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Another female inmate dead due to suicide at Luzerne County prison

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New company hired to help collect unpaid court fines

<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; An increase of $921,206 in state money for Luzerne County Head Start means serving 34 additional children, Executive Director Lynn Biga said Monday.</p><p>&#8220;We&#8217;re very happy,&#8221; Biga said after learning the area&#8217;s share of Head Start Supplemental Assistance grants offered by the state will be $1.95 million. &#8220;We&#8217;ll be able to serve 160 Head Start state-funded children. We had 126. &#8220;</p><p>Head Start is a federal pre-school program, but the state has been supplementing the funding to serve more children. Biga said the $1.95 million is an increase of $802,206 for the local agency.</p><p>Biga said Luzerne County Head Start is also getting $119,000 for its Pre-K Counts program for younger children, which will provide service for 14 more youngsters.</p><p>Pre-K Counts primarily targets children ages 3 and 4 from families at or below 300 percent of Federal Poverty Guidelines.</p><p>State Rep. Gerald Mullery, D-Luzerne, issued a media release praising the increase.</p><p>&#8220;Investing in our children is one of the best investments we can make,&#8221; Mullery said. &#8220;I&#8217;m pleased that we&#8217;re able to help make that investment in our future.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Lynn Biga, executive director of Head Start. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/web1_TTL082715BudgetWoes.jpg</photo0><caption0>Lynn Biga, executive director of Head Start. </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Mark Guydish</p><p>mguydish@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Mark Guydish at 570-991-6112 or on Twitter @TLMarkGuydish</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Additional money means local Head Start can serve 34 more children