she wants – which is, after all, only a treehouse.

What do you think about this situation? Which side are you on?

If you haven’t heard about her story of growing up in the projects of York before being introduced to competitive athletics through the Special Olympics, you’re missing out. She’s a great example of a Pennsylvanian doing good.

Here’s a little bit of her story, put together for the 1996 Arthur Ashe Courage Award at the ESPYs:

She spoke yesterday to elementary students in Milton, and she was incredibly positive. For someone who overcame such incredible odds, she was neither downtrodden nor haughty about her life.

I was truly impressed with her. And now I’m looking for the movie – Netflix here I come!

She also brought a great message about not bullying to the students, which is an important message to tell, especially today in schools.

Here’s some bonus photos from her talk:

Note: my photo for whatever reason didn’t want to upload, so this one is from the Milton District’s newsletter. But it was indeed a very similar picture.

It’s a billboard honoring Milton’s two state medal winners, both Ryans.

Not only is the billboard cool, but I got to cover the pep rally welcoming them home from the state tournament.

I have never met such gracious and gnaw winners.

They deserve every accolade they get.

So kudos to them. And drive down Mahoning Street to check it out.

Wow.

I was surprised at how fast we went and how high it was. I literally thought as we were falling – “OMG I HOPE THEY STOP THIS THING!!!”

And they did. But it didn’t feel like they could, which, after all, is the point of the thrill ride.

Here’s my journey through the StratosFear. I secured my phone inside my jacket for the ride up and stowed it for the crash downward – see the note below.

[Disclaimer: Please don't be reckless with your smartphone or electronics while on the ride. Please secure your belongings. Seriously, it's really fast and you will lose things]

OK, so here’s the ascent. And from your vantage point, you have no idea when you reach the top. It’s like a fun, yet terrifying mystery:

Here’s some of the scenery going upward:

Now. a different perspective, from my mother as we ascended. I’m in the pink jacket, waving to my older sister. My younger sister is in the brown next to me and my brother in law is two over.

So yeah, try it out. It’s awesome.

The kids in the Building Leaders for the Susquehanna Valley helped with the initiative and they made public service announcements to launch the program featuring themselves and some other local faces.

Here are the results.

This first one is an explanation of the JST DRV philosophy, featuring BLSV advisor Jess Shaffer and his Jeep:

The next is a “pull over” featuring a real PSP Trooper:

Pretty cool stuff, especially for high school kids just trying to make a difference.

Oh, and it rained 3 inches yesterday, mostly in the morning.

Me and 240 kids were outside for Envirothon. We were in the rain until the event was canceled.

Here’s us:

I then accompanied Eva to a fire, caused by lightning.

What a day, I smelled like wet dog the rest of the day. Yum.

What’s the worst conditions you’ve survived on the job?