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Sunday, November 8, 2020

Biden wins election, makes call for unity

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BY JONATHAN LEMIRE, ZEKE MILLER AND WILL WEISSERT ASSOCIATED PRESS

ASHINGTON — Democrat Joe Biden defeated President Donald Trump to become the 46th president of the United States on Saturday and offered himself to the nation as a leader who “seeks not to divide, but to unify” a country gripped by a historic pandemic and a confluence of economic and social turmoil. “I sought this office to restore the soul of America,” Biden said in a prime-time victory speech not far from his Delaware home, “and to make America respected around the world again and to unite us here at home.” Biden crossed the winning threshold of 270 Electoral College votes with a win in Pennsylvania. His victory came after more than three days of uncertainty as election officials sorted through a surge of mail-in votes that delayed processing. Trump refused to concede, threatening further legal action on ballot counting. But Biden used his acceptance speech as an olive branch to those who did not vote for him, telling Trump voters that he understood their disappointment but adding, “Let’s give each other a chance.” “It’s time to put away the harsh rhetoric, to lower the temperature, to see each other again, to listen to each other again, to make progress, we must stop treating our opponents as our enemy,” he said. “We are not enemies. We are Americans.” Biden, 77, staked his candidacy less on any distinctive political ideology than on galvanizing a broad coalition of voters around the notion that Trump posed an existential threat to American democracy. The strategy, as well as an appeal to Americans fatigued by Trump’s disruptions and wanting a return to a more traditional presidency, proved effective and resulted in pivotal victories in Michigan and Wisconsin as well as Pennsylvania, onetime Democratic bastions that had flipped to Trump in 2016. Please see BIDEN, Page A6

ANDREW HARNIK / ASSOCIATED PRESS

President-elect Joe Biden speaks Saturday night in Wilmington, Del.

“

‘I sought this office to restore the soul of America and to make America respected around the world again and to unite us here at home.’ JOE BIDEN

President-elect

Area Dems moved by win BY MICHAEL P. BUFFER STAFF WRITER

Wilkes University junior Hope Williams worked as a volunteer for Joe Biden’s campaign for nearly three months, and she was ecstatic about Saturday’s media projection that Biden won the presidential election. But she said she’s “also a little nervous” about how supporters of President Donald Trump will react. “I believe that those people have been outwardly racist and out-

wardly sexist for four years, and they’re going to feel that that’s OK and that they’re going to feel comWILLIAMS f o r t a b l e d o i n g that,” she said. “I am nervous there will be a lot of violence, but how I am feeling today is I am so, so, so happy. And I feel like all this hard work was worth it.” Williams, 21, is from East Stroudsburg. Her heritage is half

African-American and half Italian. “The unprecedented behavior that I’ve seen from our president and the way the people who support him treat others, people of color, women, any minority, and it really just showed that if something doesn’t change very soon that people that look like me, or people who look like my family, or women, will always be at a disadvantage,” Williams said. Please see DEMOCRATS, Page A10

READ MORE n What’s next? Winning the election kicks off a 2½ month process. Page A4 n Joe Biden taking Scranton roots to the White House. Page A7 n Black leaders greet Biden win, pledge push for equality. Page A8 n Local Republicans react to Biden win. Page A10 n A wide coalition helped Biden win the presidency. Page A11 n How Joe Biden navigated pandemic politics to win the White House. Page A12

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Harris makes history

She is the first Black woman and South Asian to be elected vice president. BY KATHLEEN RONAYNE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Vice president-elect Kamala Harris on Saturday paid tribute to the women, particularly Black women, whose shoulders she stands on as she shatters barriers that have kept mostly white men entrenched at the highest levels of American politics for more than two centuHARRIS ries. “Tonight I reflect on their struggle, their determination and the strength

of their vision to see what can be unburdened by what has been,” Harris said, wearing a white suit in tribute to women’s suffrage. Presidentelect Joe Biden had the character and audacity “to break one of the most substantial barriers that exists in our country, and select a woman and his vice president.” she added. “While I may be the first woman in this office, I will not be the last,” Harris said in her first post-election address to the nation. The 56-year-old California senator, also the first person of South Asian descent elected to the vice presidency, represents the multiculturalism that defines America but is largely absent from Washington’s power centers. Please see HARRIS, Page A6

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SUNDAY, JANUARY 19, 2020

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Mark Moran / Staff photographer

A ‘no dumping’ reminder is spray-painted next to an open storm drain along Grebe and Marjorie streets in Wilkes-Barre as Wyoming Valley Sanitary Authority workers prepare to clean out leaves and other debris.

EYE OF THE STORM

Nearly one-third of WVSA stormwater fees went to salaries in 2019

BY STeVe MOCARSKY Staff WrIter

MORe INSIDe

lose to one-third of the $8.6 million in stormwater fees Several stormwater projects are the Wyoming Valley Sanitary Authority collected last in the works. Page A3 year went to employee salaries and benefits. A review of 2019 revenue and expenditures for the sanitary reserve account can provide a cushion authority’s stormwater division revealed exactly how that rev- for the unrealized revenue. enue was spent and what property owners are getting for their But the authority will initiate a collections process followed by a lien filmoney.

Mark Moran / Staff photographer

Wyoming Valley Sanitary Authority workers use a vacuum to clean leaves and other debris from storm drains along Grebe and Marjorie streets in Wilkes-Barre.

The sanitary authority began mailing stormwater bills in January 2019 to residences, businesses, nonprofits and governmental bodies in 32 municipalities participating in a regionalized Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) program, with the authority creating and implementing a Pollutant Reduction Plan. By the end of 2019, the authority had mailed stormwater bills totaling nearly $10.3 million to more than 76,000 property owners. The three-tiered fee is based on the amount of impervious surface, such as roofs, patios and driveways, on a property. The average homeowner is shelling out $57.60 annually, but the owner of a large property such as a warehouse is being billed hundreds or thousands of dollars. The stormwater fee is designed to pay for measures to address a pollutionreduction mandate from the federal

Environmental Protection Agency for bodies of water that drain into Chesapeake Bay, including the Susquehanna River. Revenue is used for pollution control measures. And DEP issues stormwater permits allowing municipalities to discharge stormwater into the tributaries if they meet requirements. Municipalities that don’t meet the requirements can face hefty daily fines. Although the authority billed $10.3 million, it received only about $8.6 million for a number of reasons including nonpayment and the issuing of credits for qualifying properties that have a lower impact on stormwater runoff. So, while 92.4% of property owners paid their fees by Dec. 31, the authority received only 83.3% of the dollar amount billed. The authority initially devised a balanced $8.9 million budget for 2019. Allotting $1.4 million for a capital

ing, if necessary, for delinquent accounts, according to Donna Gillis, authority spokeswoman.

Salaries and equipment Twelve authority employees are dedicated solely to the authority’s stormwater division. Hourly wages range from $13.85 for a customer service representative to $45.48 for the division head. Another 95 authority employees spend about 75% of their time on sanitary sewer work and the remainder on stormwater work, so one-fourth of the cost of their salaries and benefits are covered under the stormwater budget. Authority Executive Director Jim Tomaine said employees who split their time between the two divisions initially kept time logs to determine what percentage of their work was stormwater-related. Please see fee, Page A3 ADVE RTISE M E NT

Dozens rally for women’s rights in W-B MOM’S DEAL A ‘countermarch’ of Trump supporters also gathered. BY DeNISe AllABAugh Staff WrIter

WILKES-BARRE — U.S. Rep. Matt Cartwright, D-8, Moosic, told a large group who gathered at the Millennium Circle on the River Common in the snow at the Northeast Pennsylvania Women’s March rally Saturday about the women he admires. The women include his late mother who graduated from Albany Law School in 1953 when law was a male-dominated field and his wife Marion Munley Cartwright who he

said sticks up for people who need help. He described his wife as an inspiration and a “lioness in the courtroom.” Repeating a common theme at Saturday’s rally, Cartwright led the crowd in a chant declaring women’s rights are human rights. “I regret sincerely the kind of polarization that has gone on and it makes no sense particularly when we talk about women’s rights,” Cartwright told the cheering group of dozens of women and a few men. “This really shouldn’t be a Democrat Sean Mckeag / Staff photographer vs. Republican issue. It’s a Attendees of the NEPA Women’s March gather at human issue.” Please see RAllY, Page A5

Millenium Circle in Wilkes-Barre’s River Common on Saturday.

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Sunday, July 19, 2020

JOHN LEWIS 1940-2020

Civil rights leader, lawmaker dies at 80

UNCOVERING COVID-19

DEATHS DON’T ADD UP

John Lewis died Friday after a months-long battle with cancer.

Disparities abound in reporting nursing home virus deaths

BY CALVIN WOODWARD AND DESIREE SEALS ASSOCIATED PRESS

ATLANTA — John Lewis, a lion of the civil rights movement whose bloody beating by Alabama state troopers in 1965 helped galvanize opposition to racial segregation, and who went on to a long and celebrated career in Congress, has died. He was 80. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi confirmed LewLEWIS is’ passing late Friday night, calling him “one of the greatest heroes of American history.” “All of us were humbled to call Congressman Lewis a colleague, and are heartbroken by his passing,” Pelosi said. “May his memory be an inspiration that moves us all to, in the face of injustice, make ‘good trouble, necessary trouble.’” The condolences for Lewis were bipartisan. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Lewis was “a pioneering civil rights leader who put his life on the line to fight racism, promote equal rights, and bring our nation into greater alignment with its founding principles. ” Lewis’s announcement in late December 2019 that he had been diagnosed with advanced pancreatic cancer — “I have never faced a fight quite like the one I have now,” he said — inspired tributes from both sides of the aisle, and an unstated accord that the likely passing of this Atlanta Democrat would represent the end of an era.

“

We want to make sure everyone, as best as possible, lives through the crisis. It’s important we know the actual death count at a facility. We need hard, reliable figures on an ongoing basis. BRIAN LEE

Families For Better Care

ABOUT THE PROJECT

eporting on the number of COVID-19 deaths of Northeast Pennsylvania nursing home and other long-term care facility residents continues to be inaccurate, despite May federal and state mandates that sought to address issues. The mandates, which came in response to public outcry for more information, sought to centralize data collection. Death counts continue to vary widely, however, depending on who is counting: the state, federal government, county coroner, or the facilities. Officials say the disparities are tied to several factors, including differences in reporting methods, confusion over how to categorize deaths and because some facilities are not complying with the weekly reporting mandate to the state Department of Health. There’s also a continued dispute over whether persons who live in one county, but die in another, should be counted in their home county or county of death. “The data is all over the map,” said Brian Lee, executive director of Families For Better Care, a Florida-based advocacy group for nursing home residents and their families. “From week to week we don’t know what’s the truth.” As of Tuesday, Luzerne County Coroner Frank Hacken reported 182 total virus-related deaths, of which 124 involved long term care facility residents. Of those 124 deaths, 111 were among nursing home residents, and the remainder were from other long-term care facilities. DOH countywide statistics for Luzerne County showed 181 COVID-19 related deaths as of Tuesday, with nursing homes and personal care home residents accounting for 128 of those deaths — nearly 70% of the county’s virus deaths.

This is the latest in a series of investigative reports by The Citizens' Voice and the Times-Tribune of Scranton. Today we examine nursing homes' COVID-19 reporting and the impact in Luzerne and Lackawanna counties.

Please see LEWIS, Page A6

BY STEVE MOCARSKY AND TERRIE MORGAN BESECKER STAFF WRITERS

Please see DEATHS, Page A4

ADVE RTISE M E NT

CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC

As virus surges, hospitals swamped Patients are being treated in hallways and emergency wards. BY JAY REEVES ASSOCIATED PRESS

DAVID J. PHILLIP / ASSOCIATED PRESS

Registered nurses Army Lt. Col. Oswaldo Martinez, left, and Maj. Andrew Wieher, right, with the Urban Augmentation Medical Task Force, work to set up a nurses station inside a wing at United Memorial Medical Center in Houston on Thursday.

units are full, officials say, and the near-constant care they require is overtaxing workers who also are treating more typical ER cases like chest pains, infections, and fractures. In Texas, Dr. Alison Haddock of the Baylor College of Medicine said the current situation is worse than after Hurr i c a n e H a r ve y, wh i c h swamped Houston with floodwaters in 2017. The state reported a new daily record for virus deaths Friday and more than 10,000 confirmed cases for the fourth consecutive day.

A fast-rising tide of new coronavirus cases is flooding emergency rooms in parts of the United States, with some patients moved into hallways and nurses working extra shiftstokeepupwiththesurge. Patients struggling to breathe are being placed on ventilators in emergency wards since intensive care Please see HOSPITALS, Page A6

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Dark distinction: The U.S. now has the highest COVID-19 death toll in the world at more than 20,000. Page A10

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CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC

WARREN RUDA / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

vehicles travel along Broad street in Hazleton last week.

WHY HAZLETON? Several factors made southern Luzerne County a COVID-19 hot spot

By STeVe MOcarSKy STAFF WRITER

AZLETON — As COVID-19 whipped through this small city perched on a mountain in southern Luzerne County, making it one of Pennsylvania’s epicenters for the disease, residents and officials searched for the possible cause. They identified several: The region’s burgeoning warehouses and food packing plants crammed hundreds of workers together on round-the-clock shifts. Those workers often lived in densely packed apartment buildings that facilitated transmission. Many traveled regularly to hardhit New York City, the source of a wave of new Hispanic residents who arrived in Hazleton seeking work and more affordable living over the past few decades. Latinos brought with them a cultural tradition of caring for elderly parents, grandparents and extended family members under the same roof, increasing the likelihood of spreading the disease in the household, and a language barrier likely contributed to a lack of understanding of precautionary measures to slow the spread of the disease. “The most-spoken language in Hazleton is Spanish,” community activist Annie Mendez said. “Why not call an emergency meeting with (Hispanic leaders)?” Lehigh Valley Health Network’s two COVID-19 testing centers in Hazleton have reported the vast majority of the county’s

WARREN RUDA / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

People wait outside a Lehigh valley Hospital facility in Hazleton last week. positive cases. Hazleton has about onetenth of the county’s population, but roughly 88% of the county’s novel coronavirus cases. This past Wednesday, Mayor Jeff Cusat said the total number of positive cases confirmed in Hazleton was around 1,000, when the state Department of Health had announced 1,134 for the entire county. As of Saturday, Luzerne County ranked third in the state for confirmed coronavirus cases per capita, trailing Monroe and Lehigh counties, respectively. For every 100,000 residents, Monroe County had 462 positive cases, Lehigh County had 447 and

Luzerne County had 432.

curfew imposed Cusat went to the extreme of imposing a curfew on April 5, in effect from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m., in an effort to promote social distancing and keep people at home. Officials in at least six other nearby municipalities followed suit. On April 3, Luzerne County Manager David Pedri asked Gov. Tom Wolf to deploy the Pennsylvania Army National Guard to assist in Hazleton, a request Wolf declined. Cusat said last week he didn’t think the Guard would be needed to enforce the cur-

few, as the city has a competent police department, but he would like the Guard to be available to set up a field hospital if Lehigh Valley Hospital Hazleton became overwhelmed with patients as the virus continues to spread. About 10 days ago, hospital president John Fletcher said social distancing in Hazleton was only at about 18% and would need to increase to about 70% if the hospital was not to eventually be overwhelmed with coronavirus patients. A hospital spokesman did not respond to a request for updated social distancing numbers late last week. As of Wednesday, the hospital had 22 confirmed COVID-19 positive patients admitted, plus one suspected positive case. Five of those patients were in the intensive care unit on ventilators, according to spokesman Brian Downs. Cusat said last week he’s fairly certain that not all of the coronavirus patients reside in the city proper, but Hazleton’s estimated population of about 30,000 to 35,000 is roughly equal to the populations of nearly all the surrounding townships and boroughs combined. The Census Bureau pegs the city’s population closer to 25,000, but local officials believe city residents were significantly undercounted in the last decennial census. Please see hazleTON, Page A3 ADVE RTISE M E NT

Two deaths, 47 cases reported in county By Michael P. Buffer STAFF WRITER

Two more people have died and another 47 COVID-19 cases have been documented in Luzerne County, according to the state Department of Health. The department reported 1,372 cases and 17 deaths in the county on Saturday morning, up from 1,325 cases with 15 deaths recorded a day earlier. The mortality rate is 1.24%. Luzerne County Manager David Pedri identified the new victims as two women, both 93. “Both passed away in local medical facility,” Pedri said in an email. “Our thoughts and

cOrONaViruS By The NuMBerS

A look at the latest coronavirus case numbers: Luzerne County PennsyLvania New cases: 47 New cases: 1,676 New deaths: 2 New deaths: 78 Total cases: 1,372 Total cases: 21,655 Total deaths: 17 Total deaths: 494

prayers go out to their families during this holiday weekend.” The number of new confirmed cases reported Saturday was the smallest one-day increase in the county since March 29. The statewide total of COVID-19 cases increased by 1,676 and is now up to 21,655 in all 67 counties in Pennsylvania. The department

have tested positive to date, less than 3% of patients have been 18 or younger. About 7% are 19-24 years old, 41% are 25-49, 29% are 50-64, and nearly 21% are 65 or older. Most of the patients hospitalized are 65 or older, and most of the deaths have occurred in patients 65 or older. There have been no pediatric deaths to date. The state remains under a stay-at-home order, while schools are closed until the end of the academic year and non life-sustaining businesses are closed indefinitely.

reported 78 new deaths among positive cases, bringing the statewide total to 494. Luzerne County has the third most cases per capita in the state — 431.6 per 100,000 residents. Monroe County is 461.85, and Lehigh County is 446.76. A total of 98,498 patients contact the writer: statewide have tested negative mbuffer@citizensvoice.com to date. Of the patients who 570-821-2073, @cvmikebuffer

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UNCOVERING THE WHITE HAVEN CLOSURE A joint investigation into its impact in Luzerne County.

Biden’s wins big for his Pa. backers

WHAT’S NEXT? Families worry about the future as the state looks to close White Haven Center

Party insiders were worried Biden wouldn’t survive Super Tuesday. BY MARC LEVY ASSociAted PreSS

see residents daily and notice changes in their conditions. Respiratory therapists, noting humidity, decide whether residents with breathing problems can go outside to enjoy sunshine or should spend the day indoors, away from drafts.

HARRISBURG — Democratic Party stalwarts in Pennsylvania heaved a collective sigh of relief as Joe Biden, the choice of many party leaders in the battleground state, emerged from the presidential primary pack as the consensus pick to lead the party’s moderate wing. After all, the former vice president and Delaware senator is viewed as a hometown boy in the Democratic bastion of Scranton, where he grew up. Most members of Pennsylvania’s Democratic congressional delegation, including U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, endorsed Biden early in the primary. And his longstanding relationships with party leaders in Pennsylvania have made him their favorite candidate to beat President Donald Trump in a state Democrats can’t afford to lose. Party insiders in Pennsylvania who support Biden, however, had worried that his campaign wouldn’t survive the crowded primary fray before Super Tuesday voters flocked to Biden, who won the most delegates on the presidential primary calendar’s biggest night. “My phone has been buzzing, beeping, texts, all kinds of messages,” John Cordisco, Bucks County’s Democratic Party chairman, said this week. “You can feel that sense of, ‘It’s OK now.”’ Polls in Pennsylvania generally favor Biden over Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, a democratic socialist running to Biden’s left, ahead of the state’s April 28 primary.

Please see CENTER, Page A6

Please see BIDEN, Page A4

WArren rudA / StAff PhotogrAPher

the state Department of human services announced that it was closing White haven center, citing the declining numbers and cost per resident as key factors in the closure. inset, From toP: the White haven center’s administration building; the center is located on 192 acres; the center’s Pocono hall.

ABOUT THE PROJECT this is the latest in a series of investigative reports by the citizens’ Voice and the Standard-Speaker of hazleton. today, we examine the potential closing of the White haven center.

MORE INSIDE ■ thousands are waiting for services. Page A7 ■ ‘it’s a choice you make.’ different care scenarios work for different families. Page A7

COMING TOMORROW in Monday’s edition, we take a closer look at what life is like inside community care homes.

BY KENT JACKSON StAff Writer

oey Jennings cruises around White Haven Center on a golf cart, dons a day-glow green jacket to collect trash on the grounds and dresses as Batman to celebrate Halloween. He also goes to dances, karaoke parties and barbecues at the center for people with intellectual disabilities and takes field trips to pizzerias, ball games and Knoebels Amusement Park. His parents contrast his life at White Haven, which the state wants to close, with six group homes and five psychiatric wards that he shuffled between because workers had trouble controlling him. In those settings he seemed like a prisoner in solitary confinement to his parents, was overmedicated until he developed female breasts, and he suffered a broken eye socket and other injuries. Joey’s parents, Susan and Richard Jennings, and family of other center residents said the state facilities offer skilled, compassionate care to their relatives. Doctors and nurses

courteSy of SuSAn JenningS

Joey Jennings takes a pizza break at White haven center, where he found a home after leaving six group homes.

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St. Pat’s parade a ‘great day’ for Pittston BY MICHAEL P. BUFFER StAff Writer

dAVe Scherbenco / StAff PhotogrAPher

hunter hufford and max mylet hang out before the start of the leprechaun loop prior to the Pittston st. Patrick’s Day Parade.

PITTSTON — Paradegoers and participants dressed in green lined up along Main Street at noon Saturday in chilly but sunny weather conditions. “It’s a great day for the Irish,” U.S. Rep. Matt Cartwright, D-8, Moosic, said as the seventh annual Pittston City St. Patrick’s Parade was about to start. Other area officials were lining up with the congressman to be in the parade.

“I’m here today because it’s a celebration of Pittston. It’s a celebration of Irish heritage. It’s a celebration of spring. It’s a great, great thing in Pittston,” said state Rep. Mike Carroll, D-118, Avoca, said. “Everybody in the community has a role to play. You try to play your part well, and when things go well, you get the result like we have today in Pittston — a real celebration, thousands of people. They’ll have a great time.” Parade committee co-chairwoman Sarah Donahue said 90 groups were participating in the parade. Please see PARADE, Page A5

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Trump addresses coronavirus, Dem rivals and more at Scranton town hall

JAkE DANNA STEvENS / STAff PhoTogrAPhEr

President Donald Trump answers questions from audience members and by Fox News Channel moderators Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum during a Fox News Channel Town Hall at the The Scranton Cultural Center at the Masonic Temple in Scranton on Thursday.

BY BORYS KRAWCZENIUK STAff WrITEr

CRANTON — President Donald Trump took aim at potential Democratic presidential nominee Joseph Biden, Scranton’s native son and former vice president, in an hour-long Fox News town hall Thursday. In response to moderator Bret Baier’s question that Democrats impeached him because he tried to “damage Biden,” Trump called the process “a fake impeachment.” The question centered on Trump asking Ukraine’s president on July 25 to investigate Biden and his son, Hunter, who served on the board of a Ukrainian energy company, Burisma, which led to his impeachment for abusing his office. “It was a whole fake deal,” Trump said to an audience of more than 500 in the Scranton Cultur-

al Center and millions more nationwide. “I think Biden has been damaged, yeah ... I saw a couple of statements, very strong statements by very respected people in your world saying they aimed at Trump and they took Biden down.” He said Biden’s son, Hunter, gained $3 million and a $183,000 a month job serving on the board of theBurisma“thatalotof peoplesaidwascorrupt.” Trump also accused Biden of supporting the North American Free Trade Agreement, which was “the worst trade deal ever made” and hurt the American economy. Trump, a Republican, didn’t directly say if he would rather face Biden or U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont in November, the two major contenders left for the Democratic nomination after U.S. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts dropped out Thursday. Please see TRUMP, Page A7

MORE INSIDE ■ reaction to the president’s visit to NEPA. Page A7 ■ Protesters greet President Donald Trump in Scranton. Page A8 ■ Scenes from the presidential visit to Scranton. Page A8

MORE ONLINE SEAN MckEAg / STAff PhoTogrAPhEr

President Donald Trump gestures to a crowd of supporters upon arrival at the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport in Avoca on Thursday

view video from President Donald Trump’s visit to the region at www.citizensvoice.com.

ADVE RTISE M E NT

Schools keeping watch on coronavirus Local districts have plans in place should the virus make it to NEPA. BY MICHAEL P. BUFFER STAff WrITEr

School of ficials are responding to a potential outbreak of the coronavirus in the region. State Secretary of Education Pedro Rivera has said school leaders “should also take the opportunity to review your existing pandemic plan, and work with local health and emergency officials to update those

plans to address a potential virus outbreak in your community.” In a message to school officials, Rivera added, “The best way to prepare for an outbreak in Pennsylva n i a c o n t i nu e s t o b e ensuring you and your education community are practicing good hygiene, including washing hands, covering coughs and sneezes, keeping surfaces clean, and encouraging people to stay home if they are sick.” The Crestwood School District posted a message to its Facebook page about its planned response.

MORE INSIDE coronavirus fears and the fight against it are growing. Page A10 “A facet of planning and preparing is to endeavor a plan to provide educational continuity if the need would be presented,” Superintendent Robert Mehalick said. “Specifically, if Crestwood School District would be directed to close schools, as part of a containment plan, we will be prepared.” Dallas Superintendent Thomas Duf fy said the

s c h o o l d i s t r i c t wo u l d review recommendations from the state Department of Education and other agencies if “we were in a situation that requested closing of schools.” Dallas has “a plan, primarily consisting of online learning activities, in place for instructional days to continue in the event that schools would need to be closed,” Duffy said. Hanover Area Superintendent Nathan Barrett posted a message on the district’s website last week. Please see VIRUS, Page A5

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Volpe Report

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Pennsylvania’s Rainy Day Fund has only two days worth of money in it, according to Pennsylvania State Senator John Gordner, R-27th. The majority whip in the state senate, Senator Gordner is the guest Sunday on The Volpe Report at 11:30 a.m. On FOX56. Senator Gordner brings to the show his knowledge of the budget talks now ongoing in Harrisburg and discusses that Rainy Day Fund. “Supplemental appropriations” over the past few years, said the senator, has placed the state in a position where it’s headed for a structural deficit approaching $2 to $3 billion by as early as 2022. The state senate’s focus as budget talks continue is jobs. “Can’t we all get together on jobs,” he asked. Tune in Sunday for this exclusive look at state finances. On Tuesday, during the FOX56 News at 19, tune in for Volpe’s Views as Chuck Comments on the American Lung association’s recent findings that Pennsylvania and the U.S. are the reason vape usage among school children is on the rise.

Senator John Gordner