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DISTRICT 2 SOFTBALLCougars advance to 5th straight title game

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Man burned, cabin catches fire after leaf blower ‘blew up’ in Plains Township

<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; The last time city council voted on a topic out of their control, some residents complained and told the elected officials to stick to matters close to home.</p><p>On Thursday, council received public support for its opposition to the program cuts announced by the Wilkes-Barre Area School Board earlier this week.</p><p>Councilwoman Beth Gilbert asked that a resolution be added to the agenda and said &#8220;I can&#8217;t but vehemently disapprove&#8221; of the board&#8217;s decision.</p><p>Council voted 4-0 in favor of it and the three other items before it &#8212; the purchase of five bulletproofs for $3,975, the awarding of a $58,305 contract to A. R. Popple Construction Inc. to repair damaged flood walls and install fencing along Mill Creek above East Main Street in the Miners Mill section, and the first of two readings of an ordinance to install a stop sign at the intersection of East Chestnut Street and Sunrise Drive.</p><p>At its May 12 public meeting council passed a resolution urging the U.S. Senate to perform its constitutional duty to provide advice and consent on President Barack Obama&#8217;s nomination of Judge Merrick Garland to the U.S. Supreme Court. At the time John Suchoski criticized council for the vote. He backed council for taking a stand on the school board&#8217;s decision to eliminate art, industrial arts, library sciences and family and consumer sciences and furlough approximately 40 teachers beginning at the next school year.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s going to affect everybody,&#8221; Suchoski said.</p><p>Richard Holodick, president of the Save our Schools organization, described the dire state of the public schools in the city based on student achievement scores and the underfunding by the state. &#8220;This district is in a crisis,&#8221; he said and warned the plans to consolidate schools and build a new high school will tax some residents out of their homes.</p><p>Aside from the school district , Matthew Ford again raised the issue of decriminalizing the possession of a small amount of marijuana. He has addressed Luzerne County Council on the same subject.</p><p>&#8220;I did smoke marijuana,&#8221; Ford said. He said classifying it as a summary would not leave someone who made a mistake as a teenager or young adult with a criminal record that reduces their chances of getting a good job. &#8220;Let&#8217;s ourselves be progressive in our line of thinking,&#8221; Ford said.</p><p>John LaRose of Lock Haven addressed council as a representative of the Hiawatha Institute for Indigenous Knowledge, a collaboration between the Iroquois nation and Syracuse University. LaRose said the institute has offered to work with the city to restore Kirby Park, an area once home to native Americans. City Administrator Ted Wampole said a meeting is set for Tuesday with members of the organization along with a tour of the park.</p><style>
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<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Jerry Lynott</p><p>jlynott@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Jerry Lynott at 570-991-6120 or on Twitter @TLJerryLynott</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Wilkes-Barre City Council opposes school district cuts, hears public concerns about effects