The old train station’s been vacant for several years. Plans call for a full restoration of the land, in the hopes that a passenger train service returns to Wilkes-Barre.

“It`s nasty, something needs to be done. They can make it look nice,” said Vieney, who lives in Wilkes-Barre.

“I want to see it cleaned up or get it outta here.  Or something. It`s ugly. Who wants to look at that. You can`t even walk on that side of the street. Someone may jump out and scare you or something,” said Johnson, who also lives in the city.

Back when Steve Urban was a Luzerne County Commissioner last year, he voted to spend $2,000,000 dollars of federal grant money on the restoration of the complex.  It’s now owned by the Luzerne County redevelopment authority.

But the current County Manager Robert Lawton belives instead of using federal tax money to fix up the old train station, it should be sold to a private developer.

“I don`t believe that Mr. Lawton has the authority to interfere with the workings of an authority. That`s number 1. Number 2, the money was appropriated through a budget process,” said Urban.

Urban said the site still has strong support from other council members and the community.

According to Councilman Urban, long-term plans for this site include a senior center, a tourism office, and an all new train station.

“I guess it would be nice to do something with it.  There`s a lot of senior centers. The tourism center would be nice. The railroad to the cities,” said Vieney.

Newswatch 16 attempted to talk to County manager Robert Lawton and to the chairman of the redevelopment authority about the complex, but neither responded.

Isis Vieney and Alma Johnson take a walk with their children just across the street from the rundown Market Street Square complex in Wilkes-Barre.

The old train station has been vacant for several years, but plans call for a full restoration of the land in the hopes that passenger train service returns to Wilkes-Barre.

“It’s nasty. Something needs to be done. They can make it look nice,” Vieney said.

“I want to see it cleaned up or get it outta here or something. It’s ugly. Who wants to look at that? You can’t even walk on that side of the street. Someone may jump out and scare you or something,” Johnson said.

When he was a commissioner last year, Luzerne County Councilman Steve Urban voted to spend $2 million of federal grant money on the restoration of the complex that is now owned by the Luzerne County The manager of Luzerne County wants to pull the emergency brake on the   county’s future involvement with the Market Street Train Station in Wilkes-Barre, but a former commissioner and current councilman said the project is on the right track and shouldn’t be derailed.

Isis Vieney and Alma Johnson take a walk with their children just across the street from the rundown Market Street Square complex in Wilkes-Barre.

The old train station has been vacant for several years, but plans call for a full restoration of the land in the hopes that passenger train service returns to Wilkes-Barre.

“It’s nasty. Something needs to be done. They can make it look nice,” Vieney said.

“I want to see it cleaned up or get it outta here or something. It’s ugly. Who wants to look at that? You can’t even walk on that side of the street. Someone may jump out and scare you or something,” Johnson said.

When he was a commissioner last year, Luzerne County Councilman Steve Urban voted to spend $2 million of federal grant money on the restoration of the complex that is now owned by the Luzerne County Redevelopment Authority.

Current Luzerne County Manager Robert Lawton believes instead of using federal tax money to fix up the old train station it should be sold to a private developer.

“I don’t believe that Mr. Lawton has the authority to interfere with the workings of an authority. That’s number one. Number two, the money was appropriated through a budget process,” Urban said.

He added the site still has strong support from other council members and the community.

According to Councilman Urban, long-term plans for the site include a senior center, a tourism office and an all new train station.

“I guess it would be nice to do something with it. There’s a lot of senior centers. The tourism center would be nice, the railroad to the cities,” Vieney added.

Newswatch 16 tried to talk to County Manager Lawton and to the chairman of the redevelopment authority about the complex, but neither responded.

Current Luzerne County Manager Robert Lawton believes instead of using federal tax money to fix up the old train station it should be sold to a private developer.

“I don’t believe that Mr. Lawton has the authority to interfere with the workings of an authority. That’s number one. Number two, the money was appropriated through a budget process,” Urban said.

He added the site still has strong support from other council members and the community.

According to Councilman Urban, long-term plans for the site include a senior center, a tourism office and an all new train station.

“I guess it would be nice to do something with it. There’s a lot of senior centers. The tourism center would be nice, the railroad to the cities,” Vieney added.

Newswatch 16 tried to talk to County Manager Lawton and to the chairman of the redevelopment authority about the complex, but neither responded.

Investigators believe Libby Stegner took more than $41,000 from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers in Wilkes-Barre between 2005 and 2010 when he was the office manager of the union.

It happened about 7 a.m. on Route 144, about five miles south of Renovo.

State police said George Garlick of Renovo was driving a truck used in the natural gas drilling industry when he missed a curve on a hill and crashed. The truck hit the guide rail, rolled and hit several trees.

Garlick died at the scene.

Route 144 was closed for hours after the crash.

Newswatch 16′s Mike Stevens offers a few scenes.

The ones from Wednesday might just make you feel refreshed at the same time.

A tip led police Wednesday afternoon to a home just outside Berwick where they arrested Perry Harmon. Robert Fowler was found Tuesday in Sullivan County.

Authorities believe the two have something to do with Friday’s explosion at an apartment house along Summerhill Avenue in Berwick.

Luella Jo Mengine is charged with abusing and neglecting four foster children in her care at her rural home near Benton.

The report claims Mengine tortured the children by dunking their heads in the toilet, beating them with a tennis racket and putting their own vomit on food and forcing them to eat it.

Social service workers placed the foster children in other homes in February.

City officials said there are more street food vendors than ever before.

Workers at Johnnie’s Philly Cheesesteak stand claim they were the first. The street vendor has been setting up shop in Scranton for seven years, and, at first, it was just their cart.

Now, the vendor said, the downtown streets are beginning to look more like a big city.

“Scranton is a new urban trend, this is the new Scran-hattan. It’s become the meeting place between new York and Philly,” said street vendor Eddie Farmer.

You may notice more food vendors nowadays, not just because of the nicer weather, but because of the economy. The owner of one cart opened up two weeks ago after his Mexican restaurant went under.

Scranton’s Director of Permits Mark Seitzinger said the city has more food vendors on the streets than ever before and an overwhelming amount of aspiring vendors applying for permits.

“We actually have a waiting list for vendors in the city because we just don’t have anywhere for them to go,” Seitzinger said.

There is limited space for street vendors in Scranton. There is a city ordinance that says street vendors need to stay at least 100 feet away from established restaurants.

“We don’t want to hurt a business, we don’t want to hurt the vendor but at the same time we have to protect the people who pay the mercantile tax in the city of Scranton and have established businesses in Scranton,” Seitzinger added.

Ernie Crumb, who left his corporate job to run a hot dog cart on Courthouse Square, can’t speak for restaurant owners but he says the boom in vendors hasn’t hurt his business.

“There’s a real positive feel going on in the area, so if we have street carts out here, if we have food vendors out here, it only shows that things are moving in a positive way,” Crumb said.

The reaction hasn’t been all positive. City officials said they have received complaints about the street vendors taking up parking spots, but customers said they aren’t complaining.

Dozens of creeks  are pushing countless gallons of water into the Lehigh River. The creeks are swollen because of recent rain. That means some mean rapids on the Lehigh River.

White water rafting is dependent on several things, nature from  rain and the Francis Walter Dam for water releases.

Nikki Hurley of Pocono Whitewater Rafting said the releases helps her business.

“(They) will release water for us and so pretty much there will be enough water in the river to make for a great whitewater ride for everyone,” said Hurley.

Sky Fogal of Pocono Whitewater Rafting tells his customers to prepare for a wild ride because the Lehigh is higher and faster.

“That’s double of what we normally would have, that means the rapids are bigger and you will go faster so that means when you see that rapid you’ll have to make the right move or you’ll go for a swim,” Fogal said.

High school students from the Harrisburg area decided on a trip to the river for their senior class trip. Student Jon Hunsberger said he is concerned about the rivers condition.

“A little bit, I am more excited for it because I think it will be more fun and exciting,” Hunsberger said.

Student Cailley Breckenridge said the trip was booked during the dry winter season. “We didn’t think there would be much water and we didn’t think it would be that much fun, but fortunately it rained here for the last three days but the best time is to do it today,” said Breckenridge.

Pocono Whitewater Rafting officials said with  a little rain here and there combined with regular dam releases should make their cash registers ring from people riding the rapids.

George Hitcho Junior of Freemansburg explained to the jury why he shot police officer Robert Lasso, claiming is was self defense.

Hitcho told the jury he thought the officer was someone else who was trying to break into his home.

A jury at the Northampton County Courthouse listened to the third day of testimony in the capital murder trial.

Police said Hitcho shot and killed Freemansburg Police Officer Robert Lasso last August when Officer Lasso was responding to a domestic dispute between Hitcho and a neighbor, but when Hitcho took the stand in his own defense he told the jury a much different story.

Hithco claims when Officer Lasso arrived he was about to let out his dogs.

That’s when he heard a loud banging on his back door. His home had been burglarized recently and he was afraid the noise was a burglar. He heard someone yell, “Open the door or I am going to shoot you and kill your dogs.”

At that point, Hitcho said, he was afraid for his life.

He then heard someone say, “Shoot ‘em.”

He grabbed his shotgun and fired.

The defense is arguing that Hitcho believed his life was in jeopardy.

The Northampton County district attorney said he is seeking the death penalty in the death of Officer Robert Lasso.

The defense is expected to call more witnesses Thursday and the district attorney said the trial could wrap up by the end of the week.

Jinece Loughry suddenly resigned her position in Berwick last week before authorities confiscated dozens of animals in her home.

The Animal Resource Center shelter near Millville is now home to twice as many dogs after taking in 33 seized from a home in Berwick.

Officials said a small house on Thirteenth Street was filled with 40 dogs and 24 cats, 64 animals in all.

The home belongs to Jinece Loughry, Berwick’s animal control officer who stepped down last week just as all the animals were discovered.

“I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes. It makes me very sad because you realize she had a good heart and was an animal lover who has gotten herself way out of line,” said Linda Bird with the Animal Resource Center.

Bird said the dogs had to have feces and caked urine cut away from their fur. Some of them could barely walk because the animal waste was so thick.

“It was just horrible.  Our people went in with masks. I didn’t wear a mask when I went in. I had to put one on and I still couldn’t breathe. It had to be years that the feces was building,” Bird added.

No one answered the door at Loughry’s home, but the sound of dogs barking inside could be heard.

Loughry was allowed to keep a few animals that she or family members personally owned. So far, no charges have been filed.

Neighbor Dora Jean Dunn was surprised to hear about all the animals. “Oh, yes. I had no idea, none whatsoever,” she said. Dunn would see some dogs out in the pens outside, but not 40 of them. “I’m sorry for it, because she was and still is a good neighbor to me.”

At least one neighbor did complain about the house. She said the smell was overwhelming and she feared a health risk in the neighborhood because of all the animals. She did not know how many were in the home, but knew there were a lot. Now, most of them are gone.

Talitha Richardson did not complain, but did say she smelled some animals.

“I talked to her before and she said people would call her because they knew she liked pets and she would try to find homes for them and I think if she couldn’t, she just kept them,” said Richardson.

The Animal Resource Center now has a lot of work to treat all the dogs and find them homes.

Donations can be sent to:
Animal Resource Center
301 A Boone Road
Bloomsburg, PA 17815

To adopt an animal, call 570-854-1909 during the day or 570-356-2387 in the evenings.

To volunteer at the Animal Resource Center, call 570-784-3669.

There is now suspicion the police chief, who is charged with sexual abuse, may have botched police reports in the past.

The Lackawanna County district attorney’s office, state troopers and the FBI served a second search warrant on the Old Forge Police Department Wednesday afternoon, this time looking for records from the past seven years that investigators think may have been tampered with.

Newswatch 16 found investigators carrying computers, files and envelopes in and out of the police department. According to the search warrant, they were looking for police reports and other documents from when Police Chief Larry Semenza was in charge.

The search warrant said investigators believed Chief Semenza may have been botching some of those police reports.

Chief Semenza, along with Old Forge Police Captain James Krenitsky and a borough firefighter have been arrested for sexual abuse of a teenage girl several years ago.

Now the Lackawanna County district attorney said there are more people involved with the borough under investigation.

“All I’m going to say is that we are looking for some records that are pertinent to our investigation. And like I’ve been saying for the last two weeks, wherever this information takes us we’re going to go and if charges are warranted they are going to be filed,” said Lackawanna County District Attorney Andrew Jarbola.

He went on to say he expects charges to be filed and for there to be more arrests wrapped up in this scandal very soon.

PennDOT and township officials disagree on who should fix the drainage problem in Luzerne County.

Tuesday Joe Beck was stranded on his porch after heavy rains and poor drainage backed up the water all the way to the steps of his home.

The water eventually dried up, but in its wake Beck felt frustrated after being trapped for seven hours.

“It’s not fun, not fun at all, not even being able to come off the porch. The kids want to come outside. It’s not fun,” Beck said.

Township officials said the flooding happened because of poor drainage.  PennDOT said it is the township’s responsibility. The township feels it is PennDOT’s responsibility.

After Jenkins Township Supervisor Stan Rovinski saw the report on the South Main Street flash flood, he said it’s time to fix this.

“Rather than pointing fingers let’s get it done. We are public servants. Let’s get it done. If it is determined we have culpability, let’s get it done,” Rovinski said.

Beck said he just doesn’t want to be stranded anymore.

“I haven’t really assessed the damage. It’s too much. Hopefully it’s been brought to light. Hopefully we can move forward, you know,” Beck added.

PennDOT promises to work with Jenkins Township.

The township supervisor said he will be calling PennDOT and state lawmakers to set up a meeting and hopefully come up with a solution to the flooding on South Main Street.

In February former radio station owner Doug Lane pleaded guilty to molesting a teenage boy.

The district attorney’s office announced Wednesday that  $500,000 is going to groups such as Friendship House, Marley’s Mission and Women’s Resource Center.

The money is in addition to $500,000 the agencies got six years ago.

The money is from the sale of radio stations owned by Lane.

The restriction is across from the Sheetz gas station heading toward I-81.

UGI put a temporary clamp in the leaking pipe and will backfill the hole so all lanes can reopen tonight.

Share the cuteness and upload pictures of your pets today!

Prison officials said a postal inspector was called in to investigate and determined it was lactose, a sugar that is found in milk.

At first, no one knew that and five prison employees in that mail room were taken to the hospital as a precaution.

Emergency crews rushed to the State Correctional Institution at Muncy along Route 405. Officials said a little before 11 a.m. employees discovered something potentially dangerous while sorting the mail.

“We had an apparent white substance that revealed itself in the mail room. Once the mail room supervisor realized what it was, we secured the area,” said Troy Edwards, a Corrections Superintendent Assistant at SCI Muncy.

The prison is one of only two all-female prisons in the state. Edwards said the prison outside Muncy houses roughly 1,500 inmates, has several hundred employees working at any one time, and needless to say, gets lots of mail.

“Everyone responded appropriately, a fantastic response given a potential dangerous situation,” added Edwards.

The envelope was intended for an inmate and had a return address, according to state prison officials. The FBI is now handling the investigation.

All five mail room employees were released from the hospital with clean bills of health, said officials at the prison.

The investigation continues into who sent the letter containing the powder and why.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s office, Sean Howells, 20, of Jefferson Township was charged with using the internet and a cell phone to try to get a 13-year-old boy to meet him for sex earlier this year.

Under the plea agreement, Howells will be required to undergo sex offender treatment and register as a sex offender.

He faces six years in prison.