Pennsylvania is among 44 states where federal health officials say people have been sickened by backyard chicken flocks. About 212 people have been stricken with a variety of salmonella strains, says the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Lest anyone fear there’s some scary word ending in “demic” – as in epidemic — about to befall us all, a bit of context:

Those 212 reported cases represent 0.000064 percent of the U.S. population. And in Pennsylvania, well, only between one and four cases of chicken-to-human salmonella infections have been reported from backyard flocks, the CDC says.

Kudos to the CDC for alerting the public to such things. But those tempted to prosecute a public policy that might ban such backyard flocks should stand down. After all, health officials say hand-washing (and proper fowl- and egg-washing when the time comes) goes a very long way in stopping salmonella in its tracks.

That, and not allowing your kids take those chickens to bed with them. Ahem.

The Port Authority of Allegheny County is touting the results of a rider satisfaction survey.

It reported positive scores from 45 percent of bus riders and 51 percent of light-rail passengers.

It defends the fact that 55 percent of bus riders and that 49 percent of light-rail riders had negative views by rationalizing that, hey, nationwide, positive impressions for both are 33 percent.

One can only wonder what the percentages would have been had the surveyors asked customers about the Port Authority’s outrageously out-of-whack cost structure – and how officials would rationalize those assessments.

Meanwhile, back at the Allegheny County Airport Authority’s Department of Paid “Progress”:

Southern Airways Express has ended its daily service from Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT) to Harrisburg. It had been the only airline to offer the flights. Southern says there was insufficient demand.

But authority CEO Christina Cossotis says several other regional carriers currently not operating at PIT might be interested in picking up the service.

“We know it’s a good market … (W)’re gonna go after them,” she told the newspaper.

What that means, exactly, isn’t clear. If it means there’s a real market for the flights, as Cassotis claims but Southern disputes, and some new regional carrier wants to risk its own money in pursuit of a profit, go for it.

But, past being prologue, if it means all manner of public subsidies are thrown at an airline in government’s latest attempt to create and command a market, sorry, but no.

“Flying to Harrisburg is preposterous,” says Jake Haulk, the president of the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy. “The time getting to the airport, unless you live close, park the car and get through security could easily be two hours. When you get to the airport on the Susquehanna (River) 45 minutes later, you still have to get to a cab or rental car to make your way to your destination.

“Then there is the cost. Why would anyone think that, absent hubbing activity, the route would ever be profitable?”

Well?

Then there’s OneJet. The recipient of the largest bolus of corporate wealthfare ever doled out by the authority isn’t living up to its end of a multimillion-dollar, public-subsidy “bargain.”

You might recall that OneJet was lavished with $3 million in subsidies, loans and grants from the authority, county and commonwealth in return for promising to begin 10 new routes. It remains two short.

To its credit, the authority is talking about taking back a portion of the $1 million it gave to OneJet, which blames the delay on a move to larger jets and delays at airports in Nashville and Memphis to reconfigure their gates to accommodate those planes.

But the far better plan would have been to let the marketplace work. If there truly was/is a market for these flights, OneJet, in pursuit of profit, should risk its own money.

The bottom line remains that no authority, and not county or state government, has any business turning taxpayers into venture capitalists.

Colin McNickle is a senior fellow and media specialist at the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy (cmcnickle@alleghenyinstitute.org).