Local News-Thursday, March 15th

A Nuremburg woman died in a one-vehicle crash in West Mahanoy Township Wednesday morning. 88-year-old Howard Ney of Nuremburg, and his passenger, 81-year-old Daisy Fagan were southbound on State Route 924, when he failed to slow at the intersection with Route 4033. The car crossed the road, went up an embankment and hit a PPL pole. The vehicle went airborne, and the passenger side hit a tree. Both occupants had to be removed from the car by emergency personnel. Fagan was pronounced dead at the scene. Ney was taken to Geisinger Medical Center for treatment. The crash happened around 4:20 Thursday morning.

A number of candidates have had their nominating petitions for the May primary challenged.
Seventeen candidates in all, including the Democratic candidate for Schuylkill County Coroner, Joseph Lipsett, will have challenge hearings held over the next week. According to the Pottsville Republican, a number of school board candidates petitions for seats are also subject to challenges. Those districts include Pottsville Area, Shenandoah Valley and Tamaqua. Raymond Smith of Lavelle is set to challenge District Judge Bernadette Nahas. His nominating petition is also being challenged.

More information has surface about the explosive device found in Pottsville Tuesday. We first reported yesterday morning that an unexploded device was found in the 700 block of Second Street, prompting the Reading Bomb Squad to come to the city to recover it. The unexploded shell was found during a drug bust. The old artillery shell was found lying in weeds. Pottsville police were taking no chances whether it was still volatile or not. The shell was apparently there for some time. City police are not sure whether the device was still volatile or not, but it may have come from a home that burned on North Centre Street last year.

Pottsville police have apprehended four more people for dealing drugs in the city. Authorities picked up 27-year-old Angel Ortega and 33-year-old Angel Gomez of Reading, and charged them with various drug possession charges for peddling cocaine. Two women, Kim Whipple and Clarissa Ingram, both of Pottsville, were arrested for delivering cocaine. Their arrests resulted from an undercover investigation. Ortega and Gomez were taken to Schuylkill County Prison after arraignment. Additional arrests are expected in the investigation.

The Schuylkill County Commissioners adopted resolutions during their board meeting Wednesday that approves of Geisinger Health Systems plan to issue up to $200-Million dollars in revenue bonds. The funds will benefit medical facilities in county’s Geisinger serves, including five locations in Schuylkill County. In other business, bids were opened for laundry services at Rest Haven and Renovations of the Senior Center at the former elementary school building in Tremont. The tentative award date for both projects is March 28th. The Commissioners also approved a Child Development program request to submit an application for continuation of funds from the Pa Department of Education for a Head Start supplemental assistance grant. The $236,172 Child Development expects to receive represents a 3% increase in funding and will serve 107 eligible children and families for six hours a day over a period of 180 days. The Commissioners authorized the advertisement of bids for the installation of ADA compliant restrooms in the Cass Township Municipal Building; employee uniforms at Rest Haven and two new accessible 14 passenger small transit buses for STS. The new buses are made possible by additional funding received the federal government.