Lackawanna State Forest To Grow By 3,000 Acres

Locator Map of Lackawanna State Forest, Pennsylvania, United States (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

CONYNGHAM TOWNSHIP, PA — When state Sen. John Yudichak and state Rep. Gerald Mullery were growing up, they used to play in the shadow of the Avondale Mine area and the Plymouth flats.

The two legislators, both 43 and friends since boyhood, are familiar with the landscape that Friday became part of the Enhance Penn’s Woods project — a two-year, more than $200 million initiative launched by Gov. Tom Corbett to repair and improve Pennsylvania’s state parks and forests.

“John and I have the coal chips in our knees to prove it,” Mullery, D-Newport Township, said. “And now we’re here today to preserve and reclaim mine-scarred land so our children and grandchildren will have pristine and maintained natural areas to enjoy.”

At a chilly news conference Friday on the banks of the Susquehanna River, Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Secretary Ellen Ferretti announced the state will add more than 3,000 acres to the Lackawanna State Forest with the acquisition of the Mocanaqua tract in Conyngham, Newport and Slocum townships.

Read more: http://timesleader.com/news/news/1299045/Lackawanna-State-Forest-to-grow-by-3000-acres

Attorney General Kathleen Kane, Hazleton Police Chief Hail Success

HAZLETON, PA — Attorney General Kathleen Kane and Police Chief Frank DeAndrea pointed to the successes of Kane’s Mobile Street Crime Unit on Wednesday and asked residents of Hazleton and across the commonwealth to help the success continue.

At the urging of state Sen. John Yudichak to address violent drug-related crime plaguing Northeastern Pennsylvania, Kane organized the Region X Intensive Mobile Proactive Anti-Crime Team — IMPACT — task force and deployed it to Hazleton in September to dismantle gang-run drug trafficking networks.

The approximately 20-member team, composed of federal, state, county and municipal law enforcement officers, racked up more than 120 arrests and seized about 35,000 packets of heroin, quantities of crack cocaine, numerous vehicles, handguns, rifles, an assault weapon and thousands of dollars in cash, with many of the items on display at a press conference at City Hall on Wednesday.

Yudichak, D-Plymouth Township, noted that a 2011 report by the U.S. Department of Justice detailed the foothold that drug-trafficking organizations had established in the Hazleton area and that branched off throughout Luzerne and surrounding counties.

Read more:  http://timesleader.com/news/local-news/1206626/Kane-Hazleton-chief-hail-success

Geisinger Health System Gives Nanticoke $3M Booster Shot

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

NANTICOKE, PA — Another Geisinger health care site in Luzerne County also is a shot in the arm for Nanticoke’s revitalization.

Patients have been coming in to the Geisinger-Nanticoke family practice center since late November. On Thursday, the health care system and local officials made it official with speeches, a ribbon-cutting and an open house.

State Sen. John Yudichak, who was among the speakers during the brief ceremony, characterized the nearly $4 million center at 128 E. Main St. as another part of the plan to aid Nanticoke’s ailing downtown.

He said local officials came together 10 years ago to put together a plan to revitalize the city. The health care facility joins Luzerne County Community College’s adjacent Health Sciences Center and the nearby Joseph A. Paglianite Culinary Arts Institute in the city’s downtown.

Read more: http://timesleader.com/news/local-news/1113901/Geisinger-gives-Nanticoke-$3M-booster-shot

Task Force Wants To See Plan For Sherman Hills

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

WILKES-BARRE. PA — Sherman Hills Realty LLC submitted a 150-page improvement plan that has not yet been publicly released to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, U.S. Rep. Matt Cartwright’s office said Thursday.

Cartwright’s office, like The Times Leader, requested an expedited copy of the plan to address problems at the sprawling housing project through the Freedom of Information Act.

Sherman Hills Realty submitted its plan on Monday in response to a Managerial and Operational Review that classified its management and operations of the troubled Sherman Hills Apartment Complex as “unsatisfactory.” HUD provides rental assistance to 340 households at Sherman Hills, which has been the scene of many violent crimes and incidents involving drugs in recent years.

Read more: http://timesleader.com/news/local-news/1033228/Task-force-wants-to-see-plan-for-Sherman-Hills

State Senators Send Letter To HUD Regarding Sherman Hills

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

WILKES-BARRE, PA — Three local state senators have petitioned the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to address concerns about crime and violence at the Sherman Hills apartment complex.

State Sens. John Yudichak, D-Plymouth Township, Lisa Baker, R-Lehman Township, and John Blake, D-Archbald, Friday released the joint statement regarding the multiple instances that have occurred recently at the complex.

“In recent months, we have turned our collective attention to addressing the frightening spike in criminal activity at Sherman Hills apartment complex in Wilkes-Barre,” the senators wrote. “Families with young children are living in fear at Sherman Hills and desperately need the help of local, state and federal leaders to end the senseless violence.”

Read more: http://www.timesleader.com/news/local/988174/State-senators-send-letter-to-HUD-regarding-Sherman-Hills

Officials Break Ground On McGowan Center In Luzerne County

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

JENKINS TOWNSHIP, PA – Officials from the Commission on Economic Opportunity broke ground Monday for a $6.4 million center in CenterPoint Commerce and Trade Park East named after the late Monsignor Andrew J. McGowan and aimed at providing healthy food for the needy.

When completed next spring, the Monsignor Andrew J. McGowan Center for Healthy Living will store and distribute healthy food products for about 80,000 low-income residents of Luzerne, Lackawanna, Susquehanna and Wyoming counties, with an emphasis on children and the elderly.

The center also will provide nutritional information, said principal speaker Sue Gin McGowan, sister-in-law of the late Monsignor McGowan and wife of the late William McGowan, an Ashley native and business leader.

Sue Gin McGowan, president of the board of the William G. McGowan Charitable Fund, a major benefactor of the new center, said the new facility will dramatically expand the reach of the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Food Bank, which already serves Northeastern Pennsylvania’s neediest.

Read more: http://citizensvoice.com/news/officials-break-ground-on-mcgowan-center-1.1538590