We've heard the rumors for MONTHS about how Kohl's was thinking about moving into the former space that housed Value City at the West Manchester Mall.

Friday, we finally saw the permits that Kohl's is seeking space at the mall.

I'm a fan of Kohl's, and go ahead, call me wimpy about driving, but I don't like to fight the traffic to get over to the east end of York to shop at Kohl's. The possibility of a store on the west end of town is welcome news to many.

But it begs another question? Will we have duplicates of so many stores that we no longer have to venture to "the other end of town?" And, is that really a good thing?

Meanwhile, we will keep you posted on the latest department store developments.

I stopped at a Redbox in Dover Township this afternoon and was not pleased to discover that the popular DVD rental kiosk had raised its price from $1 to $2 per night.

What's up with that?

Redbox made its name by renting DVD's for $1 per night, a good and inexpensive form of entertainment during this time of recession.

My first inclination, as if I was personally slighted, is to stop renting from Redbox. What do you think?

By now, many people have heard that a U.S. Commerce Department's report has found that the national economy grew by 3.5 percent in the third quarter, heralding the end of the Great Recession.

But is the recession really over? It depends who you ask.

An economist might put up numbers and charts to support that the recession has ended.

But, what about the 8.6 percent of unemployed residents living in York County? What do you think their answer might be?

When I read that the government had started to tout nation's economic recovery, an image of a frazzled police officer with arms held high yelling into a riot that "there's nothing to see here" popped into my head.

What do you think? Is the recession really over?

Growing up in New York, I never had to learn a new language to simply place a food order at a restaurant.

The same can't be said for York County.

Nine years after moving here, I'm still struggling to pick up on all the sayings.

Last week, I ordered breakfast in a local diner and the waitress asked my if I wanted by eggs dippy. I looked at my wife, hoping to snag a marital lifeline. She's from New York too, and I had no idea what dippy meant in relation to eggs.

I asked the waitress what she meant. She frowned and explained that dippy meant that the yolk would remain soft.

But I'm not totally lost in the maze of York County lingo. I have figured out that when a waitress asks me if I would like my drink a while, the answer is not: "No, I would like it right now."

What she means is if I would like my drink in the meantime, while I read the menu. But you already knew that.

I have to believe that residents are doing double takes as they cruise past local gas stations.

In the past week, the average price of regular gas has jumped 17 cents from $2.416 to $2.59 per gallon, according to AAA's Daily Fuel Gauge Report. Driving to work this morning, I spotted a few stations that had bumped prices to $2.65 per gallon.

What's up with that? I have a theory.

The value of the dollar, thanks to stimulus money and bailouts, has tanked and remains at its lowest point in more than a year. To make up for that shortfall, investors have turned to oil and gold for their monetary ventures.

That leaves the rest of us pump poor. I wonder how high gas prices will go this time? Are we looking at $4 a gallon, again?

National Boss' Day.

Well, it's what my calendar says for today, Oct. 16.

It looks like one department here in the newsroom is having fun with the sports editor's cubicle.

We had the governor visit York County -- specifically, Voith -- on Tuesday touting energy jobs and hydropower.

Voith has seen its fair share of news lately. After some negotiations, the company and union reached a contract agreement in September.

And it was only a short year ago, that then, Senator Barack Obama visited the plant on a campaign stop.