Mural designed by Eric Tonzola of Tonzola Art & Design, to be painted on the front wall
JOE LINTNER | COLUMBIA SPY
Angry, Young and Poor got the go-ahead to transform a vacant storefront in the borough’s historic district after borough council gave its approval Tuesday night.
Council voted to approve a Certificate of Appropriateness for the project, which was issued by Columbia’s Historic Architectural Review Board (HARB) on July 27th.
Reverse side of the front wall(Tonzola Art & Design)
The project, to be installed at the store’s new address at 137 Locust Street, will feature a mural on both sides of a front half-wall by Eric Tonzola, and a window graphic by Italian graffiti artist Joe Tamponi.
Window graphic (Joe Tamponi)
Angry, Young and Poor, which recently moved to Columbia, is a record and clothing store that has operated in Lancaster City for more than 30 years. The business also features online sales.
The defense attorney for a Columbia teenager charged with fatally shooting his friend during gunplay in July conceded his client acted recklessly and tried to argue that the shooting did not amount to third-degree murder.
“Reckless? Absolutely. Involuntary manslaughter? Yes. Murder? No,” Lancaster County Public Defender Rian Thompson argued Tuesday at a brief preliminary hearing for Jose Manuel Lopez III, 16. “Nobody is saying this was intentional.”
Thompson argued that Lopez did not act with malice, a legal element that must be present to support a third-degree murder charge — the most serious charge Lopez faces in the July 18 death of Wilfredo Garcia, 17. He was seeking dismissal of the charge.
The shooting happened in Garcia’s mother’s Plane Street apartment while Garcia, Lopez and other teenagers were drinking alcohol and smoking marijuana, according to police.
But Lancaster County Assistant District Attorney Callista Chartier said Lopez admitted to police that he knew the gun was loaded when he pointed it at Garcia’s head and pulled the trigger.
And disregarding the clear risk of death or serious injury by doing so met the element of malice, she said.
Columbia District Judge Miles Bixler ordered Lopez to trial on third-degree murder, involuntary manslaughter and related offenses
Emergency crews responded Monday afternoon to a report of a pedestrian struck by a vehicle at the intersection of North 3rd Street & Chestnut Street.
According to dispatch radio traffic, the call came in at 3:42 p.m. Monday, August 31, reporting “a person struck” at the intersection of N. 3rd and Chestnut Streets. Fire and EMS units were dispatched to the scene under a Class 1 response. Units on scene radioed that they were clear within several minutes, and a deputy fire official confirmed an assistant chief remained briefly before also clearing the scene.
A commenter on another site said they drove past the intersection and described the crash as being near a club on the corner and said that it appeared as though an e-bike may have been involved. The commenter added that everyone at the scene appeared to be up and moving around afterward.
This article is based on publicly available scanner audio and unverified social media reports.
Building owner Cody Shoemaker said it may be possible for people who want bricks to obtain them, but for now he asked that people not attempt to get them from the site directly. An announcement about how that will work will be made later and is expected to be done through the borough government.
“We want to make sure the community gets a piece of this historical building. I’m not selling the bricks,” Shoemaker said Monday.
A 19th century fire station damaged by the tornado that touched down in Columbia last week is too dangerous to save and demolition will begin next week, the owner said Thursday.
Cody Shoemaker said the decision came after the site was examined by engineering firms. The demolition of the Keystone Hook & Ladder Company building will start Monday and likely take about a month, he said. MORE:
Bridge inspectors have checked the Veterans Memorial Bridge for deterioration several times over the past three years.
JOE LINTNER | COLUMBIA SPY
Columbia Borough officials are planning to call for support from congressional lawmakers after learning that funding for the long-delayed rehabilitation of the Veterans Memorial Bridge remains elusive.
At the August 25, 2026 borough council meeting, Mayor Leo Lutz reported on a meeting he attended earlier that day with the Transportation Technical Advisory Committee of the Lancaster County Planning Commission, where he was told the bridge rehabilitation project may be pushed back further.
“This has gone on for better than 15 years,” an exasperated Lutz said. “The price tag has gone from 30 million to 300 million and probably higher till ’28.”
“Having been on that committee for years, I understand — I know that the projects on there on the transportation improvement plan far exceed the amount of money that’s available,” he said. “And when you got a $300 million project, you can see that. Is it going to happen? I don’t know.”
With a recent federal grant application unsuccessful, Lutz argued that local and county officials need to appeal more directly and forcefully to their federal representatives for help — rather than trying to fund the bridge solely through the state’s regular transportation allocation.
“Why are we trying to do this with the money that we get from the state? Why don’t we engage the federal transportation commission — where our federal, you know, our elected federal officials, our senators and our congress people — and talk to them about getting with folks in Washington about funding these big-ticket dollar items,” Lutz said. He pointed to a past federal program, the TIGER (Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery) grant, that Lancaster County had unsuccessfully applied for several times, and said the same coordinated, high-level approach is needed now.
“We need to get with our elected officials in Washington and talk to them and say, ‘You need to go and lobby for us to get this one — fix this bridge,'” Lutz said. He noted that he is already working with state Representative Bryan Cutler’s office and local representative Brett Miller to arrange meetings with U.S. Representative Lloyd Smucker and U.S. Senator Dave McCormick to press the issue directly.
“I think what I truly believe is Lancaster County hasn’t engaged the municipalities enough,” he said. “I think they’re waiting for it to fall down — get so bad that they can say, ‘Okay, we’re going to carry — we’re not spending money.'”
Lutz emphasized that the bridge’s importance extends well beyond Columbia, given its role as a key link — and detour route — between Lancaster and York counties. “The economic impact to Lancaster County and York County is tremendous to that bridge remaining and remaining open and in good shape,” Lutz said. “It’s on the historic register, the National Historic Register.”
Lutz: “I think they’re waiting for it to fall down — get so bad that they can say, ‘Okay, we’re going to carry — we’re not spending money.'” [File photo]
Council Vice President Heather Zink noted that final design work is underway. “What’s going on with the bridge right now is they’re finalizing the designs and everything, and it’ll go out to bid at the end of this year,” she said. “The county engaged our federal contacts and everything, and we did submit a grant request for federal dollars for that bridge funding, and we were informed this week that we were not receiving that money from the federal dollar,” Zink added.
According to Zink, the rehabilitation project is expected to go out to bid by the end of 2026, even as questions remain about how the cost will ultimately be financed and whether the timeline will hold.
The bridge has been the subject of rehabilitation planning since studies began around 2016. What started as a roughly $30-54 million project has ballooned dramatically after a 2023 inspection uncovered serious cracking and deterioration in the floor beams and support columns, prompting PennDOT to redesign the scope of work into a far more extensive rehabilitation. The project is now estimated at more than the previous estimate of $234 million, and Lutz suggested the price could climb even higher by 2028.
The current plan calls for the project to move forward in phases, with a full closure of the bridge to vehicles, cyclists, and pedestrians lasting approximately three years during construction, which is expected to span about five years in total.
Built in 1930, the Veterans Memorial Bridge originally carried Route 30 before the newer Wright’s Ferry Bridge took over that designation in the 1970s. The 1.26-mile span is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is recognized as a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark, and is believed to be among the longest multi-arch concrete bridges in the world.
Columbia Borough Police Chief Holly Arndt recognized officer Art White for 33 years of service at Tuesday’s council meeting.
JOE LINTNER | COLUMBIA SPY
Columbia Borough Police Chief Holly Arndt recognized the retirement of officer Art White, for his 33 years as a part-time officer with the Columbia Borough Police Force.
At Tuesday night’s Borough Council meeting, Chief Arndt presented White with an award for his service. Arndt noted that White was also a lieutenant with the Millersville University police department and has worked part time with Susquehanna Regional.
Sergeant Dave Sauders also congratulated White for his service.
In May of this year, White was honored with the Lancaster County Career Achievement award from the Lancaster County Chiefs of Police Association.
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