| Press Enterprise Online

Bloomsburg University says 10 students tested positive for COVID-19

Nine more cases of students with COVID-19 have been found at Bloomsburg University, school officials announced Wednesday.

That brings the total count to 10, just three days after classes began.

Meanwhile, the school bookstore has been closed until Monday — staff will set up a temporary location outside, and is arranging for off-site pickup of books, according to an announcement on the university novel coronavirus page.

The university did not answer whether the closure was related to the virus.

One employee tested positive for COVID-19 last week.

Gov.: Pennsylvania shouldn't have sports until 2021

HARRISBURG — Gov. Tom Wolf dropped a bombshell on the state’s high-school athletic programs this morning.

It’s his office’s recommendation that “we don’t do any sports until Jan. 1.”

As a press release clarified later in the day, his office is recommending that both pre-K to 12 and youth sports be suspended until the beginning of 2021. The recommendation doesn't apply to collegiate or professional sports.

“Anything that brings people together is going to help that virus get us,” said Wolf at a press conference on Thursday morning.

Two charged in October beating death of Berwick woman

Eight months after a judge said there wasn’t enough evidence to hold Michael Allen Porth on charges of beating a woman to death, Porth is back in prison, along with another man accused of assisting in the attack.

U.S. Marshals arrested Porth, 31, on Friday, just hours after Berwick Police arraigned Raymond Anthony McDowell, 42, of Scranton, for his alleged role in killing Geraldine Carson at her home.

2020 Bloomsburg Fair canceled

BLOOMSBURG — After months of uncertainty, The Bloomsburg Fair announced it has canceled this year’s event, saying the “concern for the health and safety of our community outweighs our desire to host this year’s fair.”

The fair was the last holdout among the state’s big three fairs; the York Fair canceled in May, followed by the Allentown Fair earlier this month.

Even as late as last week, Bloomsburg Fair officials said plans to hold the annual event, scheduled for Sept. 25-Oct. 3, were still moving forward.

Man, 83, killed in Cooper Township homicide

An 83-year-old man was killed in his Cooper Township home late Tuesday, and state police have ruled the death a homicide.

W. John Ditzler died "during the late evening hours" in the home at 1621 Bloom Road, state police at Milton said in a news release.

Police gave no other information.

Montour County Coroner Scott Lynn said in a news release that state police have "questioned a person of interest" and that "there is no apparent danger to the public at this time."

Lynn said an autopsy is scheduled for Thursday at Lehigh Valley Hosptial near Allentown.

Bloomsburg Fair photo mocking health secretary sparks outrage

BLOOMSBURG — A Facebook post by Bloomsburg Fair mocking state Health Secretary Rachel Levine sparked outrage Monday as it spread widely on social media.

The post featured photos of a man in drag in a dunk tank at last weekend’s Fireman’s Relief Carnival at Bloomsburg Fairgrounds.
Levine, who has had a high profile in the state’s fight against coronavirus, is transgender.

BU, rest of PSAC, suspend sports until after Jan. 1

Fall sports for teams playing in the Pennsylvania State Athletics Conference, which includes Bloomsburg University, have been suspended until Jan. 1, officials announced Wednesday morning.

A review is under way to decide if athletic events originally scheduled for the fall semester can be shifted to the spring, PSAC Commissioner Steven Murray said.

Family who lost their home needs clothes, furniture

Nikki Foley and her children lost everything in a fast-moving fire that engulfed their home early Monday morning.

They most urgently need a car seat and stroller for 1-year-old Bastian, said Foley's mother, Michelle Alexander. But the family will also need new furniture, kitchenware and other household items.

Alexander can be reached at 570-233-4575. Foley and the children are staying at 491 S. River St., Wapwallopen PA 18660.

A GoFundMe site has been established on behalf of the family at https://tinyurl.com/NikkiFoley.

Mother saves 5 children from fire that destroys family home

WAPWALLOPEN — A single mother raced up and down stairs to evacuate her five children from their burning house in the wee hours of the morning Monday.

Nikki Foley, 36, was able to save her entire family, and even the children's pet chickens and ducks. But flames engulfed all of their belongings — including the gifts 10-year-old Pippy received for her birthday Wednesday.

"You should say my mom's a hero," Cole, 12, told a reporter as the shaken family gathered across the street in a vacant house owned by Foley's mother, Michelle Alexander.

Searchers find missing kayaker dead

MONTOUR TWP. — A boat crew found the body of a Mount Carmel man in the Susquehanna River on Friday morning, about two days after he went missing during a kayaking trip with friends.

Two boats from Clinton Township Search and Rescue were doing a slow crawl of the river around 7:15 a.m. Friday when one of the rescuers spotted the 27-year-old man, said Montour Township Police Chief Terry Eckart.