FIRE DESTROYS MONTGOMERY HOME
A devastating multi-alarm fire in Montgomery destroyed a home yesterday about 2pm and killed the family’s dogs, but no humans were injured. According to the Sun Gazette, Eli Hessler and his daughter who is 14, escaped the fire after unsuccessfully attempting to rescue the animals at the home on First and Broad Streets. Hessler’s wife Steph and two other children were not home at the time. Montgomery firefighters were close to the fire at their carnival grounds and responded right away however, water pressure was an issue from the hydrants in the community, so nine other companies were dispatched to the scene to assist with more tankers of water. Fire officials say the sides of home collapsed after 20 minutes and it was under control about 3pm. Damage was estimated at about 150 thousand dollars.
SLOW TRAFFIC ON ROUTE 147 AGAIN TODAY
The soil remediation project that began yesterday along Route 147 in West Chillisquaque Township will cause delays again today as Penn DOT says they’ve extended the work through Friday. There were significant delays yesterday throughout the day north and southbound on Route 147 with a flagger on the scene taking traffic down to one lane before Ridge Road. The crews will work on the southbound side where an accident had occurred earlier this year. Work is scheduled to be complete by 6pm tonight.
ROW HOME FIRE IN NORTHUMBERLAND
Several row homes in Northumberland County were damaged by fire early Thursday. According to the Daily item, a fire broke out in the homes along East 7th Street in Mount Carmel about 7am. The Northumberland County Firewire reported that everyone who was a resident in the homes escaped safely, but there is no word at this time on what caused the blaze. Officials should be determining that today.
PA LEGISLATURE APPROVES KEY ISSUES
Five important measures were approved this week in the Pennsylvania House and Senate, with the Republican majority mostly carrying the approval. According to the Daily Item, there were approvals for designating athletics by biological sex and one expanding access for poll watchers, each were sent to the Governor for approval. Other bills seek to prohibit classroom instruction on gender identity and sexual orientation from pre-kindergarten through fifth grade and they went to the house for consideration. A fifth resolution called for a Select Committee investigation into Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner who has been accused of dereliction of duty with respect to gun crime in the state’s largest city.
MAN DIES FROM TRACTOR ACCIDENT
A man from Beaver springs who was cutting brush in a field in Snyder County was killed Wednesday morning and police are unsure of exactly what happened. According to the Daily Item, there were no witnesses when the man who was using a tractor in a field near 1662 Middle creek road was mortally injured; either from falling from the tractor and being struck, or from a medical incident. The Snyder County Coroner has not released the identity of the victim, pending family notification. The tractor was located in another field from where the man’s body was discovered.
PA BUDGET IS BEHIND SCHEDULE
Governor Wolf and the Republican controlled legislature have been called weekend voting sessions in order to get a working $42 million budget plan signed before the 4th of July. According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, talks have been stalled due to different priorities among the Governor and Republican leaders and exact details on the state’s multibillion-dollar spending plan, along with hundreds of pages of accompanying legislation, were still being debated as of Thursday’s budget deadline – even with a multi-billion dollar surplus in the bank. Some of the details of the budget have not been disclosed .
PENNDOT HOSTS A RIBBON CUTTING AT CSVT BRIDGE
The ribbon cutting for state dignitaries was held this week for the new CSVT bridge and the its’ northern section and the ceremonial groundbreaking for the southern section also occurred for work to be completed in 2027. According to the Daily Item, Eric High, the PennDOT District 3 Executive for Engineering hosted republican senator John Gordner from Berwick and US Senator Bob Casey who said the bipartisan infrastructure bill passed last November also played a big role in the completion of both sections of CSVT. The bridge and new highway is slated to open to traffic after the 4th of July.
EVANGELICAL CLOSES ON SUSQUEHANNA MALL PROPERTY
Evangelical Hospital has purchased the Susquehanna Valley Mall property at 21 Susquehanna Valley Mall Drive. According to North Central PA dot com, the property right now houses SUN Orthopedics of Selinsgrove and their Imaging Center, Evangelical’s Physical Therapy practice, Family Practice facilities and Corbin Audiology. According to hospital administrators, Corbin will move to a new location this month and other imaging and orthopedic practices will relocate to the mall in 2023. Negotiations were announced last March and the closing on the property was yesterday.
SPORTS
MLB
Guardians 5 Twins 3
Phillies 14 Braves 4
Astros 2 Yankees 1
Pirates 8 Brewers 7
Cubs 15 Reds 7
MLB Draft League
Williamsport Crosscutters 8 West Virginia Black Bears 5
Williamsport gets the series victory.
MLB Draft League tonight The Cutters host the Mahoning Valley Scrappers in their next 3-game series – 1st pitch tonight @6:35
(Saturday night’s Red, White and Boom features fireworks after the game – at Historic Bowman Field. )
Big Ten Football
In a surprising and seismic shift in college athletics, the Big Ten has voted to add Southern California and UCLA as conference members beginning in 2024. The expansion to 16 teams will make the Big Ten the first conference to stretch from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The announcement comes almost a year after Oklahoma and Texas formally accepted invitations to join the Southeastern Conference in July 2025.
NBA Draft
In NBA Free Agency, Karl Anthony Towns stays in Minnesota with a 224 million dollar, 4 year supermax deal…Nikola (knee COLA) Jokic (JOKE itch) 5 years, 270 million with the Denver Nuggets and the Philadelphia 76ers sign former Miami Heat forward PJ Tucker for 3 years and 33 million dollars.
