Hazleton will get to argue before a federal appeals court on Oct. 31 that a judge wrongly struck down the city’s ordinance making it illegal to hire or rent housing to illegal immigrants, Mayor Lou Barletta announced Monday.

The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has agreed to have the appeal heard by a three-judge panel, and recent rulings by other federal appeals courts have given the city hope it can prevail, said Kris Kobach and Hank Mahoney, attorneys representing the city in defending its Illegal Immigration Relief Act.

‘‘I’ve never wavered in my belief that Hazleton was right to pass the Illegal Immigration Relief Act, and I firmly believe that our case will be vindicated in the higher court,’‘ Barletta said at a news conference.  read more »

With electricity costs soaring and the public pushing for more ‘‘green’‘ energy, the tiny Carbon County borough of Weatherly has dusted off an idea from the environmental movement of the 1970s: Put a hydroelectric plant on the Lehigh River at the massive Francis E. Walter Dam.

The borough, which first looked at a hydro plant more than 30 years ago, has applied to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for a preliminary permit to study building two generating units that could produce up to 26 gigawatt-hours a year, Borough Manager Harold Pudliner said. That’s more than 1,000 times the 21 megawatt-hours a year used by Weatherly’s 2,621 residents.  read more »

Great post by Gort!

Wow, how did we ever get so many people working in the courthouse who can’t see what is right in front of their nose? Sam Hyder claimed he used his county debit card at a strip club in Las Vegas because it looked just his own credit card and Commissioner Greg Skrepnak offered a similar excuse when it was revealed that he used his county card to pay for his family’s extra hotel rooms at a conference. The lack of competitive bidding at the prison was explained as an oversight or misunderstanding of the law or regulation. And on and on.  read more »

A very sad accident. Ramos served his community for many years, both locally in the Lehigh Valley and statewide, notably as a member of the Pennsylvania State Board of Education.

Luis A. Ramos, a longtime fixture among business and civic groups and a leader of the Lehigh Valley’s Latino community, died last night when his car hit a tree off Interstate 80 in Luzerne County, officials said.

Ramos, 57, spent more than 30 years working for PPL Corp. and helped draft a plan to boost academic performance in the Allentown School District, among other accomplishments.  read more »

The Democratic candidate for Luzerne County sheriff said hundreds of his campaign signs were stolen Saturday night or early Sunday.

Mike Savokinas, who said his signs are missing, estimates cost of the lost signs to be between $2,000 and $5,000.

The Luzerne County Sheriff’s Department, however, was not made aware of the alleged theft.

Deputy Sheriff John Chaumpi was on call during the weekend and said he had “no idea about it, not a clue. No one made me aware of it.”

Savokinas said Sunday night he reported the alleged theft to five local police departments, including Pittston and West Pittston.  read more »

Looks like the fine folks of NE Pennsylvania are getting a great chance to practice tolerance and inclusion.

Luzerne County ranks fourth among all large counties in the United States when it comes to Hispanic population growth, a national newspaper reported on Thursday.

The county’s Hispanic population has nearly tripled since 2000, according to a USA Today story about Latinos “fanning out across the Eastern half of the USA … far from traditional immigrant strongholds.” ...
Latino leaders have said Hazleton’s adoption of the law prompted not only illegal immigrants, but many legal resident Latinos to leave the city because they felt unwelcome.  read more »

As promised by Sen Casey, the usual dissembling by Sen Specter.

The U.S. Senate is scheduled to vote Tuesday on a bill that supporters say would make it easier for employees to form unions and detractors say is undemocratic.

U.S. Sen. Bob Casey Jr. is all for it.

Mr. Casey, who spoke passionately about the bill on the Senate floor Wednesday, believes adopting it will eventually help compensate workers whose productivity has been rising for years without a corresponding hike in their wages.  read more »