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Original play continues Sherlock Holmes story

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<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; State Sen. John Yudichak, Sen. John Blake and Rep. Mike Carroll last week announced that several local affordable housing projects in Luzerne County received over $1.5 million in funding through the Pennsylvania Housing Affordability and Rehabilitation Enhancement fund.</p><p>&#8220;The affordable housing investments announced today by the PA Housing Finance Agency (PHFA) are important for our region and will serve our citizens for years to come,&#8221; Blake said. &#8220;With a combination of PHARE funds and low-income housing tax credits, the critically important Dupont Housing for the Elderly project will now be able to move to completion.&#8221;</p><p>This project, which received $674,400 in PHARE grant funds, was also awarded a federal low-income housing tax credit allocation that will be worth up to $8.1 million. The $10 million Dupont Housing project will consist of 36 one-bedroom units for area seniors &#8211; 19 units will have Section 8 rental subsidies through the Luzerne County Housing Authority and four will be fully accessible units for persons with disabilities.</p><p>&#8220;I am thrilled that the PHFA recognized the importance of the Dupont Housing project to Greater Pittston,&#8221; Carroll said. &#8220;Dupont Borough had the foresight to obtain a former school building for the sole purpose of developing housing for our elderly population and the award of PHARE funds and low-income housing tax credits allows this project to proceed.&#8221;</p><p>Additionally, the Goodwill at North Gerard T. Langan Apartments received $500,000 in PHARE funds to close the funding gap for the over $20 million project. This facility includes 58 completely renovated senior apartments which are currently home to 63 individuals.</p><p>Yudichak, D-Nanticoke, announced that three other projects have received $315,000 in funding through the PHARE fund:</p><p>&#8226; The Volunteers of America of Pennsylvania will receive $175,000 to fully rehab a 3,162-square-foot building that is declining into a blighted state on East Division Street in Wilkes-Barre. The building will be called the Haven Home and will be used to empower and equip people with intellectual disabilities to live freely and independently.</p><p>&#8226; The Housing Development Corporation of NEPA will receive $125,000 for the Luzerne County Senior/Disabled Home Retention Program. The program will assist seniors and disabled households who are living at home in Luzerne County in at-risk housing to complete home rehabilitation/modification tasks which will enable them to retain their housing and continue living at home.</p><p>&#8226; The Commission on Economic Opportunity will receive $15,000 to develop a Housing Counseling &amp; Homeless Prevention Program in Luzerne and Monroe counties intended to provide direct assistance in the forms of one-time mortgage payments, rental arrers, inspection services, and staffing for case management.</p><p>Across the Commonwealth, 39 affordable multifamily housing developments received $41.6 million in low-income housing tax credits and $7.7 million in PennHOMES funding. Additionally, 211 housing and community development initiatives in all 67 counties will share a portion of the $51.2 million in PHARE funding.</p><p><strong>Rep. Toohil&#8217;s adoption</strong></p><p><strong>bill signed into law</strong></p><p>Legislation to simplify the process for certain adoptions in Pennsylvania sponsored by Rep. Tarah Toohil, R-Butler Township, was recently signed into law.</p><p>Act 47 of 2019 clarifies that a prison employee may serve as a witness to the execution of an adoption consent form by an incarcerated birth parent. If a second witness is unavailable, the new law allows the consent to be acknowledged before a notary public.</p><p>&#8220;Previously, many inmates could not obtain the necessary witness signatures because the correctional staff believed they were not permitted to do so,&#8221; said Toohil. &#8220;As a result, children up for adoption had many more months of delays. They were stuck in the system, dealing with caseworkers and court appearances while waiting for the legal paperwork to be completed. This new law saves time and taxpayer money.&#8221;</p><p>In addition, Act 47 increases the fee assessed for child support collection services from $25 to $35 annually as mandated by federal law and increases the threshold amount of child support collections before the fee is imposed from $500 to $550 annually.</p><p>It also brings Pennsylvania&#8217;s laws regarding background checks for current and perspective employees of childcare facilities and employment of certain individuals in childcare facilities into compliance with federal law and regulations.</p><p><strong>DePasquale favors replacing</strong></p><p><strong>Keystone Exams with SATs</strong></p><p>In a new special report, Auditor General Eugene DePasquale said Pennsylvania taxpayers are still spending tens of millions of dollars every year on the Keystone Exams, which have not been federally required for four years.</p><p>&#8220;Pennsylvania should aggressively explore using a nationally recognized test that can open new doors for students rather than continuing to spend money on an exam that is no longer required,&#8221; DePasquale said. &#8220;For less than what Pennsylvania spends on the Keystone Exams, it could instead pick up the tab for every high school student to take the PSAT or SAT.&#8221;</p><p>Federal law requires that all states administer a secondary-level standardized test; however, since 2015, when the No Child Left Behind Act was replaced, the state-specific Keystone Exams were no longer required.</p><p>But rather than phase out the state-specific tests &#8211; which at least 12 other states have done &#8211; the Pennsylvania Department of Education is still paying the tests&#8217; creator, Minnesota-based Data Recognition Corp., tens of millions of dollars each year to administer and score the Keystone Exams.</p><p>Between 2015 and 2021, Pennsylvania will have spent nearly $100 million on the Keystone Exams.</p><p>&#8220;When the federal law changed in 2015, why didn&#8217;t Pennsylvania begin to phase out the Keystone Exams? I could understand if they used them for a short time after that, but it&#8217;s been four years &#8212; and if PDE completes the current contract they will have spent nearly $100 million,&#8221; DePasquale added.</p><p>Pennsylvania students could have instead been taking a nationally recognized test such as the SAT or ACT &#8211; which is shown to improve the rate at which students attend post-secondary education &#8211; at a lower cost than what has been paid for the Keystone Exams.</p><p>&#8220;Not only would this change benefit families who now have to pay out of pocket for their children to take these nationally recognized tests, it could help students who are not on a college track discover that they could succeed in college and possibly change the course of their future,&#8221; DePasquale said.</p><p>Many school district officials do not realize that the Keystone Exams, administered to all public high-school students in Pennsylvania, are not and will never be a graduation requirement, DePasquale said. Eliminating the Keystone Exams would allow teachers to spend more time instructing students on key concepts.</p><p><strong>Anxiety disorders, Tourette syndrome</strong></p><p><strong>added to medical marijuana program</strong></p><p>Pennsylvania Department of Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine last week announced that effective July 20, anxiety disorders and Tourette syndrome will be approved serious medical conditions in the medical marijuana program based on the recommendation of the Medical Marijuana Advisory Board and a review of medical research on the use of marijuana to treat these conditions.</p><p>&#8220;Patients should consult with their health care provider to see if medical marijuana will be beneficial for them,&#8221; Levine said. &#8220;I do not take this decision lightly, and do have recommendations for physicians, dispensary pharmacists and patients in terms of the use of medical marijuana to treat these conditions. For both conditions, medical marijuana is not first line treatment and should not replace traditional therapies but should be used in conjunction with them, when recommended by a physician.&#8221;</p><p>Levine advised that patients with anxiety disorders should continue to pursue counseling and therapy to manage their illness. She said that research indicates medical marijuana with low THC and high CBD content are more effective for treatment of anxiety disorders and is recommended for short-term use.</p><p>&#8220;In addition, medical marijuana is not recommended to treat children and adolescents with anxiety disorders, as their brains are still developing,&#8221; Levine said.</p><p>Levine also warned that pregnant women with any of the approved serious medical conditions should not use medical marijuana as the impacts on the fetus are unknown.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Blake </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/web1_Blake_John.jpg</photo1><caption1>Blake </caption1><photoCredit1></photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/web1_Mike-Carroll.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Carroll </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/web1_Mike-Carroll.jpg</photo2><caption2>Carroll </caption2><photoCredit2></photoCredit2></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/web1_DePasquale-cmyk_ne201811118498306.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">DePasquale </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo3>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/web1_DePasquale-cmyk_ne201811118498306.jpg</photo3><caption3>DePasquale </caption3><photoCredit3></photoCredit3></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/web1_retreat03CMYK-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Yudichak </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo4>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/web1_retreat03CMYK-1.jpg</photo4><caption4>Yudichak </caption4><photoCredit4></photoCredit4></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Bill O&#8217;Boyle</p><p>boboyle@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Bill O&#8217;Boyle at 570-991-6118 or on Twitter @TLBillOBoyle.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

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$1.5M PHARE funding announced for local affordable housing projects