Three People Dead, 13 Injured In I-380 Wreck

COOLBAUGH TOWNSHIP, PA — What caused a fatal collision between a tour bus and two tractor-trailers that killed three and wounded more than a dozen on a busy stretch of Poconos interstate remained unknown Wednesday afternoon as state troopers continued an investigation.

Wednesday’s wreck involved two tractor-trailers and an Italian tour bus on Interstate 380 North near mile marker 4. The crash happened at 10:09 a.m., state police said. The bus carrying an Italian tour group left the New York City metro area at 7:30 a.m. for Niagara Falls, a spokesman for Academy Bus said this afternoon.

“We can confirm that one of the deceased is the bus driver,” Brian Dickerson said in an email. “We offer our condolences to the family of this valued member of our Academy team, as well as to the families of others tragically affected by this accident. We also extend our thoughts to the injured.”

Dickerson did not identify the bus driver, who had “more than a decade of experience behind the wheel.”

Read more: http://citizensvoice.com/news/three-people-dead-13-injured-in-i-380-wreck-1.1892786

Lehigh Valley Health Network, Pocono Medical Center Want To Merge

Lehigh Valley Health Network and Pocono Health System are seeking to merge in a move that will expand LVHN’s scope further north.

The board of directors of both organizations authorized a letter of intent to merge in separate meetings, LVHN announced Thursday afternoon in a news release.

Additional due diligence, negotiations and regulatory approvals will be necessary before any deal becomes official, the release states.

PHS’s flagship property is the Pocono Medical Center in East Stroudsburg. It’s a mid-sized, acute care facility that employs more than 200 physicians and 1,850 staff members, according to the PHS website.

Read more: http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/breaking-news/index.ssf/2015/05/lehigh_valley_health_network_p.html

Harsh Winter Delaying Opening Of Camelback’s $163 Million Waterpark Complex

TANNERSVILLE, PA — Shedding winter layers for swimsuits at Camelback Lodge and Aquatopia will take a month longer than expected.

The newest addition to Camelback Resort, a 453-suite hotel and a 125,000-square-foot indoor waterpark, was tentatively scheduled to open in March. The 16-month, $163 million construction project has been delayed due to winter’s tight grasp on the region.

“Obviously, we’ve had tremendous weather difficulties, and that is a fact, but we are probably 95 percent on schedule,” Arthur Berry, president of Camelback Resort told the Pocono Record.

Read more:

http://www.timesleader.com/news/business-local-news/152089723/

Mountain Laurel Performing Arts Center Closing

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

A music venue touted as a “crown jewel” for the Poconos when it opened looks like it will observe its 10th anniversary this summer by again being shuttered, with no concerts scheduled.

Mountain Laurel Performing Arts Center in Lehman Township, Pike County, without fanfare broke ties with the second management agency it has had in two years and, for the third time in its history, has closed the venue, with few prospects for activity this summer.

The most recent manager, Christopher Perrotti of Rhode Island, confirmed in an email that he was let go in August. He said he believes that the center’s owners “have closed it down, which is not good for the venue’s future.”

A woman who answered the phone at O’Neill Properties Group of King of Prussia, Montgomery County, one of the center’s owners, referred questions to a spokesman who did not respond to a telephone message left for him.

Read more:  http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/mountain-laurel-performing-arts-center-closing-1.1464768

20 Busted In Drug Ring Allegedly Run From Wayne County Golf Course

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

Editor’s note:  If you would like to see if their face and names, click on the link below to read the rest of the article.

A golf course in Wayne County served as the hub of a trafficking ring that moved more than $1.4 million worth of cocaine from New York City into the hands of area residents, according to the state attorney general’s office.

State narcotics agents on Friday charged 20 people from Lackawanna, Susquehanna and Wayne counties, including the owner of Red Maples Golf Course, Angelo Pozza, 76, with a host of cocaine-related drug counts.

Over the course of the 2½-year investigation that was eventually nicknamed Operation Penalty Stroke, narcotics agents said they were able to trace the flow of cocaine from the Bronx, N.Y., to Mr. Pozza, who sold the narcotic out of his home on the 136 acre grounds of the nine-hole golf course.

“It’s unique because it’s a golf course, but it’s the same sort of front,” said the state’s prosecutor on the case, Deputy Attorney General Timothy Doherty.

Read more:   http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/20-busted-in-drug-ring-allegedly-run-from-wayne-county-golf-course-1.1448530

One Dead, Thousands Without Power; Roads Remain Closed In NEPA

Locator map of the Scranton-Wilkes-Barre Metropolitan Statistical Area in the northeastern part of the of . (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

8-year-old Susquehanna County boy died Monday when wind from superstorm Sandy knocked a tree limb onto him north of Montrose, authorities said.

And while widespread power outages have left nearly 150,000 in the dark, Northeast Pennsylvania, for the most part, escaped the devastation Sandy left in many other areas.

“We can report back that everything is in really good shape,” Lackawanna County Commissioner Corey O’Brien said at a 6 a.m. briefing.

In Lackawanna County, eleven 911 dispatchers and two supervisors handled 1,313 calls from 3 p.m. Monday through 6 this morning, with downed power lines being the main source of problems.

Read more: http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/one-dead-thousands-without-power-roads-remain-closed-1.1395736

Sandy’s Lehigh Valley Impact: Two Deaths, Power Outages, Damaged Trees, Closed Roads

Hurricane Sandy left about 400,000 homes and businesses in the Lehigh Valley and Poconos regions in the dark and without as many trees and has been blamed for the death of a 17-year-old Wind Gap boy and a Berks County man.

Robert Mills of 81 Eighth St. died in Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest after crashing an all-terrain-vehicle into a fallen tree about 9:30 p.m. Monday in Plainfield Township, Lehigh County Coroner Scott Grim reported. Grim said Mills was thrown off the ATV when he drove into the tree which had fallen on W. Center Street near Route 33, and he suffered fatal head injuries.

A fallen tree also caused the death of a 62-year-old Berks County man Monday night.  The Berks County coroner’s office said Gerald Witman was killed when a tree fell on his home in Pike Township near Boyertown,

Local officials did not report any significant damage to buildings or public structures except for three house fires Monday night in Buck County in the 1300 block of Old Bethlehem Pike near Quakertown and in Tinicum Township and Chalfont.  Though it was not immediately clear if they were linked to the storm, an emergency radio dispatcher said no injuries were reported in the fires.

Read more: http://www.mcall.com/news/breaking/mc-superstorm-sandy-allentown-lehigh-valley-storm–20121030,0,2995804.story

Driver Killed In Fiery Poconos Crash Under I-80

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

A female driver was killed Thursday night when her car burst into flames after hitting a bridge abutment under Interstate 80 south of Route 940 in Tunkhannock Township.

The Monroe County Coroner’s office and Pocono Mountain Regional Police Department are investigating the 10:45 p.m. accident, which damaged phone lines.

The driver’s identity has not been confirmed, but an autopsy was in progress in Lehigh County Friday morning.

A news release from the Monroe County coroner’s office said the car drove off Stoney Hollow Road and hit a cement abutment to an Interstate 80 overpass, which is located between the Long Pond and Pocono Lake sections of the township.

Read more: http://www.mcall.com/news/breaking/mc-t-poconos-driver-killed-crash-fire-stoney-hollo-20120907,0,4181293.story

To ‘Hell’ And Back: Milford, Pennsylvania’s River Rock Inn Featured In Sept. 3 Episode Of New Gordon Ramsay TV Series

Logo of the Fox Broadcasting Company (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

With show titles like “Hell’s Kitchen” and “Kitchen Nightmares” already under his belt, it’s no surprise that Gordon Ramsay has garnered a reputation for being a no-nonsense chef and businessman.

The renowned culinary artist and hospitality expert recently launched his newest reality TV series, “Hotel Hell,” on the Fox network, in which he visits and effectively takes over failing hotels, inns and bed-and-breakfasts across the country.

One of the stops Mr. Ramsay made for the show was River Rock Inn in Milford.  The episode featuring the Pike County business is scheduled to air Monday, Sept. 3, at 8 p.m. on FOX, locally WOLF-TV, Channel 56.

During a recent conference call with reporters, Mr. Ramsay, who owns several restaurants and a hotel of his own, explained his desire to branch out from the kitchen to the hospitality sector was based on his own misgivings and bad experiences as a guest at various places.

Read more: http://thetimes-tribune.com/lifestyles-people/to-hell-and-back-milford-s-river-rock-inn-featured-in-sept-3-episode-of-new-gordon-ramsay-tv-series-1.1363248