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GFWC supports Children’s Advocacy Center

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Russian government officers, hackers charged in Yahoo breach

<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; City officials Wednesday asked for the public&#8217;s patience during cleanup efforts in the wake of Winter Storm Stella. They were also advising people to stay home if possible so streets could be cleared of nearly 2 feet of snow.</p><p>Wilkes-Barre Mayor Tony George and members of his administration provided an update of the progress made with around-the-clock snow removal by city crews and contractors hired after a State of Emergency was issued in the midst of the blizzard.</p><p>&#8220;People have to remember this is a disaster. It&#8217;s not a snowstorm,&#8221; George said during an 11 a.m. press conference at the Department of Public Works yard on North Pennsylvania Avenue.</p><p>The added costs of overtime and equipment for the cleanup weighed on George&#8217;s mind, especially since there hasn&#8217;t been either a state or federal disaster declaration with the promise of financial assistance for the nearly $500,000 the mayor expected the city to spend.</p><p>&#8220;The city&#8217;s in dire financial need and this doesn&#8217;t help and I&#8217;m getting no support from anybody else,&#8221; George said.</p><p>The approximate 23 inches of snow that fell is much more than can be handled by plowing alone. Instead, a full-scale removal operation is in place involving front-end loaders scooping up the snow and dump trucks hauling it away to the city-owned Coal Street Park property where it&#8217;s unloaded and left for warmer weather to melt the mounds.</p><p>The city has more than 600 streets, and it could take until late Thursday or even Friday to get to all of the 126 miles of roadway; all the more reason to avoid driving if it&#8217;s not necessary, despite the lifting of a travel ban early Wednesday morning.</p><p>&#8220;Be patient,&#8221; the mayor urged.</p><p><strong>&#8216;Doesn&#8217;t happen overnight&#8217;</strong></p><p>But many had called City Hall and DPW as crews were in the second day of working 16-hour shifts.</p><p>&#8220;We had 99 calls this morning, 99, about when is my street gonna get cleared,&#8221; said Butch Frati, the city&#8217;s director of operations. &#8220;We get it. It just doesn&#8217;t happen overnight.&#8221;</p><p>Two of the city&#8217;s 15 trucks broke down Tuesday and were expected to be back on the road Wednesday afternoon. Frati lauded the work of DPW employees and the hired help.</p><p>&#8220;Everyone has limited resources. We&#8217;ve gone above and beyond here. &#8230; We&#8217;ve reached out to contractors well ahead of time. I&#8217;ve had other cities and townships calling us for support. We have everybody here we need. We just need time,&#8221; Frati said.</p><p>The city has plenty of salt and anti-skid material on hand. It&#8217;s rented two loaders and had another one donated by the Wilkes-Barre Area School District. The five contractors were concentrating their efforts in the downtown, North End, East End, South Wilkes-Barre and the Rolling Mill Hill section.</p><p>Frati was hesitant to say what percentage of the city was cleared, but said,&#8221;It&#8217;s like 180 (degrees) from what it was yesterday at this time.&#8221;</p><p>He also asked residents to avoid shoveling snow into the streets after they are plowed. &#8220;I get it in some of the areas it&#8217;s almost impossible not to do that, but it&#8217;s just makes our work doubly difficult,&#8221; Frati said.</p><p>Wilkes-Barre Police Chief Marcella Lendacky said officers are working overtime during the cleanup.</p><p>Wilkes-Barre Fire Department Chief Jay Delaney stressed the need to keep the streets open for ambulances and fire engines.</p><p>&#8220;Several times just today alone, stuck vehicles have impeded emergency vehicles from getting to their calls so folks really should stay home for now,&#8221; Delaney said.</p><p>His department &#8220;ramped up&#8221; for the storm, equipping vehicles with chains and putting a total of four ambulances in service.</p><p>&#8220;We&#8217;ve had 54 emergency calls that we responded to. We got to them all, a challenge to many, but we got to them,&#8221; Delaney said.</p><p>While the Wyoming Valley cleaned out from Stella, Governor Tom Wolf announced that PennDOT will continue to maintain around-the-clock deployment of crews.</p><p>As of 5 p.m. Wednesday, PennDOT shifted to secondary road clearing, while continuing to keep interstates and expressways passable.</p><p>One of PennDOT&#8217;s Mobile Equipment Teams was dispatched from a northwestern Pennsylvania district to the Scranton area, according to a press release.</p><p>&#8220;This storm has taken a toll on people and equipment in many communities, but specifically the communities in the northeast,&#8221; Wolf said. &#8220;The state is taking additional steps to relieve some of that burden and will maintain on-site resources as long as deemed necessary.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Dylan Wall, 12, and Christian Tereska, 11, help their neighbor Lacy Phillips dig out her car in Kingston. 3/15/2017 Aimee Dilger|Times Leader</div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/web1_TTL031617Snow6ad-1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Dylan Wall, 12, and Christian Tereska, 11, help their neighbor Lacy Phillips dig out her car in Kingston. 3/15/2017 Aimee Dilger|Times Leader</caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/web1_TTL031617Mayor1-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Mayor Tony George speaks about the conditions of clean-up of the Winter storm Stella. 3/15/2017 Aimee Dilger|Times Leader</div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/web1_TTL031617Mayor1-1.jpg</photo1><caption1>Mayor Tony George speaks about the conditions of clean-up of the Winter storm Stella. 3/15/2017 Aimee Dilger|Times Leader</caption1><photoCredit1></photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/web1_TTL031617Snow7ad-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">A sign hangs on Mattern's on Market Street, stating the business is closed due to the snow. 3/15/2017 Aimee Dilger|Times Leader</div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/web1_TTL031617Snow7ad-1.jpg</photo2><caption2>A sign hangs on Mattern's on Market Street, stating the business is closed due to the snow. 3/15/2017 Aimee Dilger|Times Leader</caption2><photoCredit2></photoCredit2></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>George: &#8216;This is a disaster&#8217;</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Jerry Lynott</p><p>jlynott@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p>WINTER STORM STELLA ADDITIONAL COVERAGE</p><p>&#8226; The American Red Cross has issued a plea for all eligible blood and platelet donors to make an appointment to donate, Page 2A</p><p>&#8226; Communities around the Wyoming Valley begin to dig out from Tuesday&#8217;s storm, Page 3A.</p><p>&#8226; A complete forecast of this weekend&#8217;s weather, Page 10A</p><p>&#8226; Breaking news and storm updates, www.timesleader.com</p><p>&#8226; Reader-submitted photos, Facebook.com/timesleader</p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>For other local news stories, <a href="https://www.timesleader.com/category/local" target="_blank">click here</a>.</p><p>Reach Jerry Lynott at 570-991-6120 or on Twitter @TLJerryLynott.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

‘Be patient’ Wilkes-Barre Mayor George tells residents waiting for plows