SALEM TWP. — Talen is selling its data center business — and a bunch of the power from the Susquehanna nuclear power plant north of Berwick — to Amazon Web Services, it announced on Monday morning.
The $650 million deal has the potential to create the largest data center powered by "carbon-free power" in the United States, or possibly the world, said Talen CEO Mark "Mac" McFarland in a investor conference call.
SALEM TWP. — State Police are asking the public for help finding a missing woman they say is endangered, even as they and firefighters searched the Susquehanna Riverlands trails and the nearby river for her.
Linda Carmella Shaw, 63, of Cope Road, Shickshinny, has been missing since 11:30 a.m. Monday, said Tpr. Jeffrey Miller in a report released late Monday night.
CATAWISSA — A vacant house trailer went up in flames here early Thursday, with fire crews needing to call in help from five surrounding companies to douse the fire in a small trailer court on the edge of Pfahler Street.
Volunteer firefighters from six companies around Columbia County rushed to the scene with tankers lining up to haul water to the fire from nearby Catawissa Creek at the dam.
Neighbors watched the firefight as a cloud of thick smoke covered their trailer court.
Wet and heavy snow caused widespread power and phone outages Tuesday.
In Columbia and Montour County, lines to reach emergency crews went dead because of a Verizon outage, and power was cut to thousands.
PPL Spokeswoman Tracie Witter said 2,350 customers in Columbia County and 1,641 in Montour County were without power Tuesday afternoon.
MONTOUR TWP. — A person died after an SUV crossed two lanes on Route 11 and smashed into the vehicle the person was driving, witnesses said.
Someone was headed toward Bloomsburg in a white Nissan Rogue around 3 p.m. when a red Jeep Renegade headed toward Danville crossed over the center turning lane and into oncoming traffic.
BERWICK -- State Police escorted a used car dealer accused of cheating customers out of the magistrate's office in handcuffs Tuesday evening as half a dozen alleged victims and their families stood in the parking lot and cheered.
"A cop going to jail -- see you!" yelled one man as troopers placed Jeremy Talanca, 47 -- who also serves as Girardville's officer in charge -- in the back of a patrol car.
"Good job, troopers!" yelled another. "We're getting the justice we deserve!"
LIGHTSTREET — One man has died after an accident on Interstate 80 Sunday, police say.
A man headed west on I-80 drove his vehicle off the highway and through the median of the interstate, smashing into the rear tandem axles of a tractor-trailer just before 7 p.m., police say.
That knocked the trailer over and started it on fire. While the truck's driver escaped with no injuries, the driver of the vehicle that had crossed the median was rushed to Geisinger Medical Center, where police said he died.
DANVILLE — An early-morning fire Saturday heavily damaged a large two-story home in the 400 block of West Mahoning Street here, but all living there escaped injury.
A crashing sound startled John Brunetto, 44, around 4:30 a.m., when he was in his living room, he said. He soon spotted flames in a hallway upstairs.
NESCOPECK — A driver speeding east on Route 339 failed to stop in time at the end of the highway and crashed into a telephone pole Sunday morning, the fire chief said.
The Silver Sentra hit the pole so hard, the car bounced back across the intersection, said Nescopeck Fire Chief Harry Knorr.
The impact dented the front of the car into a “V” shape, trapping the sole occupant inside, Knorr said.
Firefighters used wooden wedges to stabilize the car, then tore open the passenger’s side door to ease the man out.
ALMEDIA – A man stabbed his mother multiple times, killing her Wednesday afternoon at her Scott Township home, police said.
James Cosper, 60, fatally stabbed Bonnie Lou Cosper, 82, at 3630 Old Berwick Road around 1 p.m. Wednesday, State Police said.
According to neighbors, police arrived at the house in Scott Township to find a woman lying prone on her front porch.