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Some Luzerne County employees receive as many as 18 sick days annually, plus vacation and paid holiday allotments

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Wyoming Valley West high school student brings knife to school, claims bullying

<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; Flood prevention efforts in Courtdale have been given a $1.785 million boost through a Pennsylvania Infrastructure Investment Authority (PennVEST) grant.</p><p>Council President Carl Hodorowski called the award a huge help for residents who have been dealing with this issue for a long time.</p><p>&#8220;Our budget is about $125,000, so without this grant, there is no way we could have addressed the problem,&#8221; he said. &#8220;On behalf of Mayor Dorothy Deusler and all of council, we are just so thankful.&#8221;</p><p>Sen. Lisa Baker, R-Lehman Township, and Rep. Aaron Kaufer, R-Kingston, praised the leadership of borough officials in working to secure funding for the project.</p><p>&#8220;They came up with a good, practical plan that will go a long way to prevent future damages,&#8221; Baker and Kaufer said in a joint statement.</p><p>The grant will be used to install almost four miles of grassed swales, 2,500 feet of storm sewer pipe and make other improvements in order to eliminate major flooding and road washouts that occur during heavy rains. The application was officially approved Wednesday at a PennVEST board meeting in Harrisburg.</p><p>&#8220;I am so pleased to see state funding being awarded here in Luzerne County to help with a much-needed project to prevent future flooding,&#8221; Kaufer said. &#8220;Sadly, Courtdale has had issues with runoff for far too long, and this grant funding will go a long way to protect our residents and community at large.&#8221;</p><p>The overflow of Toby Creek and runoff from the mountain that occupies the upper half of the borough have combined to cause numerous flood events in recent years, putting a strain on borough finances.</p><p>&#8220;Creating ways to properly handle stormwater helps maintain water quality and prevent flooding. A significant project can be tough on a municipal budget, so this level of state funding means a lot to borough officials and taxpayers,&#8221; Baker added.</p><p><strong>Blake leads summit panel discussion on </strong></p><p><strong>poverty in Northeastern Pennsylvania</strong></p><p>SCRANTON<strong> &#8212; </strong>State Sen. John Blake, D-Archbald, recently hosted a number of local community leaders at Marywood University for a panel discussion on poverty in Northeastern Pennsylvania as part of his second Inclusion Initiative Summit.</p><p>&#8220;Today&#8217;s forum convened leaders with a diverse set of perspectives on the issue of poverty in our region and I felt very strongly that the conversation was productive, honest, informative and engaging,&#8221; Blake said. &#8220;We are faced with a number of challenges here in our region and across the state with so many of our neighbors and citizens struggling in poverty. We need to continue to engage community leaders in business, in our schools and at all levels of government to foster opportunities to advance prospects for living wages so our young men and women and our families can escape the generational cycle of poverty.&#8221;</p><p>Blake cited a recent report by the Institute for Public Policy and Economic Development which found that in 2013-14, 13.6 percent of Lackawanna County residents and 20.5 percent of Scranton residents were living below the federal poverty level.</p><p>&#8220;There are too many people &#8212; including seniors &#8212; who are living in daily financial stress right now in Northeastern Pennsylvania,&#8221; Blake said. &#8220;We need to remove outdated stereotypes about poverty and take up a collaborative engagement with a variety of partners in academic, health care, governmental, charitable, nonprofit, business and judicial circles &#8211; to change the scale and the scope of poverty in our region. I believe that it is the responsibility of all of these stakeholders to continue to advocate for and to continue to work together to improve the quality of life for hard-working residents. No one should be working 40-plus hours per week and living below the federal poverty level.&#8221;</p><p><strong>Wolf signs bill to </strong><strong>support</strong></p><p><strong>victims of spousal abuse</strong></p><p>Gov. Tom Wolf signed HB12 last week, which breaks down barriers for victims of spousal abuse by empowering victims to take control of their divorce proceedings.</p><p>&#8220;When someone else experiences spousal abuse, it reflects &#8211; and often reinforces &#8211; a number of negative forces. It promotes a culture of unfairness and discrimination. It feeds on the pernicious idea that some people have clearer rights than others,&#8221; Wolf said. &#8220;It builds an environment of fear among the community of friends, acquaintances and neighbors who know of the survivor&#8217;s ordeal. And this inhibits and restricts freedom of action on the part of that entire community. It dampens the open exchange of everything from ideas to feelings and sexual assault reduces the quality of life for us all. That&#8217;s not right. That&#8217;s why I&#8217;m signing HB12 today.&#8221;</p><p>Currently in Pennsylvania, even in the case of spousal abuse, if one party does not consent to a divorce, the marriage can be drawn out for two years and requires up to three face-to-face counseling sessions before a divorce is finalized. The bill, which passed unanimously in both chambers, does two things:</p><p>&#8226; It allows a victim to file for divorce and the law will presume the consent of the other party if they have been convicted of committing a personal injury crime against their spouse.</p><p>&#8226; It also allows the victim to object to court mandated divorce counseling if they have a protection from abuse order, were a victim of a personal injury crime, which the other party has been convicted or is in an accelerated rehabilitation disposition program because of their behavior.</p><p><strong>Barletta backs bill protecting</strong></p><p><strong>access to retirement advice</strong></p><p>U.S. Rep. Lou Barletta, R-Hazleton, voted for committee passage of a bill to protect access to affordable retirement advice for low- and middle-income families, blocking the Department of Labor&#8217;s (DOL) flawed &#8220;fiduciary rule.&#8221;</p><p>The rule imposes new mandates and regulations on retirement advisers, raising bipartisan concerns about negative impacts on individuals and small business owners. The House Education and the Workforce Committee, of which Barletta is a member, approved H.J. Res 88 on a vote of 22-to-14. The bill now heads to the floor of the full House of Representatives for its consideration.</p><p>&#8220;Americans are living longer lives than ever before, which means that retirement planning is even more important,&#8221; Barletta said. &#8220;The federal government ought to make it easier for people and small employers to get the best advice possible, not put up barriers. This legislation will help people get the information and advice they need, and therefore provide workers with a better chance at saving for their retirement years.&#8221;</p><p>The proposed DOL rule would dramatically alter how families and small business owners receive financial advice. The rule would prohibit some of the most basic advice available, such as assistance in rolling over funds from a 401(k) into an Individual Retirement Account, or determining the distribution of funds upon retirement. Small business owners would be denied certain assistance while determining investment options for employees, making it more likely that small employers will forego retirement plans for workers altogether. In addition, low- and middle-income families with fewer resources would lose access to financial advice completely or be forced to pay substantially higher fees to continuing seeing advisers they already trust.</p><p>Under the Congressional Review Act, Congress may pass a resolution of disapproval to prevent, with the full force of the law, a federal agency from implementing a rule or issuing a substantially similar rule without congressional authorization. The resolution would block the Department of Labor&#8217;s fiduciary rule, which is scheduled to go into effect in April 2017. The resolution follows earlier efforts to enact a responsible, bipartisan alternative to the department&#8217;s flawed rule.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Baker </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/web1_Baker-Lisa.jpg</photo0><caption0>Baker </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/web1_Kaufer-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Kaufer </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/web1_Kaufer-1.jpg</photo1><caption1>Kaufer </caption1><photoCredit1></photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/web1_Blake_John.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Blake </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/web1_Blake_John.jpg</photo2><caption2>Blake </caption2><photoCredit2></photoCredit2></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/web1_Wolf-2-.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Wolf </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo3>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/web1_Wolf-2-.jpg</photo3><caption3>Wolf </caption3><photoCredit3></photoCredit3></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/web1_Barletta_Lou_2-1.jpg">
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<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Bill O&#8217;Boyle</p><p>boboyle@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Bill O&#8217;Boyle at 570-991-6118 or on Twitter @TLBillOBoyle</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Grant approved to help flood prevention in Courtdale