Sugarloaf man's collection of Bibles dates to 1551

Sandusky's son awaits hearing on child sex abuse allegations

Here are the stories for this week's Pennsylvania Member Exchange package. If you have any questions, contact the Philadelphia bureau at 215-561-1133. For use anytime: EXCHANGE-EDITORIAL RDP Editorials from around Pennsylvania. For Saturday, Feb. 18, 2016: EXCHANGE-BUSY PASTOR NEW CASTLE — After breakfast at McDonald's and his morning prayers, the Rev. Frank Almade arrived around 8:30 at the office of St. Vitus Church, one of four Roman Catholic parishes he oversees here in this Lawrence County seat. Shortly before 10 a.m., he entered the sanctuary for the funeral of a 79-year-old parishioner. After a lunchtime planning session with his fellow priests, touching base with office staff members and making visits to the parish school and a chapel where parishioners keep a round-the-clock prayer vigil, he ended the workday in the evening with a meeting of the pastoral councils, or advisory bodies of the parishes. Father Almade doesn't give the impression of being hurried. Yet he and a handful of other priests who oversee four churches represent the most dramatic manifestation of a growing reality that is prompting the diocese to plan the largest downsizing of parishes in its six-county region in a generation. Peter Smith, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. EXCHANGE-IMMIGRANT FAMILY BLOOMSBURG — The Valentin family had just moved here from Puerto Rico the first time they encountered a hateful slur. It was 2000 and Maria Valentin and her husband, William, were walking into the DMV in Berwick when someone nearly backed into Mr. Valentin on the sidewalk. Then the driver started screaming. "You need to go back to Mexico!" he yelled. Even telling the story now, she sounds exasperated. "We are not Mexican!" Nearly 17 years later, nothing's changed. If anything, it's gotten worse. Instead of feeling more accepted in the community where they put down roots, the Valentins say they feel more rejected. "Time went by and it got more racist. They look at you like you are very different. We're all human." Kristin Baver, (Bloomsburg) Press Enterprise. EXCHANGE-ADDICTED BABIES HARRISBURG — They're the tiniest and most innocent victims of the heroin addiction crisis but it doesn't spare them their suffering. They cry relentlessly at a disturbing pitch and can't sleep. Their muscles get so tense their bodies feel hard. They suck hungrily but lack coordination to successfully feed. Or they lack an appetite. They sweat, tremble, vomit and suffer diarrhea. Some claw at their faces. Logan Keck, 23, of Carlisle, cares for her daughter, born February 1, in the NICU unit at Holy Spirit Hospital in East Pennsboro Township. Keck was initially addicted to heroin and was in recovery for two years on methadone maintenance treatment when she found out she was pregnant. Keck's baby is now on morphine to help her through withdrawal. David Wenner, PennLive.com. EXCHANGE-ENERGY JOBS PITTSBURGH — Despite a two-year downturn in the oil and gas industry, "downstream" opportunities such as power plants and pipelines are feeding a growing sense that the employment outlook in Western Pennsylvania is improving. Available energy-related jobs run the gamut from truck drivers, who can earn a commercial driver's license in five weeks, to highly trained technicians, who may have to go back to school for a two-year degree, industry observers say. "What this slowdown in the upstream part has allowed to happen is for the midstream to catch up," said David Pistner, director of workforce development for Westmoreland County Community College's Advanced Technology Center. "It's allowed the industry to put those gathering lines in because each well needs a line to take it from the gathering to the collection area." Stephen Huba, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. EXCHANGE-BIBLE COLLECTION SYBERTSVILLE — Some of the pages in the books are yellowed and brittle from age, while others remain unblemished. But they're all gently turned by the hands of a Sugarloaf Township man, their safe keeper, offering a quiet swoosh or crinkle each time he turns them in his living room. Each book has its own history and appearance, some more prominent than others, but all the same scared title: The Bible. All 801 of them. They're the best-selling work of nonfiction in the world, according to Guinness World Records, and Duane Hildebrand carefully handles each one in his massive collection. He collected them over his lifetime of 50 years, many gifts after the owner died. Some he got by chance and others he sought out. Amanda Christman, The (Hazleton) Standard Speaker.

BC-PA--Exchange,Advisory, PA