Stories to watch in 2023 | Condition

Luzerne County residents will see some new developments this year, including a new Tractor Supply store slated to open Jan. 14 in Back Mountain.

Tractor Supply opens on 12 acres of 10 acres of wooded land across from Dallas Twp. Police Department at the intersection of State Route 309 and Upper Demunds Road.

The retailer sells products for home improvement, agriculture, lawn and garden care, livestock and pet care.

Plans have not yet been submitted for the remaining available space on the site, Dallas Twp. said Russ Coolbaugh, the zoning and code enforcement officer.

Along River Road at Jenkins Twp. Mericle is constructing a mini business park called CenterPoint Commerce & Trade Park South with three proposed buildings on a 350-acre site.

According to Mericle’s website, Mericle is building an 868,000 SF cross-dock industrial building in the park that will be ready for occupancy in December.

Mericle also plans to construct 136,500 square foot and 96,000 square foot buildings in the park.

Jim Cummings, Mericle’s vice president of marketing, said they haven’t signed up tenants but have made inquiries.

In Hanover Twp. Upward Farms officials say the world’s largest indoor vertical farm, being built on Tradeport Road, is expected to be completed and operational in early 2023.

The new 250,283 square foot facility will provide fresh, locally sourced microgreens and sustainably farmed hybrid striped bass to consumers throughout the Northeast and beyond.

The high-profile trial of two men charged with the murder of Judith Comisky is set to begin later this month.

James Raymond “Hollywood” Alberto, 34, and Charles Reilly Bierly, 24, both of Wilkes-Barre, will be charged with criminal manslaughter, conspiracy to murder, burglary and related charges in connection with the death of 52-year-old Comisky on May 9 16. 2021.

Prosecutors said Alberto threatened to kill Bierly and rape and murder his girlfriend if he didn’t execute Comisky, with whom he lived until an argument over “drugs and/or money” in the weeks leading up to the killing would have.

Alberto suspected Comisky was colluding with the police against him, although prosecutors say his fears were unfounded.

The men went to Comisky’s home at 123 Willow St., and Bierly repeatedly stabbed Comisky with a kitchen knife, according to the indictment.

Bierly then placed a pillow over the barrel of a .32-caliber handgun and shot Comisky in an attempt to finish her off, prosecutors said.

Both men are scheduled to stand trial together before Lucerne County President Judge Michael T. Vough starting Jan. 30.

The Lucerne Cantonal Council will appoint a full-time district head this year. The position has been vacant since former manager Randy Robertson resigned in November.

First, the council will appoint a three-person Citizen Search Committee to post the manager’s vacancies, then screen and possibly interview qualified applicants.

The council appoints the next manager after reviewing the finalists recommended by the committee. Seven votes on the 11-member council are required to hire or fire a manager, the county bylaw provides. The district chief acts as the head of the executive branch of the district government.

There are six council seats up for election this year and there will be at least two new council members in 2024. The council serves as the legislature of the county government.

Councilor Tim McGinley has reached the statutory limit of three four-year terms and may not seek re-election. McGinley is the only Democrat on the council and the only person to serve on the council continuously since the Home Rules went into effect in 2012.

Chairperson Kendra Radle, a Republican, will not seek re-election after one term.

Council members Lee Ann McDermott, Stephen J. Urban, Matt Mitchell and Carl Bienias III’s seats will also appear on the ballot this year.

The council is also expected to allocate approximately $94 million in American Rescue Plan funds to organizations, nonprofits, businesses and government agencies that have submitted requests for funding.

Voters living in Luzerne County will be tasked this year with electing a mayor, controller and five councilors to guide them through 2024 and the three years that follow.

The terms of office of Wilkes-Barre Mayor George Brown, Controller Darren Snyder and Council Members Bill Barrett, Mike Belusko, Tony Brooks, John Marconi and Beth Gilbert McBride expire on January 4, 2024.

Brown and Belusko have both said they intend to seek re-election, but neither Snyder nor any of the other four council members have publicly announced their intentions, and no one has announced a challenge for any of their seats.

City residents and workers can also expect to see some new faces heading up departments at City Hall this year, as three department heads have either resigned or retired in the past nine months.

Director of Health Henry Radulski retired in April but remained in an advisory capacity. Kady Luchetti has served as interim director, but Brown recently said he has offered the position to someone and hopes to announce the new director later this month.

The administration is looking for a civil engineer to replace operations manager and assistant city manager Butch Frati, who is retiring on Friday, and Brown and his advisers are working on how all of Frati’s responsibilities will be handled.

The administration is also hiring a new finance director. Brett Kittrick announced his resignation and his last day is January 13th.

New collective bargaining agreements with the city’s four unions should also be ratified this year, and residents should have a better idea of ​​how much wages will rise, which could lead to tax hikes in the years to come.

Construction of two major downtown hotel projects is also scheduled to begin this year. One is on the south-east corner of Northampton and South Main Streets and the other on the former property of the Hotel Sterling along West Market Street between North River and North Franklin Streets.

School funding in Pennsylvania will continue to be an issue to watch in 2023.

A court decision is pending in the case alleging that the state school funding system does not provide quality public education for all students. The Wilkes-Barre area and five other Pennsylvania school districts initiated the litigation in 2014, and the case has been in the hands of Commonwealth Court Judge Renée Cohn Jubelirer since the post-trial disputes last July.

Last May, Attorney General Josh Shapiro filed a brief in support of the six school districts. Shapiro becomes governor on January 17 and will propose a state budget with funding allocations for school districts.

The state parliament has the final say on the budget and allocations. State and local school districts are scheduled to have budgets when the 2022-23 fiscal year begins July 1.

Gov. Tom Wolf and the Legislature last June agreed a budget that earmarked $1.8 billion for education and an $850 million increase for K-12 school districts and an increase in level-up funding for the state’s poorest school districts by $225 million.

According to school district budgets approved for 2021-22, Luzerne County property owners had to pay higher school property taxes in seven out of 12 school districts.

School districts will also have school board elections this year. Because school board candidates can field and run in both the Democratic and Republican primary, the May 16 primary can determine who ultimately wins the school board seats in the November 7 general election. School board candidates can begin handing out petitions for the elementary school nomination on February 14 and must submit the petitions by March 7.

Wilkes-Barre Area officials hope a sale of the closed Meyers High School property in South Wilkes-Barre will close this year for $3.2 million. YMFS Family Partnership proposed to place multifamily housing in the closed school building and has completed an internal review of the tentative sale.

Wilkes-Barre Area is also expected to open a new $5 million field home complete with locker rooms, public toilets, a concession stand and a ticket office at Wolfpack Stadium in Plains Twp. The $9 million stadium opened in September with the field house under construction.

The Dallas School Board is expected to decide how much to spend on a new athletic training and locker room facility. In October, Dallas school officials said they wanted to gather more input on a proposed athletic facility that will cost an estimated $18.8 million

Greater Nanticoke is expected to complete a $3.1 million project at its high school stadium in 2023. The stadium project includes replacing the grass pitch with artificial turf, installing a drainage system and replacing a cinder track with a rubberized track. {/div}