Thursday, May 17, 2012
Years in the making, the old, broken-down bridge that connects Main Street in Tatamy with Uhler Road in Forks Township is finally being demolished.
The old, broken-down bridge in Tatamy is finally coming down. Construction workers Wednesday afternoon sliced through the steel bridge supports with a torch, which then allowed the crane operator to lift bridge beams off their concrete support pillars. The beams were then gently placed on the closed roadway leading to the bridge. “It’s coming down fast," Tatamy Mayor Luke Duignam said about the bridge that spans the Bushkill Creek. "Let’s hope [the new bridge] goes up just as fast.” The bridge, which connects Main Street in Tatamy with Uhler Road in Forks Township, was closed last year when a hole in the road deck expanded, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation reported. Sean Brown, a representative for PennDOT, wouldn’t give an …
40.74301
-75.24752
Uhler Rd & Bushkill Dr, Easton, PA
/articles/tatamy-bridge-demolition-finally-begins
/locations/7038894
A New York Times story on graduates weighed down with college debt makes the case for last week’s column.
Once again, The New York Times is playing catch-up with Patch.com. On Sunday, The Times had a front-page story about the growing burdens of college loans, three days after my column ran on the same subject. The paper did a wee bit more legwork for their gazillion-word story – my research consisted mainly of talking to a friend at the deli counter at the Giant supermarket – so I’ll leave the term “copycat” out of this discussion. The lead of The Times story was about a young Ohio college graduate who owes $120,000 in loans and is working two jobs to pay the $900-a-month bill. Her mother is taking out life insurance on her because if anything happens to her daughter, she couldn’t pay the loans for which she co-signed. A decade ago, 58 …
Township supervisors across Pennsylvania are fighting unfunded mandates from Harrisburg and Washington.
Pennsylvania’s township officials are taking aim at unfunded mandates, which they say waste millions in tax dollars every year. Close to 4,000 local leaders attended the Pennsylvania State Association of Township Supervisors’ 90th Annual Educational Conference last week in Hershey, where they launched a campaign to eliminate the mandates that Harrisburg and Washington pass on to local governments without accompanying dollars. Township officials wore green stickers, which featured a rifle’s crosshairs over the words “Unfunded Mandates” throughout the conference. In particular, PSATS members have set their sights on the state’s outdated legal advertising requirements — studies say reforming these would save municipalities $23 million a year…
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Northampton County will host an electronics recycling event Saturday, May 19, at Easton Area High School.
Do you have an old VCR in your attic? A computer monitor that's seen better days? Don't just toss them away, recycle them. On Saturday, Northampton County's Department of Community and Economic Development will hold an electronic recycling event from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Easton Area High School. Whether it's an old fax machine, printer, phone or answering machine, residents can drop them off free of charge. The only cost is for getting rid of batteries (75 cents a pound) or fluorescent lamps (25 cents each). For more information, contact Tom Dittmar, the county's environmental conservation coordinator, at tdittmar@northamptoncounty.org.
40.68139
-75.25051
2601 William Penn Hwy, Easton, PA
/articles/e-cycling-event-to-be-held-saturday
/locations/7031161
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Nazareth Borough Council sets opening date for the Nazareth Boro-Park pool, approves rate for summer recreation program and more.
Nazareth is getting ready for summer. With the Nazareth Boro-Park pool expected to open May 26 for the Memorial Day weekend, Councilwoman Cynthia Werner made several motions May 7 to get the borough prepared for the new season. Nazareth Borough Council approved a motion to hire Jeanette Hartzell as director of the summer recreation program. She will be paid $4,600. The rate for anyone attending the summer program, which will be held from 9 a.m. to noon beginning June 18, was set at $150. "At one time the rate was $90 a year," Councilman Michael Kopach said. "This year, we wanted to make the program self-supporting and not use any taxpayer dollars. It comes out to $1.66 for an hour that someone attends. Where can you drop off somebody for a…
40.748996
-75.308766
Nazareth Boro-Park
Broad Street Extension, Nazareth, PA
/articles/nazareth-boro-park-pool-to-open-may-26
1766670
/locations/7030625
It's the Nazareth Area School District's place to make a wage-concession proposal, says the president of the Nazareth Area Education Association, which represents the district's teachers.
The Nazareth Area Education Association has responded to a letter sent by Superintendent Victor Lesky regarding potential wage concessions, but the teachers union does not plan to submit a wage proposal to the district, according to the union's president. Such a proposal should come from the district -- and if that happens, NAEA will respond, said union president Aris Asdourian. He noted it is not the union's place to initiate a wage-concession proposal. Asdourian spoke to Patch briefly after Monday's meeting of the Nazareth School Board, which he attended. He declined a seemingly impromptu offer from board President Lorin Bradley to address the board and the public during a discussion of the 2012-2013 budget. The budget proposal -- which …
40.742242
-75.300649
Nazareth Area High School
501 E Center St, Nazareth, PA
/articles/nazareth-teachers-district-at-odds-over-wage-proposal
1682988
/locations/7011994
Monday, May 14, 2012
The tax increase in Nazareth Area School District's budget, which the school board plans to approve on May 21, has been trimmed to 1.9 percent.
The Nazareth Area School District budget for 2012-2013 shrank a bit in the administration’s final budget proposal when it comes to a tax increase -- but not by much. The proposed property tax increase is reduced to 1.9 percent, a slight reduction from the 2 percent increase proposed in the preliminary budget, which the Nazareth School Board passed in January. Here are additional highlights of the budget proposal presented at Monday’s meeting of the school board: No teachers will be laid off or furloughed, but a total of 10 positions, including seven teachers, will not be filled following retirements or departures. The budget is balanced: No money will be taken from the district’s fund balance -- roughly equivalent to a personal checking …
40.742242
-75.300649
Nazareth Area High School
501 E Center St, Nazareth, PA
/articles/school-board-hears-budget-proposal-with-1-9-tax-hike
1682988
/locations/7012031
Sunday, May 13, 2012
Pennsylvania reports earliest ever detection of West Nile Virus in a mosquito.
- GOVERNMENT
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Sunday, May 13
Pennsylvania has reported the earliest detection of a West Nile virus-carrying mosquito since testing began in 2000. The infected mosquito was found May 3 in Exeter Township, Berks County, state officials said Friday. Typically, the state’s first West Nile virus-carrying mosquito is found in mid-June. “The unseasonably warm weather in March caused the virus cycle to begin early this year,” Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Mike Krancer said. “Our staff will continue to monitor mosquito populations and conduct spraying to reduce the threat to public health.” Lehigh County was designated a hot zone for West Nile virus last September. Certain mosquito species carry the virus, which may cause humans to contract West Nile fever …
Patch asks Lehigh Valley readers whether they support gay marriage
- GOVERNMENT
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Sunday, May 13
President Barack Obama has publicly come out in support of gay marriage, the first time in history that a sitting U.S. president has ever done so. Obama made the announcement via an interview with ABC News' Robin Roberts on “Good Morning America" last Thursday. Locally, the Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce established a new council for gay and lesbian businesspeople in January. Bethlehem's Adrian Shanker, president of Equality Pennsylvania, told the Morning Call last week that Obama has not gone far enough to promote gay rights and that his organization will continue to push Democrats such as Sen. Bob Casey to support gay marriage. Equality Pennsylvania has started an online petition to Casey. The Call's report includes comments…
The Pa. Department of Health says time is running out for parents to comply with vaccination requirements.
- GOVERNMENT
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Sunday, May 13
Parents are running out of time to comply with new school immunization requirements, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Health. When the school year began, families were given eight months to bring students up to date with their vaccinations. On April 27, the department announced a two-week grace period. Final deadlines vary based on when each district began its school year. The health department estimates that the grace period will end in most districts within the next week. For example: New immunization regulations that took effect last August require: While the department established the new regulations, enforcement is left to individual school districts. School districts maintain the right to exclude students from school if …
Randy McFarland
9:42 am on Thursday, May 17, 2012
Sorry Patriot but your living in the past. The cost of education should be based on ROI. No longer do the numbers make sense for the majority of the population. Very few full ride scholarships available. I talk to graduates every day because of my Internet Business and these young adults are in trouble. Many business graduates have 60 to 80,000 in debt. To top it all off if they can't pay parents… more ›