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New state test results: Dallas highest in most local districts in grades 3-8; Crestwood tops high schools

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Boys & Girls Clubs kick off After School Program

<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; A homeless man was sentenced Thursday to eight to 16 months behind bars for setting fire to a Prospect Street home earlier this year.</p><p>Billy Joe Hartranft, 52, will be paroled from the Luzerne County Correctional Facility Friday morning after having already been jailed for 10 months, his attorney, John Pike said following the hearing.</p><p>Hartranft <a href="https://www.timesleader.com/news/local/582100/homeless-man-pleads-guilty-in-wilkes-barre-arson-2nd-suspect-awaits-trial" target="_blank">pleaded guilty Aug. 30 to starting a fire at 102 Prospect St</a>. Jan. 5 while a man and two women were inside. He confessed the following day to starting the fire on the back porch of the residence while Jonah B. O&#8217;Brien allegedly set fire to the front porch.</p><p>O&#8217;Brien, court papers say, used a can of spray paint and a match to ignite carpeting on the porch.</p><p>City detectives conducted interviews and learned O&#8217;Brien had been at the site of the fire sometime before midnight Jan. 4 and, after a short visit, tried unsuccessfully to have his estranged girlfriend leave with him, court papers say.</p><p>O&#8217;Brien allegedly returned to the home twice more and, after the last visit, allegedly threatened to kill his estranged girlfriend and her family. He also allegedly threatened to &#8220;set the house on fire.&#8221;</p><p>O&#8217;Brien, of Hanover Township, is awaiting trial on the charges. He remains free on a $25,000 bond.</p><p>Luzerne County Judge Joseph Sklarosky Jr. ordered Hartranft to pay $29,000 in restitution to State Farm Insurance, but noted restitution could be split with O&#8217;Brien if he is convicted, Sklarosky said.</p><style>
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<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Joe Dolinsky</p><p>jdolinsky@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Joe Dolinsky at 570-991-6110 or on Twitter @JoeDolinskyTL</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Judge sentences homeless man who torched Wilkes-Barre home