Sep 30 2013

Prosecutors Will Charge Wilkes-Barre Man With Homicide

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

Prosecutors plan to charge Vito Aiello on Monday afternoon with an open count of criminal homicide in the shooting death of his wife last week.

Aiello, 48, of 389 Andover St., Wilkes-Barre, is accused of fatally shooting his wife, 47-year-old Jane Aiello, before turning the gun on himself late Thursday.

Vito Aiello remains hospitalized at Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center, Plains Township, with gunshot wound to the face. Prosecutors say he is severely injured, but expected to survive.

His arraignment is scheduled for 2 p.m. at the hospital.

Sep 30 2013

Lawyer Alleges Two Harassed In Coatesville

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

Since exposing racist and sexist texts between the former Coatesville Area School District superintendent and former high school athletic director, two district employees have been subjected to continuing harassment from administrators, including the acting superintendent, a lawyer for the two has alleged.

In an e-mail to the school board Sunday, Sam Stretton also called on acting superintendent Angelo Romaniello to step down.

In response, school board president Neil Campbell issued a statement on behalf of the district, calling Stretton’s claim of harassment “ridiculous.” The district was simply following policy regarding litigation it believed was possibly forthcoming on behalf of the two employees, technology director Abdallah Hawa and Teresa Powell, the acting assistant superintendent, Campbell said.

In a brief phone call Sunday, Romaniello said he “extremely, vehemently disagrees” with Stretton’s allegations. He would not comment further.

Sep 30 2013

Sun, Music, Beer Brings Crowd To Sly Fox Can Jam Festival In Pottstown

POTTSTOWN, PA — A combination of perfect weather, lively music and Frisbees brought thousands out to the Circle of Progress Saturday for the annual Sly Fox Can Jam.

“The weather is beautiful,” said Mike Geary. “Great music. Great crowd.”

Crowds gathered in the grass lot next to the Pottstown Sly Fox location where a stage was set up for the acts which came through, headlined by Toy Soldiers.

“We’re big music fans and we really wanted to find some good bands that play music you can enjoy beer to,” said Sly Fox Brewmaster Brian O’Reilly.

Sep 30 2013

Pottstown Municipal Airport Community Day Highlights Aviation ‘Gem’

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

POTTSTOWN, PA — With planes taking off every few minutes, excited children couldn’t stop pointing and calling to their parents as they stood on the tarmac at Pottstown Municipal Airport’s Community Day.

“They’re both plane fanatics,” said Rob Moyzan of his children, who traveled from Jim Thorpe for the annual event.

Moyzan’s son and daughter stood near the gates separating spectators from the runway where varied models of propeller planes taxied by.

Further up the runway, Chris Moyer’s grandson, Hayden, swiveled his head from his position atop his grandfather’s shoulder. He patted his grandfather’s arm every time a plane came roaring by on take-off, shouting, “Look!”

Sep 30 2013

Union Township Wants Racetrack Developers To Pay For Route 724 Upgrades

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

After months of discussing potential traffic nightmares, Union Township supervisors want the developers of a proposed motorsports park to abide by PennDOT-required improvements to Route 724.

The issue arose after representatives from Ethan Michael Inc., developer of the proposed Liberty Bell Motorsports Park, asked to remove a potential campground site from the original land development plan.

The plan was submitted more than a decade ago, and the campground site no longer meets Department of Environmental Protection requirements due to recently identified exceptional-value wetlands.

EMI hopes to continue with the motorsports park portion and potentially revisit the campground plan.

Sep 30 2013

Owners Donate CNA Building In Reading To I-LEAD Charter School

A 1947 topographic map of the Reading, Pennsylvania area. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A major piece of the downtown Reading puzzle has a new owner.

The five-story, 260,000-square-foot CNA Insurance building at Fourth and Penn streets has been donated to the I-LEAD Charter School, company and school officials said.

“It’s a blessing from the sky,” said Angel Figueroa, vice president for resource and development at I-LEAD. “It’s going to change the lives of many young people.”

Officials from CNA and I-LEAD are expected to officially announce the donation at an event this afternoon.

Sep 28 2013

First Nonprofit Supermarket Opens In Chester

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

CHESTER, PA. — In Chester, a city where hard times often plow under shiny promises, a hunger-relief agency’s pledge to build America’s first nonprofit supermarket was greeted skeptically at first.

But Philabundance may be confounding local doubters. Its Fare & Square grocery store, seven years in the making, is ready to open its doors this morning, a rare oasis in what has been called a food desert.

“No one believed this was coming,” said Denina Hood, a Chester native and an employee of the store that will become the first supermarket in town since 2001. “But this store isn’t going anywhere.”

Usually in the business of distributing donated food to pantries in the Delaware Valley, Philabundance, a nonprofit, has augmented its mission and become a store owner, charging prices 8 percent to 10 percent lower than small urban grocers.

Sep 28 2013

Giant Duck’s Arrival Paints Pittsburgh Quack And Yellow

English: The source of the Ohio River at “The Point” in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. The Allegheny River (left) and the Monongahela River (right) join to form the Ohio here. The West End Bridge crosses the Ohio in the foreground. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Giant Rubber Duck’s fans were not disappointed.

Those fans — gathered on the Clemente Bridge and the Riverwalk and the steps of Point State Park by twos and threes, and then dozens and hundreds — numbered in the many thousands of people all packed together and squinting downriver into the sun on Friday afternoon to await its arrival.

And then, just as the tempers of hot children and harried mothers began to fray, bored teenagers returned their attention to their smartphones and grandparents began looking for a place to sit down, a flash of graceful yellow floated into view from around a bend in the river.

“There it is!” “Look, there it is!” “It’s here!” people shouted, nudging their friends and pointing downstream. And then, laughing and cheering and clapping and capturing videos on their phones, they watched entranced as the 40-foot-tall, 30-foot-wide rubber duck and its placid smile drew closer.

Sep 28 2013

Walgreens To Close Lehigh Valley Distribution Center, Lay Off 400

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

Walgreens will close its distribution center in Hanover Township, Northampton County, marking one of the largest layoffs in the Lehigh Valley in recent years.

The facility’s 400 employees will be laid off in phases, beginning in mid-January and concluding in March. Employees at the center, at 125 Commerce Way in Lehigh Valley Industrial Park IV, were informed of the decision Thursday.

“Our Lehigh Valley Distribution Center has served the company since 1991, making the decision to close it a difficult one,” Emily Hartwig of Walgreens corporate media relations said Friday.

Hartwig said the layoffs are part of the drugstore chain’s effort to maximize efficiencies at its distribution centers across the region.

Sep 28 2013

Mother Says Victim’s Life Was On An Upswing

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

The mother of a woman slain in Northampton County Sunday remembered the time her daughter helped deliver a baby goat about two years ago on the family farm in Hunlock Creek.

“The goat needed help and, as gross as it was, she reached in saved that animal,” said Elaine Smith, who lives in Nanticoke.

Amanda Stratford, 28, of Wilkes-Barre and Nanticoke, was found dead around 11:30 Sunday night in a pickup truck in Easton. The Northampton County coroner ruled her death a homicide after she was shot multiple times.

Smith and her husband did not get word of her death until Wednesday when the coroner called. Unanswered questions swirl around the woman’s death. Run-ins with the county judicial system speckled her past, and Easton police say her death was drug-related. Smith knows her daughter had trouble with the law years ago, but she said things seemed to be on the upswing.

Sep 28 2013

Wilkes-Barre Wife Killed In Domestic Dispute, Police Say

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

WILKES-BARRE, PA — Residents living on Andover Street said they knew Vito Joseph Aiello was capable of harming his wife, Jane.

Their concerns became real late Thursday night when he allegedly killed her in a shooting before turning the gun on himself. He survived a self-inflicted gunshot wound to his face, police said. The couple would have celebrated their 22nd wedding anniversary today.

Authorities are treating the case as a murder/attempted suicide.

An autopsy is scheduled today at Wilkes-Barre General Hospital.

Sep 28 2013

Coatesville’s Como A Steady Success – Until The Texting

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

Around noon on Father’s Day, Steve Brazzle texted Rich Como, his onetime principal at Coatesville High School.

“Happy Father’s Day pop pop,” Brazzle wrote, poking fun at Como’s age.

“My son!” replied Como, 67. “Much appreciated and thanks as always for remembering me. That does mean so much.”

Brazzle, who is black, wrote back: “Of course. Thanks for being who you are.”

Sep 28 2013

Pottstown Planners Approve Family Dollar Project

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

POTTSTOWN — With a 4-0 vote, the borough planning commission Thursday night gave unanimous approval to a plan to redevelop the former Rosenberry’s Grocery store at the corner of Eighth Street and Farmington Avenue into a Family Dollar Store.

Planning commission member Deb Penrod was absent and did not vote.

The approved plan calls for demolishing the 23,299-square-foot building that stands at the 1.7-acre site now, and was most recently occupied by McCabe’s Auto Supply. The building is now empty.

In its place, the company has proposed an 8,240-square-foot Family Dollar store which would be “much smaller and much closer to being in conformity with the zoning,” said lawyer John Ryan, who spoke on behalf of the developer.

Sep 28 2013

Governor Would Sign Transportation Bills

HARRISBURG, PA – Amid Pennsylvania’s stalled debate over how to raise more money for highways and transit agencies, state Transportation Secretary Barry Schoch said Friday that Gov. Tom Corbett would sign either of two plans that have led debate in the legislature.

Corbett has not to date publicly endorsed any specific transportation funding plan in the Legislature after a $1.8 billion plan he released in February failed to gain much traction with lawmakers.

But a new willingness by the governor to embrace either bill is a sign that he is no longer willing to let disagreement over some elements of each bill stop him from making it law.

“He wants a transportation bill on his desk,” Schoch said. “What passes both parts of the Legislature I believe he’ll sign.”

Sep 28 2013

GoggleWorks Apartments Tax-Exempt, Judge Rules

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

A Berks County judge has ruled that the GoggleWorks Apartments are completely tax-exempt, a decision that will save the five-story complex at Second and Washington streets $29,500 a year.

The order, handed down this week by Judge Scott E. Lash overturned the Berks County Board of Assessment Appeals, which decided in December that 80 percent of the building is taxable since 80 percent of the 59 apartments are being offered at market rate.

Built by the nonprofit Our City Reading, the complex is owned and managed by the Reading Housing Authority.

In a 26-page opinion, Lash said the market-rate apartments are tax-exempt because they fall within the scope and purpose of the housing authority’s operation, in this case to develop and revitalize a local community.

Sep 27 2013

Man Arrested In Shooting Death In Hill District

Locator map with the Homewood West neighborhood in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania highlighted. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Pittsburgh police arrested a man late Thursday in connection with the shooting death of a man with gang ties last week in the Hill District.

Jay Morrison, 37, is scheduled to be arraigned today on charges of criminal homicide and a firearms violation in the killing of Harold Cabbagestalk, 40.

Morrison was arrested about 11:35 p.m. at Lady Di’s bar in Homewood based on a lead from the U.S. Marshal’s Fugitive Task Force, Pittsburgh police major crimes unit Lt. Daniel Hermann said in a press release.

Sep 27 2013

Moving Harrisburg Forward Might Be Impossible Without Settling Present

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

The forum was supposed to focus on the future of Harrisburg. And to a large extent, it did. But the reality of city’s present casts a long shadow over any discussion in the capital these days.

At some point in the next three months, it is likely the Harrisburg recovery plan, whether you support it or not, is going to go into effect, essentially eliminating the city’s massive debts and putting its government back on the path to some form of solvency.

How much it is able to carry that past the next four years remains unknown. But the future of the city, whether it stagnates or begins a new renaissance, will largely be in its own hands, unencumbered from debt obligations.

At its core, argues developer Ralph Vartan, is a simple equation. Of the 58,000 people who work in the city, only about 10,000 live in the city. That is further unbalanced by the fact that over the last several decades the regional population has almost doubled, while Harrisburg’s has stagnated.

Sep 27 2013

Wilkes-Barre Police Investigating Deadly Shooting

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

WILKES-BARRE, PA — City police and the Luzerne County District Attorney’s Office are investigating a shooting that claimed the life of a 47-year-old woman and critically injuring a 48-year-old man on Andover Street late Thursday night.

Police said the shooting at 389 Andover St. occurred just after 11 p.m.

Sep 27 2013

Activists Free Hundreds Of Mink Now ‘Running Around All Over’ Cambria County

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

For nearly 60 years, George Rykola has raised mink on this quiet, bucolic farm in rural Cambria County.

He and his wife, Anna, live next door to thousands of mink they keep and pelt for market. Their relatives live close, too, and help on the farm about 90 minutes east of Pittsburgh.

“We’ve always lived a peaceful life here,” Mr. Rykola, 92, said.

That is until early Wednesday morning, when he learned someone had come on his property overnight and released hundreds of mink from their cages, prompting a police investigation and sudden media attention.

Sep 27 2013

Dollar General, Like Its Shoppers, Weathers Tough Times

Four years ago, Jacqueline Horne lost her job as a business agent for a union and became a regular shopper at the Dollar General store in Pennsauken.

On a recent visit, the 46-year-old mother of two, who now works part time at a Wal-Mart store, bought cleanser for 50 cents, candy for $1, press-on nails for $1 (she said she can’t afford to get her nails done), and spices for $2.25, the most expensive item in her cart.

“Actually, it turns out to be cheaper,” Horne said of items at the Dollar General at 3400 Haddonfield Rd., on the border of Pennsauken and Cherry Hill. “When you’re on a budget in this economy, you watch everything.

“They really do have everything you need.”

	magman007 on Murderer Caleb Fairley Continu…
	Scranton PA – Electr… on Scranton PA – Electric C…
	Shipping Containers… on Aldi Sees Growth And Expa…
	Michael Kuznar on Phoenixville Borough Council T…
	Aldi Looks to Expand… on Aldi Sees Growth And Expa…

Roy's Rants – For Your Information

Monthly Archives: September 2013

Prosecutors Will Charge Wilkes-Barre Man With Homicide

Lawyer Alleges Two Harassed In Coatesville

Sun, Music, Beer Brings Crowd To Sly Fox Can Jam Festival In Pottstown

Pottstown Municipal Airport Community Day Highlights Aviation ‘Gem’

Union Township Wants Racetrack Developers To Pay For Route 724 Upgrades

Owners Donate CNA Building In Reading To I-LEAD Charter School

First Nonprofit Supermarket Opens In Chester

Giant Duck’s Arrival Paints Pittsburgh Quack And Yellow

Walgreens To Close Lehigh Valley Distribution Center, Lay Off 400

Mother Says Victim’s Life Was On An Upswing

Wilkes-Barre Wife Killed In Domestic Dispute, Police Say

Coatesville’s Como A Steady Success – Until The Texting

Pottstown Planners Approve Family Dollar Project

Governor Would Sign Transportation Bills

GoggleWorks Apartments Tax-Exempt, Judge Rules

Man Arrested In Shooting Death In Hill District

Moving Harrisburg Forward Might Be Impossible Without Settling Present

Wilkes-Barre Police Investigating Deadly Shooting

Activists Free Hundreds Of Mink Now ‘Running Around All Over’ Cambria County

Dollar General, Like Its Shoppers, Weathers Tough Times