Borough To Appeal Jim Thorpe Ruling

English: Postcard picture from 1915 of a “bird’s eye view” of Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania, then known as “Mauch Chunk”. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Jim Thorpe Borough Council has voted to appeal a federal judge’s order to relinquish the famed athlete’s remains so they can be reinterred on American Indian land in Oklahoma.

Thorpe’s sons sued the borough claiming the town amounts to a museum under the 1990 Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA).

Jim Thorpe council met on Thursday and voted 6-0, with Councilman Jay Miller absent for a medical reason, to appeal a federal judge’s decision to comply with NAGPRA.

“I feel council made the right decision,” Jim Thorpe Mayor Michael J. Sofranko said on Friday.

Read more:  http://standardspeaker.com/news/borough-to-appeal-thorpe-ruling-1.1487343

Hospital Charges A Mystery To Many

If you need hip replacement surgery, you will face a wide range of charges here, depending on the hospital you choose.

Lancaster Regional Medical Center charged the most for major joint replacement surgery, $60,434, of the four hospitals here, according to a recent federal report on 2011 charges.

Across town, Lancaster General Hospital charged the least, $37,761, about $23,000 less than Regional.

But hang on to your crutches, patients.  There’s more.

Though LGH charged the least, Medicare, the federal insurance for the elderly paid it the most of all the hospitals here, $13,400.

Confused yet? Join the club.

Read more: http://lancasteronline.com/article/local/848413_Hospital-charges-a-mystery-to-many.html#ixzz2T2HQPO3o

Penn Cinema Partner Plans York Theater

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting York County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Cinema entrepreneur Penn Ketchum is heeding the advice of 19th century American newspaper editor Horace Greeley.

“Go west, young man.”

Ketchum, managing partner of Penn Cinema, intends to develop a small, luxury two-screen movie theater in York city.

But he said Friday that he has no intention of going south into Lancaster city and doing the same kind of project there.

Ketchum’s $750,000 venture in York was disclosed Thursday by York Mayor Kim Bracey in her State of the City address.

Read more: http://lancasteronline.com/article/local/848107_Penn-Cinema-partner-plans-York-theater.html#ixzz2T2FcRToY

South Side Site Becoming Pittsburgh’s Second Compressed Natural Gas Station

English: Symbol used for vehicles powered by compressed natural gas. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A former Exxon station in Station Square is becoming the city’s second compressed natural gas station with the help of state funding announced this week.

The station, located near the T station at the edge of the Smithfield Street Bridge, is currently under construction.  It will be owned by Desdemona Holdings LP and operate under the American Natural Retail brand.

Desdemona Holdings received a $372,300 grant and $248,200 loan to help complete the project.  Desdemona is a wholly owned subsidiary of Cleopatra Resources LLC, a New York-based energy company with local offices near Homestead.

A timetable for completion was not given.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/business/news/south-side-site-becoming-citys-second-cng-station-687147/#ixzz2T04Iwgfq

Area Truckers Not Troubled By I-81/Route 322 Shutdown After Tanker Fire

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Dauphin County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Just like Harrisburg area commuters, the local trucking industry is being inconvenienced by the shutdown of I-81 and Route 322, but it hasn’t been hamstrung by the subsequent delays.

Trucking executives say they’ve been able to comfortably plot new routes for their fleets of 18-wheelers around the area affected by Thursday’s explosive truck accident, and haven’t experienced anything more than a couple hours delay.

“It somewhat limits our ability to conduct business as usual,” said Jim Germak, president of Jagtrux in Marietta. “The gridlock in Harrisburg is something we have to deal with just like everybody else.  But it’s not a total panic.”

Germak, who oversees a fleet of 40 trucks that transport materials for a range of customers such as Armstrong ceiling tile in Lancaster, said his drivers suffer from the shutdown most during the day, and particularly during the morning and evening rush hours when traffic jams can extend truck trips up to two hours.

Read more:  http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2013/05/area_truckers_not_troubled_by.html#incart_m-rpt-1

Financing For Pennsylvania Turnpike/I-95 Connector Concerns Auditor General

Map of Bucks County, Pennsylvania, United States with township and municipal boundaries (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Pennsylvania Auditor General Eugene DePasquale said Friday that an unusual plan to finance construction of the I-95/Pennsylvania Turnpike connection “raises alarms” and may prompt an investigation by his office.

DePasquale said he was especially interested in why an entity was created to broker the deal, in which wealthy foreign investors would lend the turnpike $200 million in exchange for possible permanent residence in the United States.

DePasquale said his office was legally bound to wait until a transaction is completed before launching an audit, so “it may be several months or longer” before he formally investigates the turnpike plan.

“I am going to follow this situation carefully,” DePasquale said.  “It raises some alarms.  I’m not taking a position that it’s wrong yet. . . . We’ll wait till the issue is ripe for an audit.”

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/business/transportation/20130511_Financing_for_turnpike_I-95_connector_concerns_auditor_general.html#KbbfJ65OCH8owKzj.99

CHOP To Build New Facility In King Of Prussia

Location of Upper Merion Township in Montgomery County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

UPPER MERION TOWNSHIP – Realen Properties’ master plan for a multifaceted center in King of Prussia is back in full swing.

With residential construction imminent, those who may not necessarily be calling the Village at Valley Forge home will ultimately find it to be a premier destination for working, shopping, dining and, now, medical care.

The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia will break ground by the end of summer for a Specialty Care Center on the roughly nine acres it now owns at the corner of North Gulph Road and South Goddard Boulevard.

CHOP at the Village at Valley Forge, expected to be completed by December, 2014, will replace an existing location the hospital has leased on Mall Boulevard since 1997.

Read more:  http://business-news.thestreet.com/the-mercury/story/chop-build-new-facility-king-prussia-0/1

Route 422 East Reopens After Bomb Scare At Wawa Amity (video)

Westbound U.S. Route 422 (Benjamin Franklin Highway) approaching the intersection with Pennsylvania Route 662 in Douglassville, Pennsylvania. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

DOUGLASSVILLE, PA – The Wawa on Benjamin Franklin Highway was closed for over an hour on Friday night while police investigated a possible bomb threat.

It turns out, the threat was a false alarm because the bomb was actually an electrical conduit covered in PVC pipe from an old lamp in the back parking lot.

Police responded to the Wawa around 5:30 p.m. and when they arrived, the connivence store had already been cleared of customers and the employees were sitting on the far edge of the grass lawn near the westbound highway traffic.

The continuos rush hour westbound traffic was a strange juxtaposition to empty eastbound lanes of the highway.

Read more:  http://www.pottsmerc.com/article/20130511/NEWS01/130519886/route-422-east-reopens-after-bomb-scare-at-wawa-amity-(video)#full_story

Pottstown Police Use Pepper Spray To Break Up Fight After Domestic Disturbance

Location of Pottstown in Montgomery County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Editor’s note:  Let me guess….another rental property.

POTTSTOWN — Police had to use pepper spray to break up an altercation after an alleged domestic disturbance escalated on Friday afternoon.

Around 1 p.m., borough police responded to a call for a domestic dispute in the 500 block of Chestnut Street but when police arrived, the situation moved into the street.

Pottstown Police Chief Richard Drumheller said a man at the residence hit the windshield of a car multiple times, possibly with a baseball bat, and kicked in the front door of the three-story home. The residents locked themselves in the basement.

Read more:  http://www.pottsmerc.com/article/20130511/NEWS01/130519922/pottstown-police-use-pepper-spray-to-break-up-fight-after-domestic-disturbance#full_story

Letter May Signal Movement On Keim Street Bridge Project

Editor’s note:  Replacing this bridge won’t happen soon enough!

POTTSTOWN — After being closed to traffic for nearly three years, the Keim Street Bridge project is seeing signs of life.

A letter sent to the borough council invites it to choose a volunteer to participate on a committee that will look at the historical significance of the area surrounding the Keim Street Bridge.

The letter was sent Lansdale based CHRS Inc., a company that specializes in making sure building projects comply with state and federal laws on behalf of the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation.

For residents and businesses on both sides of the bridge looking for an end to the waiting period, some movement on the project could finally begin.

Read more:  http://www.pottsmerc.com/article/20130511/NEWS01/130519888/letter-may-signal-movement-on-keim-street-bridge-project#full_story

Historic Reading Train Station A Hub Again

Louise Frasso has fond memories of the childhood day trips she would take from Reading by train.

“My grandmother had a pass on the railroad and she would take my siblings and I to Philadelphia,” said the now-86-year-old Muhlenberg Township woman.

All those trips started and ended with the Franklin Street Station in downtown Reading.

The rail and bus hub, which was built in 1930, was still in its infancy when Frasso would travel with her family. It served Berks County for decades before the last train left in 1981 and the station fell into disrepair.

Friday, at a ceremony rededicating the station, Frasso sat grinning ear to ear as she listened to local officials discuss the work that went into restoring it.  The station will be a hub for BARTA bus service.

Read more:  http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=476498