The Wyoming Valley Mall’s real estate tax assessment has plunged from $68.7 million to $13.6 million through negotiations with taxing bodies in a court-level appeal, records show. Attorneys involved in the case say the new assessment reflects a nationwide value drop in many traditional shopping malls. The dramatic reduction knocked the Wilkes-Barre Township mall from its ranking among the top five highest commercial real estate taxpayers countywide. It also will sting impacted taxing bodies. Mall owner Wyoming Valley Realty Holding LLC will pay a total $375,201 in real estate taxes under curre ..read more

Standing outside the West Side Career and Technology Center in Pringle last week, Luzerne County Council Vice Chairman Brian Thornton was surprised to see the number of vehicles lining up for a Fork Over Love meal event. “I counted about 50 cars,” Thornton said. Thornton and Councilwoman LeeAnn McDermott were at the site because council had allocated $500,000 in federal American Rescue Plan funding to the nonprofit. Council’s ongoing tour aims to show the public the uses of $55 million in awards to more than 100 outside entities. Fork Over Love has distributed tens of thousands of meals and re ..read more

Standing outside the West Side Career and Technology Center in Pringle last week, Luzerne County Council Vice Chairman Brian Thornton was surprised to see the number of vehicles lining up for a Fork Over Love meal event. “I counted about 50 cars,” Thornton said. Thornton and Councilwoman LeeAnn McDermott were at the site because council had allocated $500,000 in federal American Rescue Plan funding to the nonprofit. Council’s ongoing tour aims to show the public the uses of $55 million in awards to more than 100 outside entities. Fork Over Love has distributed tens of thousands of meals and re ..read more

Final plans for the proposed Duryea levee-raising project hinge on whether Luzerne County Council wants to fix or demolish the county-owned Stephenson Street Bridge, a consultant said during this week’s work session. To increase the height of a levee closure structure on the bridge, the support abutment under the bridge must be repaired because it is in “really bad shape,” said Jim Moore, of Greenman-Pedersen Inc. (GPI), which is handling the design. “We’re not able to as engineers recommend that we build more on top of that,” Moore told council. The other solution would be tearing down some o ..read more

Four Luzerne County American Rescue Plan funding recipients will have more time to complete their projects — a request granted to several other entities in recent months, county council decided Tuesday. At least 21 more American Rescue modifications will be coming before council next month — mostly time extensions, the administration said. The latest to be granted more time: the municipalities of Plymouth, Shickshinny and Hazleton and the Wyoming Valley Sanitary Authority. County correctional services also obtained permission to reallocate $20,000 of its $2.18 million American Rescue earmark t ..read more

As part of the planned Duryea levee project, Luzerne County has been asked to decommission the Stephenson Street Bridge over the Lackawanna River so it can be demolished. County Manager Romilda Crocamo said the span is essentially inactive and not accessible to public vehicles because one side is blocked with a gate. The subject will be discussed at Tuesday’s county council work session and came up during last week’s meeting of the county Flood Protection Authority, which oversees the Wyoming Valley Levee system along the Susquehanna River. Duryea had received state and federal mitigation fund ..read more

Luzerne County’s administration has identified $6.3 million in future projects in its new proposed annual capital plan, with the understanding council would have to come up with funding to complete all of them. The proposal says $1.8 million is left in the fund, but at least some of that money already is pledged for projects that had been approved in prior years. For example, $814,000 was earmarked toward an elevator modernization project still underway at the county prison. A proposed capital plan must be submitted to council by June 1 under the county’s home rule charter, and county Manager ..read more

MOOSIC — Dallas’ JJ Rischawy didn’t get the opportunity to get a walk-off hit against Scranton Prep for the second consecutive year. So Jack Leandri did the honors Sunday night in the District 2 Class 4A baseball championship game at PNC Field. Leandri grounded a single to right with the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the seventh as Dallas defeated Prep 1-0 for its second consecutive D2-4A championship. Dallas (19-4) will play in the first round of the PIAA 4A state tournament on June 3 against the District 3 runner-up. Unlike last season — when Rischawy’s seventh inning single end ..read more

The nonprofit that oversees the Luzerne County Fair is seeking $500,000 of the county’s remaining federal American Rescue Plan Act funding to repair flood damage at the Dallas fairground caused by severe September 2023 rain, according to a submission up for discussion at Tuesday’s county council work session. If all prior-approved council earmarks are carried out as proposed, the county has approximately $1.4 million in American Rescue funding available, according to the county budget/finance division. In addition to the damage, the nonprofit — Dallas Area Fall Fair Inc. — lost an estimated $2 ..read more

Luzerne County’s administration has identified $6.3 million in future projects in its new proposed annual capital plan, with the understanding council would have to come up with funding to complete all of them. The proposal says $1.8 million is left in the fund, but at least some of that money already is pledged for projects that had been approved in prior years. For example, $814,000 was earmarked toward an elevator modernization project still underway at the county prison. A proposed capital plan must be submitted to council by June 1 under the county’s home rule charter, and county Manager ..read more