New post will combine duties and save money, top Central exec says
Curriculum coordinator now assistant superintendent
Cops: Man flees police, injures officer, gets caught
SALEM TWP. — A man arrested on a charge of child rape fled from the township police station here as an officer adjusted the man’s handcuffs after a video court proceeding, police say.
He then injured the officer as the two wrestled in the parking lot, the chief said.
But within a few hours, police had caught up with Austin Richard Wample, 24, of Benton, after officers from Salem Township, Berwick borough, Nescopeck borough and the State Police joined in the search, said Chief Mike McNeal.
Fatality likely in head-on crash on Route 487
STILLWATER — Four medical helicopters and a coroner were called to a violent two-vehicle crash on Route 487 Monday just south of Zion Church Road.
A car with New York plates and a white SUV appeared to crash head-on just before noon, north of the Fishing Creek Township municipal building.
The impact of the collision sent the SUV tumbling over the guardrail along the northbound lane, where the SUV rested precariously on its driver’s side with at least two people trapped inside.
Riverside Police searching for two children
RIVERSIDE — Borough police here say they’re searching for Danny Hadidi, 4, and Dana Hadidi, 3 months old, who are missing from the borough.
Both children have dark brown hair and brown eyes.
They are reportedly with their mother Sawson Hadidi, 39, who was driving a purple 2012 Toyota Scion with a Virgina registration of UUA 4239.
Police say the children were last seen Thursday at 4 p.m. on 11th Street in Riverside, borough police there said.
State Police said in a release that the children may be at special risk of harm or injury.
Luzerne County to join other area counties in COVID-19 ‘green’ phase June 19
Luzerne County will become the final area county to move to Pennsylvania’s “green” phase of coronavirus mitigation measures when it joins others entering that designation June 19, the state announced Friday.
Luzerne will be joined by Schuylkill, Monroe, Pike, Dauphin, Franklin, Huntingdon and Perry counties in the state’s least-restrictive measures,” it was announced on the state Health Department website Friday.
“Yes!” said Luzerne County Manager David Pedri. “I’m sure I echo the sentiments of many excited county residents who are thrilled to be going green.
I-80 shut down between Conyngham and Mifflinville
NESCOPECK TWP. — All lanes of Interstate 80 are shut down this morning between the interchange for Route 93 at Conyngham/Nesopeck in Luzerne County and the interchange for Route 339 in Mifflinville, Columbia County, after two tractor trailers collided head on in the westbound lanes, according to information from PennDOT.
Traffic has been diverted onto Route 93 and Route 339.
Columbia and Northumberland counties going "green"
BLOOMSBURG — Columbia and Northumberland counties will be among 12 statewide to join the Pennsylvania’s least-restrictive “green” phase of coronavirus mitigating regulations June 12, Gov. Tom Wolf said Friday.
Also moving to “green” will be Adams, Beaver, Carbon, Cumberland, Juniata, Mifflin, Union, Wayne, Wyoming and York counties.
That will leave just 33 counties in the “yellow” phase, as all of the state moved out of the most-restrictive “red” phase Friday.
Columbia, Northumberland going green
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — The lockdown will get a little looser for Columbia and Northumberland county residents next Friday, when they will join Montour in the green phase of COVID-19 recovery.
That means that gyms, barbers and hair salons will be able to reopen, as can indoor dining at restaurants and bars. Overnight camps and organized youth sports can begin or resume, and gatherings of up to 250 people will be allowed, although large demonstrations over the past week around Pennsylvania protesting police brutality routinely exceeded 250 people.
Racist texts by BU fraternity brothers spark outrage
BLOOMSBURG — A black Bloomsburg University student went public this week with a thread of racist text messages shared among some of his white fraternity brothers that included the repeated use of a racial slur.
The social media post drew widespread outcry, with the university, in an email to the academic community, condemning the racist language as “abhorrent and offensive.”
The university and a fraternity’s national headquarters said they are investigating.
Protest beginning at Bloomsburg town square
By 5 p.m., crowds had grown to a couple hundred protestors filling the area between Main Street and Third Street, displaying signs, with police keeping watch on the gathering.
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Roughly two dozen protestors had gathered by 2:50 p.m. for the "Say Their Name" protest on Market Square in Bloomsburg, and the crowd is growing.
Police have set barriers at Market Street, and changed the traffic light at the intersection to blinking to keep vehicles moving through the intersection, since turning is not possible.
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