HARRISBURG - The Senate on Monday unanimously approved legislation authored by Sen. John R. Gordner (R-27) to ban the practice of persons sentenced to community service to be able to purchase gift cards in lieu of performing the service. Senate Bill 130 now moves to the House of Representatives for consideration.

Gordner said he introduced the legislation after learning of the practice in Northumberland County, as well as in at least one other county in the state.

"When a judge orders someone to perform community service, there is a reason for that, and the sentence should be served," Gordner was quoted in a statement from his office. "A defendant should not be able to 'buy' a way out of performing the service."

Between 2002 and 2008, the Northumberland County Probation Department implemented the program, which allowed defendants to purchase gift cards, which were then given to the department and donated to local charities. However, in 2014, approximately $4,000 in unused gift cards was discovered in a safe in the probation department. Northumberland County President Judge William H. Weist, who was not president judge when the program was implemented and was unaware it was occurring, then ordered a halt to the practice.

"When researching this issue, we determined that there was nothing in law to prevent this practice," said Gordner. "While I commend the judge for halting the practice, it is important to place this prohibition into law to prevent future occurrences."

"This practice benefited those who could afford gift cards over defendants who may be of lesser means, and gave rise to the potential for official abuse, given that over $4,000 in unused cards, of which few were aware, were recently found," he added.

Similar legislation passed the Senate near the close of session in 2014, and the House of Representatives did not have time to take up the bill before the session expired.

Gordner said he expects "positive consideration" by the House in the near future.

NORTHUMBERLAND - Admission will be free at the Joseph Priestley House in Northumberland this Sunday afternoon for the celebration of Priestle's birthday.

Every year the volunteers who operate the Georgian manor house and scientific laboratory as a museum make it a point to observe the birthday of Joseph Priestley, the renowned British scientist, political thinker and dissenting clergyman who settled in Northumberland in 1794.

Volunteers will serve visitors slices of chocolate cake baked according to an 18th century recipe of Martha Washington. That's an appropriate gesture because her husband, George, was president of the United States when Priestley and his wife, Mary, arrived in this country in self-imposed exile from England.

The house will be open between 1 and 4 p.m. Ronald Blatchley, a retired chemistry teacher who portrays Priestley, will perform 18th chemistry demonstrations in the Pond Building on the grounds at 1:30 and 2:30 p.m. A professional musician, Beverley Conrad with perform period fiddle pieces throughout the afternoon.

Visitors may tour the museum at their own pace, with guides in vintage costume to greet them and answer questions.

Born in England March 13, 1733, Joseph Priestley was 61 and world-famous for discovering oxygen when he came to Northumberland, then a rural village of mostly log houses. He had to send to Philadelphia for carpenters who knew how to build with frame and clapboard. Priestley eventually died - Feb. 6, 1804 - in the house they built.

Priestley and thousands of other Europeans seeking freedom of thought and worship came to Pennsylvania because, in founding Pennsylvania in 1681, William Penn had established a policy of religious tolerance. The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, which owns Priestley House, has designated Sunday as Charter Day to commemorate the 334th anniversary of the colony's founding.

The non-profit Friends of the Joseph Priestley House operates the museum, which is owned by the museum commission.

Priestley House will then be open for the 2015 season from 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday (except Easter) with tours at 1, 2 and 3 p.m. Tours at other times can be arranged by calling 570-473-9494 or by email at info@josephpriestleyhouse.org.

Susquehanna Valley gas prices went up another nickel in the last week to $2.504 per gallon, according to AAA East Central's Fuel Gauge report. The average price locally is now above the national average of $2.427.

On the national front

Significant price jumps in west coast markets due to refinery outages and operational issues have kept upward pressure on the national average price for regular unleaded gasoline. The national average has moved higher for 35 consecutive days, the longest streak of increases since February 2013. This 13-cent weekly increase is the largest spike since July 2013.

Gas prices historically tend to rise during this time of year as refineries nationwide conduct planned seasonal maintenance that can limit fuel production. However, unexpected refinery outages on the west coast have exacerbated seasonal production declines, and the price at the pump has jumped significantly higher in impacted markets.

Volatility remains a central theme in the global oil market, and reports of increased production from Libya and a rise in exports from Iraq will likely keep global prices on the move.

U.S. production companies are beginning to scale back plans for exploration and production, and the number of U.S. oil rigs in operation continues to decrease in light of shrinking profit margins and the global market's continuing oversupply.

Nevertheless, production remains high and stocks continue to build. At the close of Friday's formal trading on the NYMEX, West Texas Intermediate was up $1.59 settling at $49.76 per barrel.

SHAMOKIN - Winter has not been kind and a local group is offering to help warm up those who stop by a brand new event set for this weekend.

Anthracite Young Professionals (AYP) will hold 'Soup and Sweatshirt Giveaway' starting at 10 a.m. Saturday at the FNB parking lot. Sweatshirts will be donated by AdOne Advertising Agency as well as those involved with the group heading the project.

The Anthracite Young Professionals are a local group who regularly meets for networking and socializing among their peers.

Michael Woytowich, Wealth Professionals Inc., a member of AYP, stated in an email the idea is simply to offer a sweatshirt and a cup of soup to anyone who stops by. Any sweatshirts left over will be donated to The Salvation Army.

Brewser's SportsGrille, Coal Township, will provide soup and a mobile unit to prepare it.

There is no end time scheduled for this event.

SHAMOKIN - There's nothing striking about the external differences in neighborhoods along the Shamokin-Coal Township border.

Same street, same block, similar homes.

This week, though, provides one example of how location can cost one homeowner money and save cash for another right across the street.

Tax bills are in the mail, and they're remarkably different in places like the 500 block of North First Street.

The even numbered side is Coal Township, and the property assessments are higher than the Shamokin homes across the street. It's the opposite story for the tax rates.

The owners of a double home at 500-502 N. First St. owe $251.43 to Coal Township this year. The total due is $531.31 when the Northumberland County portion of the tax bill is included. That same home, were it located directly across the street and had the same assessment, would owe $656.53 to the City of Shamokin, and $936.41 total when including the county. That's a difference of $405.10.

A commercial property at 501 N. First St. - a garage and apartment - is taxed by the city at $339.89 this year, $484.78 total. Move it across the street and keep the assessment the same, and the bill from the township would be just $130.16, and $275.05 total - a savings of $209.73.

Shamokin's property taxes were raised to 58.1 mills in 2015, up from 47.35 mills the year before. Property owners now pay $58.10 on each $1,000 of their properties' assessed values.

Coal Township's tax rate was unchanged this year, although a 2-mill increase was considered. Taxes were raised in each of the three years prior.

MOUNT CARMEL - Twenty citations against 73-year-old Thomas Valeiko for failure to clean debris from his collapsed property in Kulpmont were dismissed Tuesday because they were filed under the wrong ordinance.

Magisterial District Judge Hugh Jones had no choice but to dismiss the dangerous structure summary offenses filed by Kulpmont Code Enforcement Russ Moroz after receiving an order signed by Northumberland County Judge Charles H. Saylor who granted a motion by Valeiko's attorney Richard Feudale to drop the offenses because they were filed under a borough ordinance instead of the Pennsylvania Uniform Construction Code.

Moroz was disappointed in Saylor's Feb. 11 ruling that followed a hearing in December in Northumberland County Court and the filing of legal briefs.

The code enforcement officer, who plans to consult with borough Solicitor William Cole before filing any new citations, said, "This isn't over. Mr. Valeiko has done nothing to clean up his property as we requested. He just continues to let everything go."

Valeiko and Feudale reserved comment about the citations being dismissed.

Although he won't be responsible for paying $10,000 in fines plus costs for the 20 citations, Valeiko still faces extensive fines and costs for numerous pending citations.

The 20 citations were filed June 16 and Valeiko was found guilty by Jones of the violations Aug. 28. But Valeiko and Feudale appealed Jones' ruling to county court.

In his ruling, Saylor states, "Kulpmont Ordinance 2002-4 does not contain any provision as to the conduct being prohibited. Rather, it contains statements as to its "title" and a declaration of its purpose to protect and preserve the physical and mental health and social well-being of the people. Since the ordinance lacks specific statements of conduct for which the defendant can be found guilty, it cannot be enforced against him.

"Moreover, the ordinance under which the defendant is charged was pre-empted by the Pennsylvania Construction Code Act and the Borough of Kulpmont's adoption of the Uniform Construction Code."

The construction code states:

"Municipal building code ordinances effective after July 1, 1999, except re-enactments of provisions of simultaneously repealed ordinances, shall continue in effect only until the effective date of the regulations promulgated under this act, at which time the municipal building code ordinance shall be pre-empted by the regulations promulgated under this act and shall be deemed thereafter to be rescinded."

The regulations promulgated under the Pennsylvania Construction Code Act were effective April 4, 2004. Therefore, the Pennsylvania Construction Code Act repealed all municipal ordinances dealing with dangerous structures adopted between July 1, 1999, and April 4, 2004. Since the Kulpmont dangerous structure ordinance was adopted in 2002 and falls within the above referenced time frame, it is not legally enforceable.

Valeiko, of Commack, N.Y., who also stays at a property he owns in Mount Carmel, has been repeatedly cited by Moroz for failing to clean up a pile of debris from his property at 1263 Chestnut St. (Route 61).

Valeiko claimed in past hearings he doesn't have the money to remove the debris and said "an act of God" caused the second floor of his two-story cinder block structure to collapse Feb. 21, 2014. The rubble remains in a large pile on the lot.

He blamed the borough for not "finishing the job" when it partially demolished the structure under an emergency order.

Between June and Nov. 21, Moroz cited Valeiko 122 times, once for each day the property was not cleaned up.

SHAMOKIN - A car slammed into the rear of a Shamokin Area School District school bus along Lincoln Street Tuesday morning.

None of the 23 students on board the bus was injured. A passenger in the car said she and the driver also were not injured.

The accident occurred shortly after 7 a.m. when the bus, traveling west, slowed for the traffic light at Market Street. That's when the car hit it from behind.

There was minor damage to the bus, which was driven from the scene. There was considerable damage to the front of the car, which was towed.

SHAMOKIN - Gov. Tom Wolf's proposed $30 billion budget brought local response of varying support and condemnation after he unveiled it Tuesday.

Cuts to property taxes and boosts to school funding caused local educators and homeowners to cheer while state congressional members and business owners are condemning the effects increased sales and income taxes will have on the state's economy.

Mount Carmel Superintendent Bernie Stellar called Wolf's proposal "ambitious" and said the changes to tax rates and school funding would greatly help the district.

"I've been a huge supporter of the severance tax of the gas tax and I'm very happy to see that that's possibly going to happen," he said. "Any property tax relief that we could receive but yet still be sure that schools are adequately funded as well as other social programs for the county and for the disabled and the elderly, we would welcome any sort of property tax relief."

Southern Columbia Superintendent Paul Caputo echoed Stellar's sentiments.

"The governor's budget is great for all school districts," he said.

All total, Caputo's district would experience a funding increase of $265,015 for the upcoming year under Wolf's budget.

"The governor's putting together a solid plan, a plan that would reverse the funding inequities we have experienced since 2011," Caputo said.

Stellar said the funding would the two biggest cost increases causing budgets to balloon: medical insurance and pension costs. Wolf's proposal includes a transfer of $1.7 billion to a fund for pension costs.

"They're both rising at an alarming rate so any assistance to the pension system that would reduce the local strain on school districts would be more than welcome at this point," he said.

When asked about shifting the tax burden from property taxes to increases in the income tax and sales taxes, Caputo said he was in favor of it.

"It shifts the burden to the people that are working and have children in school from the elderly living on fixed incomes," Caputo said.

Caputo hopes that legislators will look at Wolf's budget with an open mind.

"We need to have neutral bipartisan examination of the spending plan," the superintendent said. "If the proposals cannot be dismissed just on their merit, then they need to be approved."

State Rep. Lynda Schlegel Culver (R-108) approached the topic cautiously.

"This budget does a lot to help education, but we have to make sure that the money is going into our classrooms and working to keep students in Pennsylvania after graduation," Culver said. "We still have to fund a $1.8 billion pension payment so we need to find a way to cover that."

Troy Laudenslager, president of Line Mountain School Board and owner of several businesses, was also concerned with keeping students in the state after graduation

"Unfortunately, the budget proposal appears to focus more on increasing taxes and spending, rather than cutting costs and fostering an environment which promotes business growth and development," Laudenslager said. "Without business growth and development within our state, we won't have jobs available for our children, let alone creating new jobs to attract people to Pennsylvania."

State Senator Majority Whip John Gordner (R-27) voiced his concern for the pension payments in a press release issued by Senate Republicans.

"It is clear the number one budget issue for the state and school districts is the increasing pension commitment, which cannot be avoided," he said. "Rather than focus on tax increases, we should look at pension reform as the first step in responsible budgeting."

State Rep. Kurt Masser (R-107) voiced more concern for another aspect of Wolf's plan: increases to sales and income taxes.

"Our economy recovery has been sluggish at best and I am concerned that these additional income and sales taxes will not only weaken our future growth but will destroy any advances we've made to this point," he said in a statement. "I know I have met with people who can barely afford to heat their home or put food on the table, let alone pay taxes."

Culver was also wary of the tax hikes.

"There are some that look at the increase of the personal income tax and say it's not so much but it's still a 21 percent increase and money that could be better used to pay for a home, heat or other necessities," she said. "Any tax that we look at, we always have to be mindful of the people we are serving and how it will affect them."

Wolf's proposal includes increasing sales tax from 6 to 6.6 percent and eliminating exemptions from certain industries and items, such as funeral services and caskets, cable television, waste collection, legal services and amusement and recreation businesses.

Laudenslager pointed out that higher taxes means "less money in our own pockets to invest and spend where we see fit."

"I have a fundamental belief that we, the people, know how to spend our money due to our local perspective compared to the government throwing billions of dollars around like candy just hoping it will make a difference to improve our lives," he said. "We can't feel the pride of improving our own lives if the government takes all of our money and makes all of our decisions for us."

Stacy Ososkie, public relations specialist for Knoebels, warned that implementing a tax on the amusement industry could hurt the park's competitiveness.

"An increase in Pennsylvania's sales tax could cause consumers to be a bit more selective when deciding when they'd like to spend their hard-earned money on in the state," she said. "Thinking about out of state visitors and vacationers - and even instate for that matter - they could always choose to vacation in at state with lower taxes."

James F. Kelley, owner of James Kelley Funeral Home, said he disagreed with taxing funeral services and items like caskets and burial vaults.

You're paying taxes through your entire lifetime and I just don't think it's right for families, loved ones to be worried about paying a tax on the services that they're selecting to bury their loved ones," he said. "There's plenty of other opportunities they can go about and use instead of that."

Kelley said the price tag on caskets began at around $800 and could up as high as several thousand dollars. If the 6.6 percent tax increase is implemented, consumers would pay at least $52.80 additionally for a casket.

"As they say, there are two things a person could always be sure of, death and taxes," said Kelley. "Now there may be three: death with taxes!"

SHAMOKIN - When a police officer showed up along Sunbury Street for a report of a suspicious person Tuesday, Wayne Wagner took off on foot.

He led police on a 25-minute game of hide-and-seek, dashing through streets, into backyards and, eventually, into the home of an acquaintance. He was eventually arrested and handcuffed, and it was discovered he was wanted on two outstanding warrants.

But he wasn't the suspicious person police were seeking. Patrolman Ray Siko III simply wanted to ask him about the report when Wagner got spooked.

It turns out the person originally reported as suspicious wasn't suspicious at all - a bit of bad luck for Wagner.

"He wasn't even related to the call we were sent to. He's actually wanted, knew he was wanted, and when he saw me pull in he thought I was coming to take him to jail," Siko said.

Wagner, 26, of Shamokin, will be charged with flight to avoid apprehension and disorderly conduct. He was taken to Snyder County Prison, Selinsgrove. Siko expects Lycoming County law enforcement will pick him up on an October 2013 warrant for failing to appear in court for a theft case. He also was wanted by the Northumberland County Sheriff's Office, Siko said.

Police were dispatched to the 200 block of West Sunbury Street at 12:07 p.m. Siko attempted to approach Wagner about five minutes later, and the chase ensued after he walked away and eventually ran as the police officer called to him to speak for a moment.

Siko gave chase behind Wagner south on Coal Street, east on Commerce Street, south on Market Street, and west on Independence Street behind an automotive garage. Wagner scaled a stone wall and ran west on Commerce Street before disappearing between two homes and into backyards near where the incident began.

Patrolman Scott Weaver, off-duty Cpl. Jarrod Scandle and fellow officers from Coal Township, Mount Carmel, Mount Carmel Township and Ralpho Township responded and set up a perimeter.

Police tracked footprints in the snow to the rear of 216 W. Sunbury St. A small window was punched out of a back door, where it appeared someone reached inside to open it.

Wagner was inside, spotted by police through a window, and subsequently surrendered without further incident. He had shed the gray hooded sweatshirt he had been wearing when the chase began, police said. He was treated at the Shamokin police station for lacerations on his arm from the broken glass.

Coincidently, as the incident wound down at the station, another wanted person unrelated to the chase arrived to turn himself in.

Brent Matthew Adams, 21, was wanted by state police at Selinsgrove for failing to appear in court for a felony theft case in Snyder County. Adams, whose last known permanent address is in Berwick, was taken into custody and turned over to state police.Police Officers from Shamokin, Coal Township, Mount Carmel Township, Mount Carmel Borough and Ralpho Township focus their search on 216 W. Sunbury St. in Shamokin on Tuesday afternoon for Wayne Wagner who fled from police.

SHAMOKIN - Citizens for a Better Community (CBC) has announced the return of its "Shamokin/Coal Township Hometown Heroes" project in 2015.

The program allows family members to honor loved ones with a 2-by-4-foot banner that includes the name and photo of the person being honored, their rank and branch of service, any foreign wars they fought in, and the name of the person or business who purchased the banner.

The program was a success in its debut in 2013 and those who purchased banners in that year or in 2014 can have them re-hung for $50.

The cost to create a new banner and have it hung on Independence Street is $200. The deadline to sign up is Friday, April 3.

The banners will be up from Memorial Day to Veterans Day. Proceeds benefit CBC and its events, such as the annual Fourth of July fireworks display.

For more information, contact Arnold at 570-648-6294 or by email at no1nurse@ptd.net.

WASHINGTON - U.S. Reps. Lou Barletta, R-11, and Tom Marino, R-10, both issued statements Tuesday after witnessing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's address to Congress.

"The prime minister is right to call Iran what it is: perhaps the greatest state sponsor of terrorism in the world," Barletta's statement said. "If it were allowed to develop nuclear weapons, they would certainly use them against Israel. I believe their next target could easily be the United States."

He said the U.S. negotiations with Iran seem "feeble."

"The idea that we would ask Iran to agree to freeze their nuclear program for 10 years - when they have never stopped it before - is ludicrous. I refuse to trust a belligerent nation which repeatedly pledges to destroy another. I echo the prime minister's sentiment that, 'If Iran wants to be treated like a normal country, let it act like a normal country.'"

Barletta touched on the fact that Democrats, miffed over President Obama not being notified of Netanyahu's invitation, chose not to be present for his speech, calling it "regrettable and not reflective of the close ties our two nations have."

Marino, a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said the atmosphere in the chamber was "electrifying."

"Mr. Netanyahu knows the realities and he delivered them with perfection today," he said.

Students at Line Mountain Elementary School celebrated Random Acts of Kindness Week the week of Feb. 8. Students read books about kindness and made cards for staff at the school with Mrs. Kruskie, school counselor. All students signed a "No Name Calling Week" sign that showed they promised to celebrate kindness. Classroom teachers discussed kindness in their morning meetings.

Kindergarten and first-grade students decorated cards and delivered them to people who work at the school. Second-graders made kindness bags and wrote compliments to put in their classmates' bags. Third-grade students made posters about kindness and displayed them throughout the school. Fourth-grade students participated in the "Great Kindness Challenge" and read morning announcements about kindness. Mrs. Kessler, art teacher, made a "Chain of Kindness" with students, and Mr. Kelley, physical education teacher, had the children brainstorm ways the students could be kind in his class.

When students showed kindness to their classmates, they were given a kindness charm by their teacher that would be added to their behavior chains. These activities were part of the school wide behavior program using the NED Show materials.

Students and staff also collected unused eye classes for the Lion's Club of Shamokin as a charitable act of kindness. Barry Smith and Jack Dabulis accepted boxes from third-grade students. The Lion's Club has dropoff boxes for unused glasses at the Shamokin-Coal Township Library and the Coal Township Tax Office.

MOUNT CARMEL - Legal problems continue to haunt notorious landlord George Atiyeh.

On the same day he appeared at a local judge's office to deal with 23 code violations, the 55-year-old Mount Carmel resident and Allentown native had to shell out approximately $1,600 for unpaid parking tickets in Bethlehem to avoid potential imprisonment.

Last month, Atiyeh spent more than five hours shackled to a chair at the office of Magisterial District Judge Hugh Jones before being released when approximately $5,200 in fines were paid on 19 citations filed against him by Mount Carmel Code Enforcement Officer Robin Williams and Kulpmont Code Enforcement Officer Russ Moroz.

On Tuesday, Atiyeh's stay at the judge's office wasn't as lengthy or costly, but just as arduous.

Jones ordered Atiyeh to begin making payments within 30 days on six citations filed against him by Williams for high weeds and grass at 33-35 N. Grape St., 433 W. Fifth St., 525-527 W. Fig St., and 201-207 East Ave. (four vacant lots). Each citation carries a $40 fine plus costs and constable fees.

An arrangement also was made to renovate a property Atiyeh formerly owned at 955-957 Chestnut St., Kulpmont, so it meets all building codes. Moroz showed a News-Item reporter photographs of the rundown, garbage-filled, vacant apartment building that has no power or running water and is unfit for human habitation.

Moroz said the new owner of the property is Harry Brill, an associate Atiyeh worked with under a corporation known as Apartments and Acquisitions. Atiyeh claimed he hasn't been affiliated with Apartments and Acquisitions since a receivership took over the corporation in June.

Jones and Moroz said Brill has made substantial improvements to properties formerly owned by Atiyeh.

Under the agreement by all parties, renovations will begin on the Kulpmont property April 10 and must be completed by May 10. On May 14, a status conference will be held to make sure the arrangement is fulfilled.

If the work is finished properly, 17 dangerous structure citations filed by Moroz against Atiyeh could be dropped. If he fails to comply, Atiyeh potentially faces $17,000 ($1,000 for each offense) in fines plus costs.

"The key to this whole situation is compliance," Jones said. "The fines and costs may hurt the landlords, but it doesn't usually result in the properties getting cleaned up."

While Atiyeh was attempting to resolve his code violations, Pennsylvania State Constables Jonathan Hagenbuch and Gregory Norton of Northampton County arrived with a warrant for Atiyeh's arrest for failing to pay 14 parking tickets for violations dating to January 2013 in Bethlehem.

Atiyeh claimed the parking violations were committed by his employees or sons and involved company-owned vehicles registered to him.

Atiyeh paid $1,600 on eight of the tickets to avoid the possibility of going to jail. He pleaded not guilty to the remaining six parking violations, but had to pay $300 ($50 per ticket) in collateral for showing up at a future hearing in Bethlehem.

Throughout the morning and early-afternoon hours, Atiyeh conferred in the lobby of Jones' office with his attorney Jill Fackenthal of Pottsville and property manager Donald Kuntz about the plight the landlord was facing.

Atiyeh, as he did last month, referred to himself as a good landlord who has invested more than $3 million in the coal region through the purchase of numerous properties in an effort to make money and reduce blight.

He also voiced his frustration over what he described as "pit bull tactics" used by local authorities who he claims have made him a "scapegoat" in their efforts to reduce blight.

Fackenthal also defended her client.

"He's getting a bad rap," she told a News-Item reporter. "It's hard to maintain all the properties he owns. They didn't get that way overnight and he doesn't have the time to fix them all up."

Atiyeh or his firms have been found guilty 59 times since 2011 of violations ranging from garbage and high grass to the deteriorating condition of properties.

There are many citations left unresolved in Shamokin, Coal Township, Kulpmont and Mount Carmel. The cases are pending in two district courts.

As of late last year, fines totaled nearly $14,000, and that's just a fraction of the $134,000 owed in delinquent property taxes before a proxy cut a check in mid-September to cover roughly half what was past due.

Shamokin-Coal Township Joint Sewer Authority sought 43 liens against Atiyeh's companies for unpaid sewer bills and costs exceeding $20,000, with $9,800 still outstanding. Another five are pending with the Kulpmont-Marion Heights Municipal Authority of more than $4,800.

Atiyeh waded into the county's housing market in December 2010, acquiring two properties through Apartments & Acquisitions. The next month, he jumped right in, purchasing 14 - the first of 85 properties bought in 2011. All told, Apartments & Acquisitions and Northeast Apartments, a company he holds solely, own a combined 125 properties in the county, with 61 purchased through tax sale. Roughly one in three are occupied.

HARRISBURG - A federal inmate accused of attacking two prisoners with weapons in separate assaults last year at the Lewisburg prison reached a plea agreement with the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Andrew J. Barnes, 35, is charged with two counts of assault with a dangerous weapon. He's accused of using a 7-inch sharpened metal weapon in an assault Aug. 28 in a recreation pen, and of using a razor blade in an assault Oct. 21 in a G-block cell.

The maximum combined penalty is 20 years imprisonment plus supervised release and a $500,000 fine. According to a plea agreement, a term of 92 to 100 months is suggested. Terms are subject to approval by the court.

The investigation was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Bureau of Prisons Special Investigative Service. The office of U.S. Attorney Peter Smith, Middle District of Pennsylvania, announced the charges in a press release Tuesday.

Barnes was scheduled for release in November 2028 on a prior conviction.

SUNBURY - Northumberland County District Attorney Ann Targonski has announced that a drug take back day will be held Saturday, March 21.

Expired, unwanted or unused prescription and over the counter drugs can be taken to drop off boxes located throughout the county for collection and destructions.

The boxes can be found at police stations in Coal Township, Kulpmont, Milton, Mount Carmel Borough and Township, Ralpho Township, Shamokin, Sunbury, and the Northumberland County Sheriff's Office. Other local police departments are willing to take the medications for you and deliver them to an approved site.

"The take back initiative prevents drugs from entering and polluting our streams and landfills as well as making them unavailable for abuse. Unused drugs that are disposed of through our water systems or through a landfill can filter back and contaminate our drinking sources," Targonski said.

Clean up on sources once contaminated can take years and in some cases clean up may not be possible. What was once commonly believed to be an appropriate manner of disposing of drugs, flushing the medication away, has exacerbated the problem of toxic medication waste which can filter into water sources.

"Leaving unused or expired medication around is a significant problem when we look at the epidemic of drug abuse and addiction," Targonski said. "Statistics show that 1 in 5 high school students has abused prescription drugs and that 75 percent of people who abuse prescription pain relievers say they got them from friends or relatives.

The DA reports Northumberland County has had a number of instances where individuals have entered homes for the sole purpose of raiding medicine cabinets to steal all sorts of medications.

The Drug Enforcement Agency had previously destroyed drugs collected, but that program has now been discontinued, Luckily, the Counter Drug Joint Task Force from Indiantown Gap has offered to come with a portable incinerator to help us with medications collected since September of last year. Northumberland County has also coordinated with the task force to assist police departments with the destruction of illegal substances which they have confiscated.

Items that will be accepted for disposal include prescription and over the counter solid medications, tablets and capsules, liquid medications, inhalers, creams, ointments, nasal sprays and pet medicines. At this time, intravenous solutions, injectables and needles can not be accepted.

Few file petitions, so far

SUNBURY - With less than a week remaining before the deadline, filing of candidates' nomination petitions remains light, the Northumberland County Board of Elections reported.

Filing petitions Tuesday was Bernard Sosnoski, who cross-filed in the Democratic and Republican primaries for Shamokin Area School Board.

Tuesday is the deadline to circulate and file petitions.

Learn how to bid on fed projects

LEWISBURG - Space remains available for a workshop intended for contractors and subcontractors planning to bid on federally funded projects. Tools for Federal Compliance, a morning seminar sponsored by the SEDA-Council of Governments, will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Friday at the Union County Government Center.

Registration is $15, which includes materials and refreshments.

Federally funded projects involve numerous issues that contractors and subcontractors must be aware of before submitting bids, including Davis-Bacon and related acts and regulations related to minority/women business enterprises and equal employment opportunities. Attendees will learn about prevailing wage regulations and how to obtain bid, performance and payment bonds."

Register online at www.seda-cog.org; click on Tools for Federal Compliance under the Calendar of Events; or, go to www.centralpaprep.com.

For more information, contact Betsy Lockwood at 570-524-4491 or elockwood@seda-cog.org.

HARRISBURG - The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) is seeking volunteers for this year's Great American Cleanup of Pennsylvania, which began March 1 and runs through May 31.

"Pennsylvania is a beautiful state, and it's imperative that we work together to keep it that way," Acting Secretary Leslie S. Richards said. "I urge individuals to join the thousands of volunteers in their communities to participate in the cleanup this year to keep Pennsylvania beautiful."

The cleanup is sponsored each year by PennDOT, Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful, the state Department of Environmental Protection and other partners. Groups participating in PennDOT's Adopt-A-Highway (AAH) program, which involves volunteers cleaning roadsides year round, are also encouraged to participate in the cleanup.

Interested individuals can find a listing of cleanup events, resources for organizing a cleanup, and other information about the effort online at www.gacofpa.org. Groups interested in adopting a section of highway are encouraged to contact their local PennDOT County Maintenance office and ask for the AAH coordinator, or visit www.dot.state.pa.us.

During last year's Great American Cleanup, 6.4 million pounds of litter was collected from Pennsylvania's roads, trails and shorelines by more than 136,000 volunteers. PennDOT's AAH program contributed nearly 75,000 volunteers who cleaned up nearly 45 percent of the collected litter on 10,317 miles of cleaned up roadway.

Through PennDOT's AAH program, volunteers collect litter on a two-mile section of state highway four times a year. The program currently has nearly 7,000 participating groups, more than 125,000 volunteers and 15,834 miles of adopted state-maintained roadways.

PennDOT provides gloves, trash bags and safety vests to AAH and Great American Cleanup of PA groups. In addition to the event, during the "Pick it Up PA Days" from April 11 to May 4 registered events have access to reduced or free disposal at participating landfills.

For more information, visit www.gacofpa.org.

SHAMOKIN - The state is starting from scratch on a regional police study in lower Northumberland County.

The study will be conducted as part of Shamokin's Act 47 program, according to Marita Kelley, a policy manager for the Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED).

The study will analyze the financial costs of consolidating and operating a regional force, pensions and post-retirement benefits, manpower needs and agency hierarchy, among many topics.

A separate initiative began in February 2014 when municipal officials met with Ron Stern, DCED local government policy specialist, before the city applied and was accepted into Act 47.

Stern said Tuesday that letters of intent had been returned by six municipalities - Coal Township, Kulpmont, Mount Carmel, Mount Carmel Township, Shamokin and Zerbe Township - seeking participation in the cost-free study through DCED's Governor's Center for Local Government Services.

The municipalities would all again be invited by DCED to participate, Kelley said. The more the better, she said.

"We'll probably be more aggressive in pursuing a response," Kelley said Tuesday.

"I don't know how many will remain or want to participate," she added. "There are issues with pensions and post-retirement benefits that sometime make it onerous for smaller guys to stay in the pack."

Weekly meetings are held between DCED, financial consultants and Shamokin officials regarding the city's Act 47 plan. Regional policing will be a topic of discussion, but not one of immediate concern. Kelley doesn't expect any movement on a study for at least six months.

A binding arbitration ruling issued Feb. 13 involving a new Shamokin police contract requires the exploration of regionalizing or sharing services with Coal Township, including police coverage. The ruling mirrored elements of the Act 47 plan, which cited union and non-union employee compensation in Shamokin as "unaffordable and unsustainable" without any significant changes to the city's financial structure.

For 2015, the city police budget totals $1.2 million, 42 percent of projected spending.

Ron Smeal, a law enforcement consultant who assisted in police department research for Shamokin's Act 47 plan, will likely be involved, Kelley said, adding that Stern's advice would also be sought.

MOUNT CARMEL - A correctional officer at SCI-Frackville who was found asleep in his truck in possession of numerous packets of Spice last year in Mount Carmel was taken into custody at work by Constable Larry Rompallo Tuesday morning and arraigned on drug-related offenses.

Joshua Robert Malick, 25, of 824 Chestnut St., Kulpmont, formerly of Ashland, had his arms and legs shackled and appeared in full uniform at 10:45 a.m. before Magisterial District Judge Hugh Jones on a felony of possession with intent to deliver Spice and misdemeanors of possession of Spice and possession of drug paraphernalia relating to an April 25 incident outside 41 S. Chestnut St.

Patrolman Matthew Dillman filed the charges.

Rompallo, who took Malick into custody on a warrant at about 8:15 a.m., said the correctional officer did not offer any resistance.

Police reported Malick was found shortly before 7:30 p.m. passed out behind the steering wheel of his black Nissan truck that was parked with the engine running. Police said the passenger side floor was covered in garbage.

When Dillman knocked on the door, Malick didn't answer. When Dillman opened the door, Malick awoke and told the officer he was sleeping. According to Dillman, Malick had food smeared on his face and clothes and was extremely lethargic and difficult to understand at times because he mumbled.

Malick told police he had smoked Spice. During an inspection of his truck, police located numerous empty packs of Spice, six smoking pipes, two brass filters and numerous unused packets of Spice.

Malick, who was released on $10,000 unsecured bail, told the judge last year's incident changed his life. The defendant understood the consequences he faces if he doesn't appear for his preliminary hearing at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday, March 11.

Jones told the defendant, who reportedly began working at the state prison in November, a bench warrant would be issued and a lien placed on his property for $10,000 if he didn't attend his next legal proceeding. After reading the charges and explaining his rights, Jones advised Malick to seek legal counsel.

An official at SCI-Frackville confirmed that Malick is an employee, but couldn't offer any other comment because it was a personnel issue.

SUNBURY - The following candidates in the May 19 primary filed petitions with the Northumberland County Board of Elections:

- George Zalar, county commissioner, Democrat.

- Jamie Saleski, Coal Township commissioner, Republican.

- George Zalar, Coal Township commissioner, Democrat.

- Norman Foura, East Cameron supervisor, Republican.

- Brian Shurock, Mount. Area Carmel school director, Democrat and Republican.

- Lester Neitz Jr., Jackson Township supervisor, Democrat.

- Leroy (Chico) Moser, Mount Carmel Borough Council, Democrat

- Aaron Domanski, Mount Carmel Township supervisor, Democrat.

- Charles Gary English, Riverside tax collector, Democrat.

- Eric Klinger, Upper Mahanoy Township supervisor, Republican.