Valley View hires special ed supervisor
ARCHBALD - The Valley View School Board unanimously voted to hire a supervisor of special education services at Monday night's meeting. Board members approved Donna Carey to the position at a prorated salary of $80,000 a year, effective today. The board also scheduled the annual reorganization meeting of the board for Monday, Dec. 3, at 6 p.m. in the Valley View High School library.
Exhibit features memorial for ship
SCRANTON - A display of photos and artifacts will serve as a memorial to the lost tall ship HMS Bounty.
Starting Friday, Dec. 7, at 6 p.m., Care Net of Scranton, 310 Adams Ave., will host a memorial exhibit for the ship that sank off the coast of South Carolina during Superstorm Sandy, killing two of the 16 crew members, a release said.
Kenn Anderson, a friend of the two who died, is chairman of Care Net and has served as a carpenter, electrician, gunner and sailor for several years. The ship was used as a prop in the movie "Mutiny on the Bounty." The exhibit will continue Dec. 8 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Dec. 9 from noon to 5 p.m.
Lupas now in assisted living
WILKES-BARRE - Anthony J. Lupas Jr., whose trial in an alleged $6 million Ponzi scheme has been on hold for eight months while a court-appointed doctor evaluates his competency, has moved into an assisted-living center in Kingston.
Mr. Lupas, 78, has been a resident at Tiffany Court since his release from a hospital one or two months ago, according to one of his attorneys, Joseph Blazosek.
Mr. Lupas' attorneys have sought to have him declared incompetent to stand trial since his indictment in March on charges that he bilked investors and clients.
Mr. Lupas, the former longtime solicitor to the Wilkes-Barre Area School Board and father of a Luzerne County judge, faces 31 counts of fraud and conspiracy.
Ethics commission reviews complaint
WILKES-BARRE - Members of the Luzerne County Accountability, Conduct and Ethics Commission met in closed sessions Monday to review a complaint against a deputy coroner, who allegedly used his county position to solicit private funeral-service business.
The county ethics code prohibits coroner's office employees from soliciting and discussing, while on county business, private funeral services. In recent years, several funeral home directors have claimed coroner's office employees unfairly receive funeral business as a perk.
The ethics commission does not release details about complaints. .
Still no word on cuts in W-B
WILKES-BARRE - Residents still remain in the dark about the city's plan to cut police officers, firefighters and the other service workers employed with their tax dollars, days after the city discussed those plans internally with union officials.
During Monday night's city council meeting, Mayor Tom Leighton again confirmed downsizing the city's work force will be necessary in order to solve its current $2 million deficit and long-term financial uncertainty created by declining revenues. But he did not specify when or how many jobs would be eliminated, echoing familiarly vague statements he's made dating back to his Oct. 15 budget proposal.
"Unfortunately, there will be some difficult decisions made within the next week that will carry into (2013)," Mr. Leighton said. "How deep is unknown."