Budget woes affect Schuylkill

The lack of a state budget has begun to affect Schuylkill County. Its commissioners this past week loaned two human services agencies a total of $620,000 to pay bills until the state impasse ends.The Children and Youth Services agency borrowed the lion's share, $520,000. The Office of Senior Services borrowed $100,000.The hope of ending the impasse, which has surpassed 100 days, were dashed when the state House voted 127-73 against Gov. Tom Wolf's plan to increase the state's personal income tax rate by a half percentage point and create a new extraction tax on Marcellus Shale natural gas production.Fire chief resignsPalmerton Fire Chief Larry Zawaly announced his retirement and resignation from the fire department.Zawaly had faced theft charges that were later dismissed in connection to questionable handling of personal property from a crash scene.Bound for court actionCharges against a Tamaqua businessman accused of fleecing an elderly couple out of nearly $320,000 have been bound over to Schuylkill County Court.Alfonso Picone, 45, of Tamaqua, who is part owner of La Dolce Casa/DiMaggio's Restaurant in Tamaqua, was ordered to appear in the county court by Magisterial District Judge Stephen Bayer of Tamaqua, following a near two-hour preliminary hearing before a standing-room-only courtroom.Enforcement funding cutSeveral municipal police departments in Carbon County are up in arms after recent cuts in funding for aggressive driving enforcement.Departments in Jim Thorpe, Nesquehoning, Weatherly and Beaver Meadows boroughs, and Kidder Township, have been informed they will no longer receive money to increase patrol on highly traveled area roads.Elks to be demolishedLansford Borough may be one step closer to demolishing the former Elks building after Carbon County announced it would earmark over $100,000 in grants for the demolition project.The county commissioners voted to authorize the advertisement of a second public hearing notice regarding the use of the 2015 Community Development Block Grant program funds for entitlement and nonentitlement communities, including $127,791 for the demolition project.Two killed in crashesTwo area people were killed in crashes Saturday.James A. Ham, 26, of Long Run Road, Lehighton, died in a fatal crash in Franklin Township.Constance Marie Brown, 41, of New Ringgold, died in a one-vehicle crash at 6:12 p.m. Friday on Route 309 in Lynn Township.'No' to pipeline moneyTwo local nonprofits have said no to grant money from developers of a proposed pipeline running through Carbon County.The Carbon County Environmental Education Center turned down a grant that would have gone toward improving accessibility on the property, and the Wildlife Information Center in Slatington said no to its grant. Both were in the amount of $5,000.Representatives of the two organizations said the pipeline project goes against their environmental positions.Woman is still missingSearch and rescue efforts to locate Elena Raspopova, 84, who was reported missing from the Lake Harmony area, have been unsuccessful.The woman reportedly suffers from dementia and speaks limited English.LAHS needs new roofRestoration of an existing roof system at Lehighton Area High School will cost the district $435,440.The roof repairs were bid as an alternate in a larger building renovation project.Track renovations OK'dNorthern Lehigh School District will pay in excess of $700,000 to renovate its track around Bulldog Stadium.The board hired ELA Sport for the project at a cost of $699,000, plus soft costs, for the stadium track resurfacing project. Soft costs will make the overall tab over $700,000.Lawyer caught robbing bankA Carbon County lawyer is in the Schuylkill County prison charged with robbing a bank Tuesday morning. Steven M. Cormier, 57, of Nesquehoning, was arrested a short time after he robbed the Wells Fargo Bank branch office, located in the Fairlane Village Mall, Norwegian Township.