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Ringo Starr and His All Starr Band coming to the F.M. Kirby Center in June

Letter to the Editor: Researcher of Good Friday Bombings seeks historical tidbits 80 years after attacks

We didn&#8217;t set the agenda for today&#8217;s planned meeting between certain Luzerne County Council members and the area&#8217;s contingent of state lawmakers.If we had, the topics about which they would talk &#8211; and, ideally, decide to collaborate for the good of everyone in the county &#8211; would look something like this:&#8226; State budgets. Do not repeat the budget high jinks in Harrisburg like we witnessed last year, stopping the flow of tax dollars to counties and pushing some, such as Luzerne County, into crisis mode. Harry Haas, who chairs the council&#8217;s Legislative Committee, wanted in late 2015 to discontinue the county&#8217;s operations, rather than borrow money, as a way to send a message to the governor and others under the Capitol dome that their payment-depriving tactic was unacceptable. Though Haas&#8217;s impulse was noble, we objected then to the timing and the potential fallout of a county shutdown. This afternoon&#8217;s meeting between the committee&#8217;s members and state representatives is his chance to really be heard on the matter. Give &#8216;em hell, Harry.&#8226; Unfunded mandates. Through the decades, Pennsylvania&#8217;s government has heaped responsibilities on counties without supplying enough cash to perform those tasks. Harrisburg either needs to cough up the cash &#8211; an impractical and unlikely scenario &#8211; or relax the mandates.&#8226; Attracting tech. To add technology firms to the county&#8217;s mix, and improve its long-term economic prospects, elected officials at all levels must speak with one voice on a strategy. Let&#8217;s hear it.Incidentally, in a recent online survey, the Times Leader asked readers this question: &#8220;What prevents more tech firms from locating in Northeastern Pennsylvania?&#8221; The top answer, garnering 39 percent of the responses, was &#8220;public corruption.&#8221; If representative of people&#8217;s beliefs throughout the region, that&#8217;s a real problem.Other poll responses: unskilled workforce (34 percent), inadequate incentives (15 percent), other (8 percent) and insufficient transportation network (3 percent).&#8226; Natural gas-related growth. By opening up the Marcellus Shale to drilling, industry promoters said, this part of Pennsylvania would become a mecca for manufacturing and other companies in search of cheap power. Um, where are they?Elected officials need a comprehensive plan for capitalizing on the gas boom, and for dealing with pipelines and other potential environmental pitfalls in a sensible way.&#8226; Kicking the KOZ habit. Barring evidence that the state&#8217;s Keystone Opportunity Zone program provides lasting benefits in job growth and local income, Luzerne County&#8217;s crew should let their state leaders know they will no longer approve these tax-break setups.&#8226; Coordination. From combating crime to helping addicts to promoting Luzerne County&#8217;s outdoor recreation sites, the county and state can find ways to better work in harmony, giving residents here more of what they need &#8211; government that works for them.

Our Opinion: Improve coordination between Luzerne County and state leaders on these issues