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Diamonds to Wilkes-Barre General Hospital for earning level II trauma center accreditation. The region has increased trauma service overall in the past decade or more, but the addition of another center ready to handle the life-threatening cases that become all to common in our high-speed, high-risk world is surely a positive. The work involved in this effort should not be underestimated, nor should the value it could bring to our community.
Coal to Luzerne County’s continued drama regarding storage of paper records. The most recent: water damage to 1,701 boxes and docket books due to a leak at the Thomas C. Thomas building housing many records. The cause of the leak is secondary at this point simply because the county has been struggling with document storage for years following warnings by a state archive expert about problems at the Thomas site. Heel dragging, not bad luck, made this problem possible.
Diamonds to Geisinger for transforming an abandoned car dealership into a soon-to-be outpatient clinic in Kingston. Ceremonial groundbreaking started the process Wednesday on Pierce Street at the site of the former Wyoming Valley Motors’ Subaru and Kia dealership. The $8.5 million building is expected to employ 48 people, a welcome addition to most communities.
Coal to the recurring, and unforgivable, stories of parents abounding children in unsavory places for selfish reasons. The most recent example occurred in Hazleton, where police say a Destiny Davila apparently left her 14-month-old child at the Second Base Bar for about 25 minutes. Police say Davila claimed a bar patron had agreed to watch the child, as though the fact that she brought such a young child into the bar was not appalling enough.
Diamonds to Wilkes University for the new Karambelas Media Center dedicated this week on South Main Street in the former Bartikowsky Jewelry store. The facility was impressive, the idea — housing different communications programs in one building — logical, and most importantly the investment of $4 million in downtown Wilkes-Barre is a valuable addition. Sure, such investments feel a bit better when made by a for-profit entity that pays property taxes on the building, but the center and the expanded Sordoni Art Gallery soon to be unveiled should draw many patrons to the downtown area.
Coal, as promised weekly until this idiocy is resolved, to the Republican-controlled Pennsylvania State Legislature and Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf for the ongoing failure to fund a $32 billion spending plan approved June 30 and allowed to pass into law without Wolf’s signature. Earlier this week Wolf warned things will quickly become “dire” and that the state could start running out of money by Sept. 15, forcing spending cuts. New movement toward a solution late in the week should spark a glimmer of hope that, by the time you read this, a compromise has been reached, but the staggering inability of Harrisburg to do this basic job warrants believing only when seeing.