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Car crashes into Curry Donuts, Two injured

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Their view: Beware of Beto’s charisma

Luzerne County&#8217;s GIS/Mapping Department has been working with the U.S. Census Bureau to make sure it has the latest data to perform its 2020 count, county Manager C. David Pedri told council last week.&#8220;We have to start sounding this call right now. The 2020 Census will soon be upon us,&#8221; Pedri said.The county administration also plans to reach out to municipalities to &#8220;coordinate our response&#8221; and &#8220;get the word out&#8221; about the importance of achieving comprehensive results, he said.If the Census is &#8220;not correctly done,&#8221; it directly affects federal and state funding provided &#8220;for every aspect of what we do here at the county and local government level,&#8221; Pedri said.Road workPedri urged qualified job seekers to consider applying for vacant road and bridge positions, including an equipment operator job posted on the human resources section at <a href="https://www.governmentjobs.com/careers/luzernecounty?page=2" target="_blank">www.luzernecounty.org</a>. The department is undermanned and needs help, he said.The equipment operator position pays $25,550 annually.The county road crew has been working to apply tons of cold patch on county-owned roadways to address potholes, he said.Transit fundingRalph Sharp, director of the Hazleton Public Transit, appeared before council last week to request a $171,463 local match required to obtain $2.05 million in state funding to provide public transportation in the Hazleton area.Councilman Harry Haas said he plans to make a motion to postpone the annual allocation at council&#8217;s March 26 meeting due to a lack of progress on Councilman Stephen A. Urban&#8217;s past calls for local match participation from two other counties partially serviced by the transit system &#8212; Carbon and Schuylkill.Sharp said he has unsuccessfully attempted to secure these other payments, which, based on service, would be $15,260 from Carbon and $3,086 from Schuylkill, reducing Luzerne&#8217;s contribution to $153,117.The total match has increased 5 percent this year as part of a requirement to gradually shift it to a total of 15 percent, Sharp said.Busing serviceHazleton Public Transit is working with the Luzerne County Transportation Authority to start new bus routes that will bring northern county residents to jobs at the growing Humboldt Industrial Park in Hazle Township and transport southern county residents to distribution centers and other employers in Hanover Township and other parts of the Wyoming Valley, Sharp said.&#8220;We&#8217;ve been talking quite a bit,&#8221; Sharp told council.Sharp&#8217;s agency also plans to break ground this spring on a new maintenance and storage facility near the Hazleton Regional Airport that will include space for the county Transportation Authority to house some of its shared-ride vans, he said.Matters approvedCouncil voted last week to provide a letter of support to reopen Camp Louise near Shickshinny.The Friends of Camp Louise wants to purchase the camp and reopen it as an outdoor education and recreation center that is open to the public, including youth groups.Founded in 1959, the Girl Scout camp closed in 2016 due to infrastructure problems, according to prior published report. The 340-acre camp included a 25-acre lake, hiking trails and walking paths and several lodges and cabins.Council also declared a vacancy on the county Transportation Authority due to resignation of board member Michael P. Gilhooley, who stepped down because of changes in his work schedule.More than three years are left in his authority term, and council will fill the unpaid seat at a future meeting.TrashUrban asked the administration to make sure municipalities are aware of the possibility for county prison inmates to assist with litter removal.He noted an outside consultant who assessed the area as part of a tourism branding initiative recently observed too much littering here, and Urban said he agrees.&#8220;It makes you sick when you see it,&#8221; Urban said, maintaining it will deter efforts to attract people to the area.<style>
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<div class="neCaption">Luzerne County Courthouse </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/web1_web1_luzerne-county-courthouse-1-2.jpg</photo0><caption0>Luzerne County Courthouse </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta>By Jennifer Learn-Andesjandes@www.timesleader.com</bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta>Reach Jennifer Learn-Andes at 570-991-6388 or on Twitter @TLJenLearnAndes.</shirttailMeta></div>

Support needed for accurate 2020 Census, Luzerne County manager says