Noteworthy
C.T. offices closed today
COAL TOWNSHIP - The Coal Township Municipal Office, Tax Office and Recycling Center will be closed today for the Fourth of July holiday. The recycling center will also be closed tomorrow.
No community service
SHAMOKIN - There will be no community service program coordinated Saturday by Magisterial District Judge John Gembic III because of the Fourth of July holi
Tonight
- Ashland - dusk.
- Mahanoy City - dusk.
- Harrisburg - South Riverfront Park during Comcast Star Stage performance.
Saturday
- Shamokin - 9:40 p.m.
- Bloomsburg - 9 p.m.
- Harrisburg - City Island, at the conclusion of the Harrisburg Senators Baseball game.
- Williamsport - dusk.
- Wilkes-Barre - dusk.
- New Berlin - 10 p.m.
- Berwick - dusk.
- State College - 9 p.m.
- Allentown.
- Scranton.
MOUNT CARMEL - After spending money on other buildings and educational aspects of the district, several Mount Carmel Area School Board members think it is time to update its athletic holdings as well.
At its monthly board meeting Thursday night, the board voted 6-2 to name RBC Capital Markets as the underwriter to proceed with a general obligation bond in the amount of $2.75 million for its "athletic project." Board members Michael Rovito, Donna James. Dennis Hepler, Rose Marquardt, Eric Belfanti and Judy McCollum voted for the motion, while Dr. Raymond Kraynak and Charles Mannello voted against the appointment.
MOUNT CARMEL - A black bear caused chaos in the borough for 30 minutes Thursday night, according to the Mount Carmel Police Department.
According to Patrolman Kevin Katch, police were dispatched at 7:19 p.m. to Sixth and Locust streets where people saw the animal.
The bear was seen eating at Fourth and Peach streets.
It then headed to Fifth and Peach streets, where it wandered through residents' yards, and climbed several fences on its journey.
SHAMOKIN - Where exactly did $130,000 go?
According to the state Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED), "incomplete" and "unorganized" record-keeping by former city officials have led to questions over how grant money was spent.
The $130,000 was allotted to HOME, a program created in 2002 to facilitate affordable home ownership by bringing subpar homes up to minimum property standards and selling them at retail value. But city officials allegedly do not have accurate records for the money, given to them by DCED. And those records can't be found in City Hall.
MOUNT CARMEL - The Mount Carmel Volunteer Emergency Services Association, Inc. (MCVESA) has begun its annual fund drive for 2009. This organization was created to help raise the necessary funds to replace the Mount Carmel Volunteer Fire Department's apparatus.
Last week, borough residents should have received the fund drive information in the mail. There is no door-to-door or phone soliciting done with this fund raiser.
The two Shenandoah-area teenagers convicted in connection with the beating death of an illegal Mexican immigrant in July 2008 will not be able to work while in prison, a Schuylkill County judge ruled Thursday.
Brandon J. Piekarsky, 17, of Shenandoah Heights, and Derrick M. Donchak, 19, of Shenandoah, will not be able to work while behind bars, President Judge William E. Baldwin ordered.
Piekarsky and Walsh are scheduled to report to county prison at 9 a.m. July 19. As of Thursday afternoon, neither had filed an appeal in the case.
