Alleged Domestic Assault Draws Large Police Response In Pottstown

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

POTTSTOWN, PA — Police took a man into custody Thursday night after he allegedly assaulted a woman and dragged her into his house after she tried to leave.

Around 7:21 p.m., Pottstown police were dispatched to the 1400 block of Cherry Street for the report of a domestic disturbance outside.

Witnesses told police they saw a man, who has not been identified, forcibly pulling a woman into a house on the block. Police said they were told it looked like she was trying to flee from the man and that she may have tried to escape more than once.

Residents also reportedly told police that the man and woman were arguing for most of the day. It’s believed that the two are in a relationship but unclear to what extent.

Read more: http://www.pottsmerc.com/general-news/20140710/alleged-domestic-assault-draws-large-police-response-in-pottstown

2 Top Corporations Move Headquarters To Pittsburgh’s ‘Dynamic Marketplace’

Duquesne University’s view of the Pittsburgh skyline. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Two regional companies announced Wednesday that they will make Pittsburgh their headquarters — beckoned from their suburban bases by a desire to be in a thriving big city that could help increase their profiles.

Michael Baker International and the parent company of First National Bank of Pennsylvania aren’t pulling up the stakes and relocating all their employees to Pittsburgh from their old headquarters. They have simply identified Pittsburgh as the place they will call home.

Michael Baker International LLC, a $1.2 billion construction-engineering company, will move its headquarters and 65 workers from Moon to the two top floors of Bank of New York Mellon Center, Downtown, in December. It will still retain a significant presence in Moon.

F.N.B. Corp. said it will ditch Hermitage, Mercer County, as the headquarters city for the region’s third-largest bank. It said the decision to make the Pittsburgh North Shore its home base will not impact employees.

Read more: http://triblive.com/business/headlines/6418044-74/pittsburgh-delie-national#ixzz375QXA4JW

Follow us: @triblive on Twitter | triblive on Facebook

Pittsburgh-Allegheny County SEA Moves Ahead On Redevelopment Of Civic Arena Site

Mellon Arena in downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Pittsburgh-Allegheny County Sports & Exhibition Authority board has taken another step in preparing the former Civic Arena site for redevelopment.

Board members authorized a $555,685 contract with Michael Baker Jr. today to do final design work for four roads — Centre Avenue, Washington Place, Bedford Avenue, and Crawford Street — that border the 28-acre site in the lower Hill District.

Plans call for those existing roads to be repaved, with upgraded signals, intersections and sidewalks at an estimated cost of $12 million.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/local/city/2014/07/10/Pittsburgh-Allegheny-County-SEA-moves-ahead-on-redevelopment-of-Civic-Arena-site/stories/201407100268#ixzz375Nwumqr

Thaddeus Stevens Bridge Opens To Traffic

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

“I was hoping the bridge would be open,” Robert Haehnle said. “I didn’t think I’d be the first car.”

But Haehnle happened to time it just right. He was the first motorist to cross the new Lititz Pike bridge — officially, the Thaddeus Stevens Bridge — when PennDOT opened it to southbound traffic about noon Wednesday.

Haehnle, a retired civil and environmental engineer who lives with his wife in Brethren Village, said he was on his way to Water Street Mission to have lunch with a man he mentors there.

He goes into Lancaster fairly regularly, so the construction has been a bother, he said. The congestion led to his being hit in a fender-bender about a month and a half ago.

Read more: http://lancasteronline.com/news/local/thaddeus-stevens-bridge-opens-to-traffic/article_44a4ab50-07c4-11e4-8c42-0017a43b2370.html

Tornado Confirmed Near New Albany: Over 1,000 Customers Remained Without Power Wednesday

Map of Bradford County, Pennsylvania, USA with township and municipal bondaries. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The National Weather Service has confirmed that a tornado touched down near New Albany Tuesday evening.

Tuesday’s storms blew a mobile home on Marsh Road off its foundation, collapsed a barn across the street, knocked down trees and power lines in several areas and caused the loss of power to thousands of electric customers, over 1,000 of whom were still without power Wednesday.

Downed trees and other storm damage was also reported in Overton Township, in the Wyalusing area and in Sullivan County.

A National Weather Service storm survey team confirmed Wednesday that a tornado occurred Tuesday in the New Albany area with damage of EF-1 magnitude, according to the NWS at Binghamton, N.Y. An EF-1 tornado has wind speeds of 86 to 110 miles per hour.

Read more: http://thedailyreview.com/news/tornado-confirmed-near-new-albany-over-1-000-customers-remained-without-power-wednesday-1.1716593

SteelStacks’ Success With World Cup Parties Raises Curiosity About Future Sporting Events

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

Curt Mosel, for good reasons that didn’t initially occur to me, shot down my ideas.

I envisioned a cool fall night sitting on a lawn chair, beer in hand, watching the World Series among fellow baseball fans on the big screens at SteelStacks.

Then came the potential of football fans bundling up on Super Bowl Sunday and heading down to the South Bethlehem venue, where restaurant vendors would compete to serve the best hot chili to warm up the crowd as they watched the big game on the same screens.

The spring would come around, and those screens in the shadows of the Bethlehem Steel blast furnaces would air the NCAA tournament, giving folks in the Lehigh Valley an excuse to leave work a little early and cheer on an underdog while they took in perhaps the first day of pleasant weather after a long winter.

Read more: http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/nick-falsone/index.ssf/2014/07/steelstacks_success_with_world.html

Homeownership In Philadelphia Tumbles, Report Says

The homeownership rate in Philadelphia declined sharply between 2000 and 2012, primarily as a consequence of the prolonged and sweeping real estate downturn that followed the bursting of the housing bubble in 2006-07, according to a study released Wednesday by the Pew Charitable Trusts.

Although Philadelphia’s homeownership rate remains high among the nation’s 30 largest cities, the 7.1 percentage-point drop in owner-occupied units – from 59.3 percent to 52.2 percent, or by 47,082 – was surpassed only by Phoenix, which suffered record foreclosures and price declines when the market swooned, the Pew study shows.

Stagnant incomes, rising home prices, and tight credit, all products of the recession, have cut into owner-occupied numbers, the study showed.

In addition, young professionals who once were the chief source of first-time buyers are either wary of homeownership or burdened by student-loan debt.

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/classifieds/real_estate/20140710_Homeownership_in_Philadelphia_tumbles__report_says.html#PLLsApVZLecmI3H2.99

Montco’s Lynnewood Hall Up For Sale

Lynnewood Hall (Peter A. B. Widener mansion), Elkins Park, PA (1897–1900). Photo: May 2007. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Time and taxes have finally forced the owner of Lynnewood Hall, a grand Horace Trumbauer estate in Elkins Park, to put the property up for sale.

The listing appeared Monday on the real estate website Zillow.com for $20 million.

The sales pitch is short and sweet: “A true neoclassical revival masterpiece. … Main house 110 rooms. 70,000 sq. ft. of living space & 33.85 gated acres.”

The words, accompanied by an exterior photo, belie both the grandeur and the bittersweet history of one of Philadelphia’s largest intact Gilded Age mansions.

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/classifieds/real_estate/20140710_Montco_s_Lynnewood_Hall_up_for_sale.html#So0Ei7q5wjUc2PUl.99

Cali, 18-Year-Old Jaguar At Elmwood Park Zoo In Norristown, Has Died

NORRISTOWN, PA — The Elmwood Park Zoo announced the passing of Cali (pronounced “kah-lee”), an 18-year-old female jaguar, on Wednesday. She had been receiving chemotherapy treatment after being diagnosed with lymphoma in the fall of 2013. Zoo staff witnessed a substantial decline in Cali’s condition and made the decision to euthanize her Wednesday morning.

The jaguar, named after the Hindu Goddess Kali and whose name means “the black one,” was unlike typical spotted jaguars. Cali’s unique black coat was caused by melanism, a common condition among felines that is caused by an excess of the black pigment, melanin.

Cali was born at the Marion Nature Park in Ocala, Fla. on Sept. 19, 1995. She arrived at the Elmwood Park Zoo on Jan. 1, 1996. Cali was paired with Anasazi, Elmwood Park Zoo’s 2-year-old spotted male jaguar.

Read more: http://www.timesherald.com/lifestyle/20140710/cali-18-year-old-jaguar-at-elmwood-park-zoo-in-norristown-has-died

Sly Fox Planning To Move Goat Races To Pottstown

POTTSTOWN, PA — If Jixxer hopes to repeat as Sly Fox Goat Race champion or Spartacus wins legitimately, it appears that it will have to be done in Pottstown, not East Pikeland, next year.

Sly Fox has let borough officials in Pottstown know of plans to move the annual spring Bockfest to Pottstown’s Circle of Progress from its traditional location at the brew pub along Route 113.

Read more: http://www.pottsmerc.com/general-news/20140709/sly-fox-planning-to-move-goat-races-to-pottstown