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Voters await economic revival in a part of pro-Trump America

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Wolf seeks cuts, revenues to plug $3B budget gap

<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; There weren&#8217;t enough hours in the day for Joan Ann Baiera.</p><p>The 71-year-old Pittston woman spent her weekdays working at a seat manufacturer and three nights a week cleaning an office building. It wasn&#8217;t a surprise to those who knew her. Baiera was a selfless soul who worked her whole life, her daughter said, until she was killed while driving to an area hospital to care for her dying sister.</p><p>&#8220;She was on her way there to visit (her sister) and go to her night job,&#8221; recalled Baiera&#8217;s daughter, Lisa Musto. &#8220;She was just a productive person who would just do anything for you at every expense to herself.&#8221;</p><p>Joseph Kaminski, a driver with three prior convictions for driving under the influence of drugs, had morphine in his system when he veered over the center line and crashed head-on into Baiera&#8217;s vehicle as she drove south on River Street near the Eighth Street Bridge, killing the mother and grandmother and leaving &#8220;a gaping hole&#8221; in her family.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s two years later, and I still reach for the phone to call my mom,&#8221; Musto said Tuesday, a day after Kaminski, 39, of Duryea, was sentenced to up to a decade in prison for her mother&#8217;s December 2014 death.</p><p>The fallout from the fatal wreck has taken a toll on Musto and her family, but she acknowledged she&#8217;s &#8220;there&#8221; when it comes to forgiving Kaminski.</p><p>&#8220;The heart of a family had to die because of his stupid mistakes, but we definitely forgive the guy,&#8221; she said. &#8220;(Kaminski) is a human being, and he&#8217;s had a really crappy life so far &#8230; it&#8217;s just a shame it had to culminate in the death of someone.&#8221;</p><p>Kaminski&#8217;s five- to 10-year sentence came on the heels of a <a href="https://www.timesleader.com/news/local/606025/duryea-man-pleads-guilty-to-vehicular-homicide-in-death-of-pittston-woman" target="_blank">guilty plea to homicide by vehicle while driving under the influence and related charges</a> in November. Records showed Kaminski&#8217;s license was suspended at the time of the crash &#8212; one of three suspensions between July 2009 and May 2010 that were DUI-related.</p><p>A forensic toxicologist determined Kaminski &#8220;was a recent and prior user of morphine/heroin, methadone and clonazepam in pharmacologically significant amounts.&#8221; Kaminski, he further concluded, &#8220;was under the impairing psychoactive effects&#8221; of the drugs, which &#8220;would have rendered him incapable of properly operating a motor vehicle on the highway at the time of the crash.&#8221;</p><p>Rehabilitation services will be available to Kaminski as part of his sentence, Musto said. She said she hopes he takes advantage of it.</p><p>&#8220;He&#8217;ll get a second chance at doing something productive in his life, so let&#8217;s see if he does that,&#8221; she said.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Joseph Kaminski, 39, of Duryea, will spend five to 10 years in prison on homicide by vehicle while driving under the influence charges stemming from a December 2014 head-on crash that killed a 71-year-old Pittston woman. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/web1_web1_web1_kaminski-2-2.jpg</photo0><caption0>Joseph Kaminski, 39, of Duryea, will spend five to 10 years in prison on homicide by vehicle while driving under the influence charges stemming from a December 2014 head-on crash that killed a 71-year-old Pittston woman. </caption0><photoCredit0>Times Leader file </photoCredit0></div></div>
<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>

Addiction ripped apart family, daughter of victim, 71, killed in DUI wreck says