Pottsgrove Manor To Host Living History Sundays

Pottstown, PA – Step into the past at Pottsgrove Manor and enjoy an afternoon learning about colonial trades and pastimes.

On August 18 and 25, 2013 from 1:00pm to 4:00pm, Pottsgrove Manor’s living history volunteers, dressed in colonial period clothing, will be living life the 18th-century way.  Activities schedule for August 18th are hearth cooking, sewing, tape weaving, and hornsmithing.  Activities scheduled for August 25th are English country dancing, hearth cooking, and sewing. Visitors can watch, learn, and even join in the fun!

A donation of $2.00 per person is suggested for this program. Guests can also tour the museum’s current exhibit, “Forging a Lifestyle: Ironworking with the Potts’ Family,” during their visit.

The exhibit can also be viewed during a guided tour of Pottsgrove Manor during regular museum hours now through November 4, 2013.  Regular museum hours are Tuesday to Saturday from 10:00am to 4:00pm and Sunday from 1:00pm to 4:00pm.  Tours are given on the hour.  The last tour of the day begins at 3:00pm.  The site is closed Mondays and major holidays.  Groups of ten or more should pre-register by calling 610-326-4014.

Pottstown Manor is located at 100 West King Street near the intersection of King Street and Route 100, just off Route 422, in Pottstown, Pennsylvania.  Pottsgrove Manor is operated by MontgomeryCounty under the direction of the Parks, Trails, and Historic Sites Division of the Assets and Infrastructure Department.

For more information, please call 610-326-4014, or visit the website at www.montcopa.org/pottsgrovemanor.  Like Pottsgrove Manor on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pottsgrovemanor.

Clarion University To Dissolve College Of Education

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

Clarion University plans to let go up to 40 employees campuswide — including 22 faculty — and dissolve its college of education under a broad restructuring intended to offset sharply lower state aid, rising costs and enrollment losses.

The job cuts are part of a two-year workforce plan that university president Karen Whitney and other administrators say was drafted to help Clarion correct budget problems and position the state-owned university with 6,500 students for the future.

The plan discusses areas where Clarion intends to add resources, among them nursing, and other areas recommended for elimination, including music education. It says departments and programs within Clarion’s College of Education and Human Services would be reorganized into other schools.

The idea is to ensure that Clarion by July 1, 2015, can meet future challenges and “continue serving students, employers and community partners as a public university,” the 32-page document states.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/state/clarion-u-to-dissolve-college-of-education-699536/#ixzz2c9UiRE6d

Driver Kills Man Who Told Him To Slow Down

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

One of the last things Fred John Kleman Jr. ever did was tell a speeding driver to slow down.

Minutes later, he was dead in what witnesses characterized as an extreme case of road rage – the furious driver sped back to the scene and ran Kleman down, then tried to beat him with a metal bar, according to state police.

“He was saying to slow down because we were worried about how they race up the street,” said Kleman’s girlfriend, Cathy Huk, 54, who said she knew the Plymouth man for about 13 years.  “He was just telling him to slow down and that guy wanted to kill him.”

State police arrested Lorenzo Burgos, 21, of 469 Third St., Plymouth, on charges of homicide by motor vehicle, involuntary manslaughter, two counts of reckless endangerment and one count each of careless driving and reckless driving.

Read more: http://citizensvoice.com/news/driver-kills-man-who-told-him-to-slow-down-1.1536993

Bass Pro Shops Angling For Store At Old Bethlehem Steel Plant

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

Outdoors retailer Bass Pro Shops could help jump-start major redevelopment projects, including a possible hotel and convention center, at the former Bethlehem Steel plant.

Developers have been in talks with city officials over the last four or five months about introducing the company’s second store to Pennsylvania near the Sands casino in south Bethlehem, a source familiar with the project said.

Mayor John Callahan acknowledged Bass Pro was one of several retailers that have expressed interest in a site in or near the cavernous No. 2 Machine Shop near Sands’ Luxury Outlets.  He said such a retailer would attract customers from well beyond the Lehigh Valley.

He said he did “a little reconnaissance” at the closest Bass Pro store he could find — near Harrisburg.

Read more: http://www.mcall.com/news/breaking/mc-bethlehem-sands-bass-pro-shop-20130815,0,5894889.story#ixzz2c9MnWQyN
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Cool Weekend Ahead In Philadelphia; Heat Returns Next Week

The logo of the United States National Weather Service. The source page states that is not an “official” version but it looks very close to the version used on NWS’s website. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Philadelphians can expect a few more days of cool temperatures — but the August heat is expected to be back by the middle of next week.

The National Weather Service is calling for a high temperature of 82 degrees Saturday and 78 degrees Sunday.

Those forecasts are low for August: Sunday’s predicted high would be 7 degrees below normal.

The work week is also slated to start off cool, with an expected high of 82 degrees Monday.

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/news/Cool_weekend_ahead_in_Philadelphia_heat_returns_next_week.html#S03kZvVfoPyWQ6VL.99

Changing Skyline: PHA, Homeowners In Stalemate Over Plans For Empty Public-Housing Tower

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

Kimberly Mathis put up with plenty when the public-housing tower that shadows her little Germantown street was inhabited, but things got worse after the Philadelphia Housing Authority emptied the apartments in 2011 in preparation for demolition.  The drug dealers, who had done a brisk trade inside the Queen Lane high-rise, quickly shifted business to the sidewalks below.  They even dragged a set of bleachers to a spot across from Mathis’ house, which she bought from Habitat for Humanity and shares with a disabled daughter.

That was the last straw.  Furious, Mathis says, she grabbed an ax and proceeded to hack the bleachers into firewood.  The dealers scattered like so many roaches, taking up new positions a block away.  She says her stretch of Priscilla Street has been dealer-free ever since.

If only getting rid of the notorious Queen Lane tower were as simple.

In the two tumultuous years since PHA announced plans to replace the graceless, 16-story misfit with 55 rental houses, the agency’s relationship with neighborhood homeowners has gone from bad to worse.  For a while, it seemed that the project would enable PHA, which is still recovering from the Carl Greene scandal, to showcase a gentler, more collaborative style. Instead, the agency now finds itself in the position of ramming through a problematic design.

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/home/20130816_Changing_Skyline__PHA__homeowners_in_stalemate_over_plans_for_empty_eyesore.html#VDGH3TPO8jgUeyys.99

Montco Mansion Conflict May Finally Be Settled

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

A decadelong legal battle over the historic 44-acre Maybrook estate in Lower Merion Township could, at long litigation last, be nearing an end.

This week, the Narberth Borough Council voted, 6-0, to accept a settlement with Merloc Partners, the property’s owner, that would end the lawsuit.

If a Montgomery County Court judge signs off on it and the township gives the development plan its final blessing, Merloc can proceed to build a complex of 250 apartments on the property near the Wynnewood train station.

“It’s a great thing to clean the slate and have no litigation,” Narberth Solicitor Marc Jonas said. “This could have been another four or five years of litigation.”

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/news/breaking/20130816_Montco_mansion_conflict_may_finally_be_settled.html#2zWeReZbZuKHFlwJ.99

North Coventry Seeks Court Approval To Build On Preserved Land

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

NORTH COVENTRY — Township supervisors have petitioned Chester County Court for permission to build a new police and public works building on land originally deeded as open space.

A hearing has been scheduled on Oct. 22 at 9:30 a.m. at the Chester County Justice Center to determine whether the township can use 12 acres of a 22-acre tract located along Route 100, just south of Town Square Plaza for a municipal services building.

Township officials believe the land is well-suited for both the police department and the road crew because of its proximity to Route 100, and because it is situated near the township’s population center.  What’s more, since it is already in the township’s possession, using that land saves taxpayers the cost of purchasing property for a much needed municipal building.

However, at least one township resident has come out staunchly against constructing a municipal facility on land set aside as open space.

Read more: http://www.pottsmerc.com/article/20130815/NEWS01/130819634/north-coventry-seeks-court-approval-to-build-on-preserved-land#full_story

Red Ink Intensifies For 2 Reading Civic Centers

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

The numbers aren’t final, but Reading’s two civic center venues likely will take another operating loss of about $800,000, as paid attendance continues to dwindle.

The Berks County Convention Center Authority said Thursday that the anticipated loss from the season that ended June 30 is similar to the $786,000 loss posted the prior season.

“The unaudited numbers are no better this year than last year,” Treasurer Carl D. Herbein said.

Paid attendance has fallen 16 percent over the past five years for the Sovereign Center arena and Sovereign Performing Arts Center theater, said Chairman P. Michael Ehlerman.

Read more: http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=502751