Chris Kelly: Scranton Voters Stick With What They Know Is Killing Them

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

The table was set for reform-hungry Scranton voters to nominate successors to three-term Mayor Chris Doherty, but they showed little appetite for change at City Hall in Tuesday’s primary election.

Just under 37 percent of city Democrats voted; about 19 percent of their Republican neighbors. The turnout was shockingly anemic, considering taxpayers’ endless braying about being bled dry by a parasitic government.

Turnout was similarly listless countywide (35.3 percent), but at least voters supported a government study commission that could lead to real change and voted to keep county row offices, rejecting a naked power grab by the incumbent county commissioners.  Jim Wansacz, Corey O’Brien and Pat “Cheese” O’Malley weren’t up for re-nomination, but voters let them know they were lucky not to be on the ballot.

City voters sent a different message:  Forget belt-tightening!  Bring on the bankruptcy buffet!

Read more:  http://thetimes-tribune.com/opinion/editorials-columns/christopher-j-kelly/chris-kelly-scranton-voters-stick-with-what-they-know-is-killing-them-1.1495526

Lackawanna County And Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees Reach Tentative Agreement On New Stadium

Cap logo of the New York Yankees (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Lackawanna County and SWB Yankees LLC have reached a tentative agreement that officials believe will keep the New York Yankees Triple-A baseball team playing in Moosic for decades to come, the county announced Friday.

The two sides resolved the final outstanding issues late Thursday night and handed the deal over to lawyers to reduce to a formal, written contract, Commissioner Corey D. O’Brien said. Both sides are confident enough in expecting a final written agreement that they have invited contractors to move in equipment to start work on the up to $40 million new stadium, where the team would play starting next year.

“It’s a substantial step forward,” Mr. O’Brien said. “We still need a signed document.”

A county announcement said the two sides “are on the verge of an agreement,” but Mr. O’Brien and Commissioner Jim Wansacz agreed with the characterization of events as a tentative agreement

Read more: http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/county-baseball-deal-close-enough-to-prep-for-demolition-1.1296307#ixzz1rMzp7p4f