Heroin Found In Dough At Hazle Township Commercial Bakery

HAZLE TOWNSHIP, PA — Heroin packets were found on dough being processed on a production line at Aryzta, a commercial baker of breads and donuts, earlier this week, state police at Hazleton said.

State police in a news release said an employee checking dough on a production line to a sheet dough machine found a suspected heroin packet at about 6 p.m. Monday.

The employee notified a shift supervisor as production was stopped and inspected. Other suspected heroin packets and drug paraphernalia were found inside the dough machine, state police said.

State police said Aryzta, based in Zurich, Switzerland, stopped production on the dough machine and destroyed all the products.

Read more: http://www.timesleader.com/news/local-news/152605611/

Rep. Mark Painter: Farmers’ Market Vouchers Available For Seniors.

SANATOGA, PA –  State Rep. Mark Painter, D-Montgomery, reminds older residents about a program that provides low-income seniors with vouchers redeemable for fresh fruits, vegetables and herbs at local farmers’ markets.

The Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Program provides qualified seniors with four vouchers totaling $20 that they may exchange for Pennsylvania-grown produce. Recipients are given a list of participating farmers and farmers’ markets when they receive their checks.

“This program is immensely beneficial for senior citizens to enhance their daily diet with nutritious produce grown right here in Pennsylvania,” said Painter, a member of the House Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee.

To qualify, recipients must be 60 or older by Dec. 31, with a total household income before taxes of less than $21,589 for a single person, $29,100 for a couple and $36,611 for a family of three, based on 2013 income.

The vouchers will be distributed at the Pottstown Cluster from 9 a.m. to noon on Thursdays and Fridays; and at the Pottstown Senior Center from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

The vouchers, made available through funds from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, are distributed on a first-come basis.

Painter said constituents with questions may contact his office at 610-326-9563.

Contact: Tom Andrews, 717-787-7895

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Click here for the 2014 Pennsylvania Fair Guide: http://www.agriculture.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/gateway/PTARGS_0_2_24476_10297_0_43/AgWebsite/Files/Publications/FairGuide.pdf

Trees To Table: Maple Sap From Penn’s Woods Makes Serious Syrup

The view up the muddy, puddled, tree-lined lane could be a scene in Vermont. In the 1950s.

But it’s northern Allegheny County, this past Sunday morning.

Here in rural West Deer, the still, snow-pocked woods of evergreens and naked hardwoods seems much farther away from metro Pittsburgh than a mere 15 miles.

Hanging on some of the trunks on either side of Tree Haven Lane are curious metal buckets, like things you’ve seen in old books.

And near the far end of the lane is a rough-hewn wooden shed.  Blue smoke pours from a pipe on top, and from an opening in the green metal roof rise puffs of steam.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/life/food/penns-woods-shares-some-of-its-sap-so-you-can-put-it-on-pancakes-waffles-and-more-679277/#ixzz2NedAYoPP

Rural Food Banks Struggle To Meet Need

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

Like the people they help, food pantries throughout southwestern Pennsylvania are struggling — and in some cases, failing — to make ends meet as skimpy federal food supplies, a tighter state budget, higher food prices and more needy clients strain resources.

Food banks around the region are reducing the number of fruits and vegetables they distribute, trimming or even eliminating expensive protein sources such as eggs and peanut butter from the boxes given to their clients, and in some cases, must consider scaling back their operations.

In Greene County, for instance, board members of the Waynesburg-based food bank, The Corner Cupboard, were spared Monday from slashing their food box distribution from monthly to bimonthly only after a last-minute $10,000 donation from natural gas drilling company EQT, according to board member John Jenkins.

“I don’t want to tell people we don’t have food for them, my God, but there’s just nothing we can do right now,” Mr. Jenkins said. “We’ve robbed Peter to pay Paul to try to stay afloat as it is.”

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/region/rural-food-banks-struggle-to-meet-need-653436/#ixzz26bApTVGG