Incentive

Girl Scouts would not have to sell cookies if people would donate when they are asked, but if you don't give the people something for their donation, you are refused. Part of the $2 price is a donation, little enough when you consider what they do with the money. Mary Shanley Philadelphia.

The Ambler Planning Commission wants to shape the future of the borough through incentive zoning that would attract developers to build offices, apartments, stores and more parking around the railroad station. At Wednesday's meeting, commission members informally discussed the rail corridor, which is south of Tennis Avenue and west of Main Street. The area is zoned for heavy industrial and transportation purposes, allowing a mixture of retail and office uses. The borough could rewrite the zoning regulations to draw developers with incentives once the borough decides what kind of development it wants in the western end of town, planning consultant Steve West said.

The Eagles play the Redskins today in an NFC playoff game. Big deal. Much of America will be watching this afternoon (Channel 6, 12:30 p.m.) as the Eagles line up in a wild-card playoff, from which the winner will advance to round two of the NFL's newly expanded postseason climb to the Super Bowl. Do the players - those overpaid millionaires - care? Why would a professional football player - who in the most extreme cases already has it made, who has played in more football games than he can count, fought back from injuries to stay in the game just one more year, knows better than anyone that it is, after all, just a game - care whether his team wins a championship?

Heisman Trophy winner Ricky Williams has either the best contract ever or one of the worst, depending on how his NFL career plays out. Williams, the New Orleans Saints' only draft pick, signed a seven-year deal yesterday with an optional eighth year. The contract includes an $8.84 million signing bonus and will be worth between $11.1 million and $68.4 million, contingent upon performance. If he performs in the NFL like he performed in college, his contract would be the most lucrative ever given a rookie.

North Penn High School principal Juan Baughn is finding out again this year just how hard students will work for an A if it allows them to miss a couple of final exams. "They're going to the library. For some of them, that's very creative," Baughn told the district school board last week during an update on the Renaissance Program. The program, started in January, sets up rewards for high school students who improve their academic standing. Part of the program allows students who receive all A's during a semester to skip some final exams.

Sales by the major U.S. automakers fell 12.1 percent in mid-February compared with last year amid signs that carmakers' efforts to boost sales with more generous incentive plans were stalling, analysts said yesterday. Truck sales, an increasingly important part of the market, were off 13 percent. The Big Three U.S. carmakers, who have the most extensive incentive programs on the market, all reported double-digit car-sales declines for the Feb. 11-20 period. The estimated annual selling rate for the mid-February period was 6.2 million units, down from 7.2 million units in the comparable period a year before, analysts said.

Upper Makefield Township Manager Richard Gestrich says it's simply a way "to make a better police officer" and to reduce crime. Ridley Township police Detective Sgt. Francis P. Bascelli Sr., who is president of the state Fraternal Order of Police, isn't so sure. The issue is an incentive plan in Upper Makefield's new two-year contract with its seven-member Police Department. The contract in the Bucks County community of 6,000 people provides a cash bonus for each officer who excels in five specified areas and a group bonus if the rate of certain crimes in Upper Makefield goes down during the term of the contract.

"X" marked the spot where Bishop Kenrick basketball teammates Brad Krenicky and John Haley vented their frustrations at 4:30 yesterday afternoon. Kenrick had just completed an entertaining, 86-74 Catholic North victory over host Cardinal Dougherty when Krenicky and Haley scrambled into the Looney Bin, the brown section of stands behind the east basket that looks like an oversized jury box. Using two strips of adhesive tape, someone had slapped an "X" over Kenrick's green and gold logo.

Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb could have a Merry, Merry Christmas if he finds the end zone a lot tomorrow. According to league sources and McNabb's contract, he's close to securing an extra $1 million this season if he finishes among the top eight quarterbacks in touchdown passes. A playoff win means $250,000 more. A trip to the Super Bowl bumps that number to $750,000, while a Super Bowl win makes it a cool $1 million. This is especially intriguing this weekend, since the club with one of the more controversial demotions of the season will play the Eagles tomorrow.

The suits descended upon City Council yesterday with hands outstretched. City development officials - with their hotel-industry partners behind them - presented three proposed deals that need public financial support. Also presented was a proposal for a Naval Business Center, an 1,100-acre industrial and commercial park that city officials hope will become an engine of economic growth into the next century. In exchange for hotel financing, the city hopes to see 2,200 construction jobs, 900 permanent jobs, a $137 million increase in tax assessment and three gleaming hotels in Center City where vacant buildings now stand.

Philadelphia City Council passed a pioneering equal-rights bill Thursday offering tax incentives to businesses that expand health coverage for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender employees - a measure hailed as the first of its kind in the nation. The bill extends rights to "life partners" throughout the city code in a wide range of matters, such as medical decision-making; provides gender neutrality on certain city forms; and requires health insurance offered to city employees to cover the needs of transgender individuals, including sex-change surgeries.

WE'VE CERTAINLY made progress. Used to be, some kids cheated on their tests. Now it's the teachers and principals who cheat. Last week, Philly took a back seat to Atlanta, where a grand jury indicted an ex-superintendent and nearly three dozen former administrators, teachers and principals. Seems when students took tests and got answers wrong, teachers gathered in covens, pulled out their erasers and - presto, change-o - turned them into correct answers. The district "earned" more than $500,000 for the improved scores.

New Jersey is hoping to lure an offshore wind manufacturer to the state to help jump-start a green industry, but a lucrative incentive aimed at attracting the business is no longer available. A landmark offshore-wind law enacted by the Christie administration in 2010 offered up to $100 million in tax credits if a manufacturer located its operations in the state, but to qualify, a company had to make its decision by the end of 2012. Lawmakers in both chambers have introduced bills extending the deadline to July 1, 2014.

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - Nearly three dozen downtown bars, restaurants, and bottle shops have agreed to halt alcohol sales to counter an early St. Patrick's Day celebration created by Pennsylvania State University students, the most aggressive effort yet to curb drinking for the unofficial "State Patty's Day" holiday. In exchange, each business will receive a $5,000 subsidy to help account for lost revenue. State Patty's Day was created in 2007 to celebrate St. Patrick's Day when it fell during spring break that year.

A still-raw senior and some social media-driven motivation helped Norristown clinch the Suburban One League American Conference boys' basketball championship. Josh Johnson, a 6-foot-6, 185-pound senior whose first real taste of organized basketball came this season, scored 19 points, grabbed 10 rebounds, and blocked three shots as the host Eagles crushed Wissahickon, 69-48, Tuesday night. Johnson and company were bent on gaining revenge after bowing to the Trojans, 55-54, in Ambler last month.

DuPont Co., of Wilmington, awarded chairman and chief executive officer Ellen J. Kullman a package of short- and long-term incentives that could total $13.2 million in cash and stock, according to a company filing Friday with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The figure reflects a 2012 incentive payment of $1.9 million, and future performance-based incentives. The company also gave Kullman a 3 percent salary increase, to $1.44 million annually, effective March 1, the filing said.

EAGLES (+6 1/2) over Redskins: Got a queasy feeling about the final home game for the Jolly Green Giant. On the one hand, it's a "win one for Andy" feel in the home finale and his last game ever as head Bird. On the other hand, we have five fingers, and five reasons why the Eagles will not win. Nick Foles, the offensive line, the entire defense, special teams, and, if healthy, RGIII. So, as you can see, Double V is conflicted. Are the five reasons enough to put me on Washington, or does the "win one for the moustache" trump everything?

I'm not sure I would find too many people willing to say they endorse the practice of states offering subsidies to attract or retain companies. That jobs, jobs, and more jobs are the focus behind the scramble to keep or lure companies, I understand. But the public cost to do so is a head-scratcher when you consider the size of some of the sums involved. I really detest when neighboring states outbid each other simply to move a company across a border. And when a company is already established, growing, and, in fact, publicly traded, why is it necessary to pay up to make sure it stays put rather than cross state lines?

HARRISBURG - A proposed tax incentive designed to attract software giant Oracle to the Pennsylvania State University area and worth millions to other businesses that hire Pennsylvania workers is awaiting Gov. Corbett's signature after clearing the state House and Senate in the waning days of the 2011-2012 session. The bill would allow employers that hire 250 new workers to keep 95 percent of the workers' state income taxes, money that would otherwise be sent to the state treasury.

Before learning at his sentencing Tuesday that he's likely to die in prison, convicted child molester Jerry Sandusky spun wild conspiracy theories to proclaim his innocence. But on one point, at least, he made sense: In considering the storm of publicity surrounding his case, Sandusky speculated, "Maybe it will help others - some vulnerable children who could be abused might not be as a result of all the publicity. " Indeed, that's likely the most important legacy of the case against the former Pennsylvania State University assistant football coach.