ELYSBURG — A Friday night fight between twin brothers at the home of their parents ended with one brother firing several rounds from a handgun into the grill of his twin’s pickup, court papers say.
Nicholas Swartz allegedly fired the shots from a Ruger .380 pistol into brother Thomas A. Swartz’s pickup as Thomas revved the pickup’s engine and drove toward Nicholas, according to Ralpho Township Police.
BERWICK — Drug use here is skyrocketing, the police chief says, even though the amount of overall crime last year seemed to hold steady.
Berwick police made 109 heroin-related arrests in 2018, compared to 19 the previous year. Meth arrests increased from 21 to 75. Overall, Berwick police saw 295 drug arrests compared to 67 the previous year.
2018 was the busiest year on record for the borough police department, says Chief Kenneth Strish.
ASHLAND — A fire has leveled five row homes and damaged three other structures in this borough, just under Columbia County's southern tip.
The fire, which started before 3 p.m. on the 1100 block of Brock Street in the borough tore through a series of row homes, and it appeared embers from that fire started another structure on the block on fire, firefighters said. We'll have more on the blaze as information is available.
BLOOMSBURG — Bloomsburg police are asking for the public’s help in identifying a thief who broke into two town laundromats on Monday.
Police said a white male entered the Wash and Shop, 1000 Market St., and the Laundry Room, 428 W. Main St., between 1:45 a.m. and 3:15 a.m., damaging numerous washing machines by forcing open the coin boxes with a pry bar and then taking money inside them.
Police are asking anyone with information about the incident or who can identify the suspect in the photo, to call Officer Brad Sharrow at 570-784-4155 Ext. 171.
LIGHTSTREET — A Berwick man driving a service repair truck slammed into the rear of an oversize tractor trailer along I-80 Wednesday morning after the big rig lost engine power and began drifting off the eastbound lanes about a half mile from the Lightstreet exit, State Police at Bloomsburg said.
The wreck left John Ehmer, 48, a driver for Tom Bowman Trucking Co. of Orangeville, in critical condition after emergency surgery at Geisinger Medical Center.
The crash happened around 7 a.m.
BLOOMSBURG — The owners of the Pizza Hut here plan to start rebuilding now that an insurance review of the damage done when a pickup truck smashed into the restaurant is complete.
Contractors could begin working on the business this week, said Ted Miller, director of operations for Keystone Pizza Partners LLC, the company that owns the Bloomsburg franchise along with two dozen others from Williamsport to Quakertown.
Widespread damage means the repairs will also be extensive.
BLOOMSBURG — A gunshot heard early Friday outside a student house on Pine Street sent police rushing into the neighborhood but no suspect or suspects could be located.
No one was hurt in the gunfire, which happened just after midnight, but police say there was some damage to property in the area of 70 Pine St. where two Bloomsburg University students reside. They didn't specify what the damage was.
Police say they recovered evidence at the scene and interviewed other residents, but it appeared that no one witnessed the shooting.
BLOOMSBURG — The driver charged with killing a man in a head-on crash while high hobbled into court Wednesday morning, using crutches to keep the weight off the foot and knee he broke in the December accident.
Lynn Spencer, 57, says he’ll find out next week if his right foot, which is broken at the heel, the ankle, and along the bottom, will be amputated.
“I haven’t been back to the doctor since December, so I don’t know what’s going on,” he said.
BLOOMSBURG — Two people accused of using children as lookouts while they burglarized laundromats here have sent their charges on to Columbia County court.
Prosecutors offered a possible plea deal to 33-year-old Robert A. Johnson Jr. and a plea deal to 34-year-old Amber Hornberger, whose two children accompanied them during their crime spree, according to court papers.
District Attorney Tom Leipold said he would recommend Johnson be evaluated for admittance into the state intermediate punishment program that combines incarceration with drug abuse treatment and recovery.
Several school districts in the Press Enterprise coverage area are on a two-hour delay Wednesday due to Tuesday’s storm:
• Benton Area
• Berwick Area
• Bloomsburg Area
• Danville Area
• Millville Area
• Southern Columbia Area
Northwest Area plans a three-hour delay.