100TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION PLANNING FOR LYCOMING COUNTY UNITED WAY
The local United Way is preparing to celebrate its 100th anniversary, next April. The official date of the anniversary is April 14 and the LCUW is planning some events around the Centennial. The local historians are hard at work as they prepare for the centennial by gathering information about the founding members and interviewing descendants of that original group who still live in the area today. Specific plans for the celebration are not firm. More to follow.
MOTION REQUEST FOR NEW TRIAL
A Sunbury woman, who was convicted of lying to police in the Arabella Parker case, claims a change of venue should have happened, because a local newspaper wrote about her case and it caused the public to believe she was guilty. Therefore, she and her attorneys filed a motion for a new trial. .Christy Willis, 52, who was convicted by a jury in April, filed her second motion in Northumberland County Court through her attorney public defender William Cannon. According to the Daily Item, Willis was sentenced to 20 months to 17 years in state prison. The hearing is scheduled for Aug. 2 at 3 p.m. in front of Jones.
A WITHDRAW OF CHARGES IN SEXUAL ASSAULT CASE
Multiple charges withdrawn for a Muncy woman, during her time as an employee, was accused earlier this year of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old male at a Union County treatment center. Estee E. McLaughlin, 27, is now charged with three third-degree felony institutional sexual assault of a minor and one corruption of minors charge, as the other charges were withdrawn in Union County Court. She has a pre-trial conference scheduled with Union County District Attorney Pete Johnson, according to his office.
JURY SELECTION IN LOCK HAVEN WOMAN’S CASE
The case involving a Lock Haven woman’s homicide of a nine-year-old boy is preparing for court, as the dates have been set for the jury selection. Jamie Lynn Jackson, 36, of Lock Haven was charged Nov. 30, 2020, when Anson Stover, Jackson’s nephew, was discovered deceased in her apartment. Jury selections were targeted between March 21 and April 8, 2022 for the trial that will be heard in Clinton County. Objections to the motions from the defense must be filed by Aug. 30. The prosecution then must respond by Sept. 14.
FINANCIAL AWARD PROVIDED TO UPTOWN MUSIC COLLECTIVE
The Uptown Music Collective, the area’s premier nonprofit school of music, has received an award in the amount of $26,954.23 from the First Community Foundation Partnership of Pennsylvania. The allocation, which represents a grant from the Williamsport Lycoming Community Fund, is to be used to allow the school’s staff to address four key factors that directly affect the potential to increase capacity, including the ability to find, train and retain local, qualified instructors; time management; the number of spaces in which educational activities can take place simultaneously; and the organizational and technological infrastructure needed for continued growth.
NAMES RELEASED FROM MONDAY’S INTERSTATE ACCIDENT
State Police have released the identities of two people involved in a rollover crash Monday afternoon on Interstate 180, in Northumberland County. Robert Hatzel, 85, and passenger Bishan Wu, 53, both of Danville, were transported to UPMC Williamsport for treatment of injuries, according to State Police in Milton. The accident occurred shortly before 2:30 p.m. near mile marker 9 in Delaware Township. Police said Hatzel was driving east when a trailer he was hauling lost control, then went onto the west shoulder of the roadway causing Hatzel’s truck to overturn on its passenger side, and slide several feet before coming to rest on the west shoulder facing east. According to a media outlet, the right lane of I-180 was closed for at about an hour.
GEORGE I ALDEN TRUST AWARDED A GRANT TO LYCOMING COLLEGE
The George I. Alden Trust has awarded Lycoming College a grant of $125,000 to support the continued renovation of the genetics teaching lab in the Heim Science Building. The renovations are set to support and further the education and success of STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) students. In the summer, the lab, in conjunction with other spaces on campus, is used for Lycoming College for Kids and Teens, an educational and hands-on program for students in grades 2-12. According to the Daily Item, lab renovations are underway this summer with anticipated completion by the start of the 2021-22 academic year.
GEISINGER JERSEY SHORE HOSPITAL HELIPAD
It was a big unveiling yesterday at Geisinger Jersey Shore Hospital, as a new helipad was introduced to the public. Sun Gazette reported the price tag for the project at nearly $2 million, and was financed in part by a gift to the Geisinger Health Foundation and through a $250,000 grant from the Williamsport Lycoming Community Fund at the First Community Foundation Partnership of Pennsylvania. Geisinger Life Flight has moved more than 75,000 patients since 1981 and averages more than 3,500 transports a year.
