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WBS Penguins to face seven new opponents in the 2017-18 season

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Happy birthday Patrick J. Doyle, III!

<p>Luzerne County municipalities won&#8217;t be getting any federal money to help offset the cleanup costs from March&#8217;s record-breaking snowstorm. The March 14-15 storm dropped more than two feet of snow throughout Luzerne County in a 24-hour span.</p><p>Gov. Tom Wolf today announced that President Donald Trump has denied his request for a federal disaster declaration that would have meant federal money to help cover the costs of the storm.</p><p>&#8220;This disaster declaration would have provided much-needed financial assistance to hard-hit communities in Northeastern Pennsylvania,&#8221; Wolf said.</p><p>Wolf received a letter from Robert J. Fenton, acting administrator for FEMA, which said &#8220;the damage from this event was not of such severity and magnitude as to be beyond the capabilities of the commonwealth and affected local governments.&#8221;</p><p>Ted Wampole, city administrator for Wilkes-Barre, took issue with the sentence.</p><p>&#8220;How they could say that,&#8221; he said, &#8220;defies any kind of logic from anywhere even from Washington.&#8221;</p><p>Hazleton Mayor Jeff Cusat agrees.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s a tremendous burden to the city,&#8221; Cusat said, noting the city submitted close to $200,000 in receipts. &#8220;It&#8217;s disappointing.&#8221;</p><p>Nanticoke submitted just over $50,000 for their most expensive two days, interim city Manager Donna Wall said. But still, it will be a hit for the community.</p><p>&#8220;We&#8217;re all suffering,&#8221; she said. The city will have to cut planned projects, Wall noted.</p><p>In his request letter sent to the Trump administration on May 2, Wolf cited costs to local municipalities that significantly exceeded their snow removal budgets, transportation issues such as preemptive road closures including major interstates, record-breaking snowfall in nine counties and storm conditions that generated significant life-safety issues requiring a variety of critical resource and support needs, such as rescue and evacuation of stranded motorists, wrecker service with recovery staff, generators and transportation of emergency workers.</p><p>The denial may be appealed within 30 days.</p><p>&#8220;We&#8217;ll most likely appeal,&#8221; said Ted Wampole, city administrator for Wilkes-Barre. The city spent approximately $1 million for the storm cleanup.</p><p>Wall, who said she had a &#8220;bad feeling&#8221; about getting funds refunded, but said she&#8217;s going to look into getting a group effort together for an appeal.</p><p>&#8220;Numbers speak volumes,&#8221; she said.</p><p>Cusat said he&#8217;ll be using his weekend to reach out to other municipalities to see if he can get a &#8220;strength in numbers&#8221; response.</p><p>&#8220;If more than one appeals, they will see it&#8217;s a disaster,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Not just one (municipality) crying wolf.&#8221;</p><p>Wolf made the request earlier this month in order to provide federal funding to local, county and state governments, as well as certain eligible nonprofits in Bradford, Lackawanna, Luzerne, Susquehanna, Wyoming, Northumberland, Pike, Wayne and Montour counties through the Public Assistance program.</p><p>The program provides reimbursement of up to 75 percent of the costs incurred on eligible expenses for the eligible 48-hour time period.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">A crew member from Popple Construction dumps snow in the parking lot of the Toyota SportsPlex in Wilkes-Barre on in March. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/web1_TTL031717CoalStSnow1-1-1-1.jpg</photo0><caption0>A crew member from Popple Construction dumps snow in the parking lot of the Toyota SportsPlex in Wilkes-Barre on in March. </caption0><photoCredit0>Sean McKeag | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/web1_cusat-election-2015_toned.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Cusat </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/web1_cusat-election-2015_toned.jpg</photo1><caption1>Cusat </caption1><photoCredit1>Sean McKeag | Times Leader </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/web1_wall.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Wall </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/web1_wall.jpg</photo2><caption2>Wall </caption2><photoCredit2>Sean McKeag | Times Leader </photoCredit2></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Melanie Mizenko</p><p>mmizenko@www.timesleader.com and Jerry Lynott</p><p>jlynott@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Melanie Mizenko at 570-991-6116 or on Twitter @TL_MMizenko</p><p>Reach Jerry Lynott at 570-991-6120 or on Twitter @TLNews</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Decision means no federal aid for storm cleanup