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Coughlin’s Jake Cole scores Day 1 upset at WVC Wrestling Tournament

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Police looking for vandals of local cemetery

Diamonds to Luzerne County Head Start for nabbing nearly $1.2 million &#8212; more than $800,000 of which is expected to recur in future years &#8212; to increase the hours and days 3- and 4-year-old children can take advantage of preschool opportunities. Executive Director Lynn Biga said the expansion &#8212; from four to five days a week and from under four hours a day to five and a half &#8212; means about 160 children in the program will get nearly 500 hours more per year. The evidence is increasingly clear that quality preschool saves on future costs for children otherwise entering first grade behind peers. With preschool, they are less likely to need special education or other services later in life. This seems like a wise investment coming to an area that needs it.Coal to the pushers who sell the stuff, the suppliers who cynically profit at the cost of lives, and, frankly, to our culture at large for the sharp growth in drug overdose deaths. Yes, users own a big share of the blame, but how much fault remains after addiction takes hold? When Luzerne County Coroner William Lisman announced drug overdose deaths in Luzerne County doubled in a two-year period year, with 140 in 2016, it was not simply an indictment on the victims, it was an indictment on us all. We can be a better society than this.Diamonds to the PSU Nittany Lions and the USC Trojans for putting on, as the British might say, a &#8220;corker&#8221; of a show at the Rose Bowl. It is true nothing will fully erase the shadow of former Penn State defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky&#8217;s sordid and unforgivable crimes, but the young men who suited up Monday had nothing to do with Sandusky child abuse, and they acquitted themselves admirably throughout a stunning season capped by a game that left any fan of either side fixated on the final minutes. Coal within the Diamond: Why did the iconic bowl game not merit air time on one of the big three networks, giving anyone with an antenna a chance to watch?Coal to any Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives &#8212; including any local representatives &#8212; who quietly voted behind doors to curtail the independence of the Office of Congressional Ethics. In fact, coal to any representatives who did not publicly speak up against the move as soon as it happened, regardless of how they voted. We may never know who voted how because individual lawmaker votes apparently were not recorded, but in a cowardly move that bodes very poorly for the just-launched session, the GOP looked drunk with power as it tried to gut the OCE without any public comment or debate. Indeed, it was done without involving their fellow Democrats, while the GOP drew up rules for this session the night before it began. If the OCE needs to be fixed, fix it. If it truly should be abolished, make your case and do what&#8217;s best. But do it in public. There is only one response to such wretched overreach so early in the year: Shame on every one of you.

Our view: More funding for Head Start a good move