Local News

The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) has modernized its online Customer Care Center – customercare.penndot.gov – to make it easier to report concerns on state-maintained roadways with new mapping capabilities, optional photo uploads and a mobile-friendly interface.

Public reports help PennDOT with roadway maintenance and safety responsibilities. This modernization will ensure PennDOT receives better information from our customers who drive the roadways every day.

BARRETT TOWNSHIP — After being closed for nearly a decade, the vines and plants that were once only roadside growth have started to claim the bridge on Old Canadensis Hill Road as their own.

That may not be the case for long, however, as Barrett Township recently received $689k from the state to rebuild the bridge, which has been closed since 2008.

“We need it, we need it in the worst way,” said John Seese, township supervisor and roadmaster. “At least we can have one access to get in and out with heavy equipment, wide loads, all that stuff. That one bridge is going to take care of everything.”

Survey Results Now Available: Click Here 

Background: The revised Sign ordinance was passed March 9, 2016, allowing for "Electronic Message Centers."  What do YOU think about these signs?  

Over the last month or so, with all of this rain, we noticed a bit of mold starting in our basement.  We've always had our dehumidifier running so I didn't think to check it at first, but it turns out that our dehumidifer was running but not working.  The compressor was kicking on but it wasn't actually pulling moisture out of the air.  After buying a new one, I realized that the new one actually got cold, too.  So to do a quick check on your own dehumidifier, you can put your hand in front of the grill and see if you can feel cool/cold coming off it.  (Dehumidifiers are built like air conditioners and refrigerators - they use a compressor and freon gas.)  A better test would be to actually confirm that water is actually accumulating in the tank or coming out of the hose!  

And, if you hook your dehumidifier into some sort of plumbing, you don't have to empty the tank on a regular basis.  

BARRETT TOWNSHIP, Pa. — A man is in custody after allegedly trying to abduct an 11-year-old girl from her home in the Poconos.

Police were called to a home on Naomi Lane near Cresco around 3 a.m. Monday.

Investigators say the suspect, Dudley Robinson, lives in basement of the home. 

The child’s mother says she was awakened by her daughter’s cries. She found Robinson dragging the child toward the front door and into a van.

The mother and father fought to free the girl, even getting dragged by the vehicle.

Robinson crashed the van into a tree. He then went to the porch of the home with a gun and threatened suicide.

Police were able to take him into custody safely. He is charged with attempted kidnapping and other charges.

[Original article]

Editor's Note: 
Hey! That's our town name...

Available from Keystone Canna Remedies dispensary in Bethlehem.  

To find out if the dairy products you purchase are made in Pennsylvania, click here.  Support local farmers!  

Editor's Note:
I have written previously about the quality of the public water available in Mountainhome from AQUA.  They add small amounts of chlorine to the water, which I have been filtering out of my drinking water for years.  I just came across this article that discusses the implications of showering in chlorinated water and wated to share:

(Article starts here)

It makes intuitive sense that drinking chlorinated water can create imbalances in your intestinal flora. We know that chlorine will kill many of the good bacteria and microbes that live symbiotically with us in our gut. These good bacteria help us digest our food, keeping us serene and healthy. But most of us fail to take this thought to it’s logical end. I know I did.

You see, I thought that if I just drank filtered water, I’d have my bases covered. It never even occurred to me that the chlorine in my shower and bath water could be just as damaging, if not more so. That’s because your skin is your largest organ, and it’s naturally gifted with the ability to absorb both nutrients and toxins.

[Full Article]

I received this letter from County Waste regarding an additional $5 monthly fee for recycling pickup service. 

See also, related article: China Throws Recycling Scam in the Trash.  

Actual text from the letter as follows:

June 2018

Dear Valued Customer,

As many of you are aware, recycling programs in the United States have come under fire over the last year. Our costs to provide the service since 1988 were largely provided by the sale of the products we recycled. Unfortunately, the payment received has turned into a bill to accept. This situation has forced us to reconsider or rework the mechanics of the program.

Escalating competition between Lehigh Valley Health Network and St. Luke’s to be the dominant health system north of Philadelphia is driving the construction of hospitals and doctor’s offices in the Poconos.

In late 2016, St. Luke’s opened a 102-bed hospital in Bartonsville. Three months later, Pocono Health System merged with LVHN to become LVHN-Pocono. And by the end of 2017, St. Luke’s added a cancer center with a sleep disorder wing, and LVHN opened a 12-bed inpatient rehabilitation center at its Pocono hospital, and a health center in Blakeslee with an urgent care service. It also announced plans for a hospital campus in Tannersville in 2020 that will provide emergency care, a surgical unit with private rooms, a sleep disorder center and medical offices.

This study is the first large RCT of a state-funded pre-k program and one of only two such studies ever conducted of a public preschool program in the United States. As such, it provides uniquely credible evidence in the area of early childhood education.

While the study found positive short-term effects on child achievement (at the end of the pre-k year), these effects dissipated as children entered elementary school and turned modestly negative by third grade. At the third-grade follow-up, the control group scored significantly higher in math and science achievement than the pre-k group.

Read the Full Article

For all who are concerned about losing the Recycling Center in Barrett:

Original Article:

Now you get to do the work that China won’t.

The huge dirty secret of recycling was also one of the world’s worst polluters.

Every branch of government from Washington D.C. to your local town council had spent a fortune convincing people that recycling is a magical process that turns your old pizza boxes into new pizza boxes while creating those imaginary “green jobs” in the community. The reality was a lot dirtier.

All of America’s industries, including trash sorting, had been outsourced to China.

And recycling is just a fancy lefty way of saying "trash." All that recycling, which children in progressive communities are taught to sort as the closest thing to a religious ritual, was really being dumped by the ton on dirty ships and sent over to China. We weren’t recycling it. The Chinese were.

But now China is banning foreign recycling because it’s bad for the environment.