Local News

Pennsylvania promised a better mental health system in 2011. But the failure to follow through has created dire consequences

NANTICOKE, LUZERNE COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU) — A Nanticoke man has been charged in a scheme that the Department of Justice said defrauded over $850,000 of emergency pandemic funding.

According to the Department of Justice, Joseph Kaminski, 55, of Nanticoke, defrauded the Small Business Administration (SBA) of over $850,000 in emergency pandemic funding that was made available to small business owners through the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program.

DUI conviction overturned due to unauthorized blood draw

MONROE COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU) — Authorities have charged a woman after they say she faked a cancer diagnosis to get nearly 8,300 oxycodone pills from providers in three counties.

Attorney General Dave Sunday stated that Brandi Leigh Bachman has been charged with fraudulently obtaining nearly 8,300 oxycodone pills from 19 different providers while claiming she had terminal cancer.

Between 2021 and 2024, Bachman, 40, told providers in Monroe, Lehigh, and Carbon counties that she had a malignant melanoma and it metastasized to her lungs, the release states.

LUZERNE COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU) — A man accused of murdering a woman, then burning her body on the side of the road, is in court Friday.

55-year-old Terence Ray from Hazleton is in Luzerne County Court after being accused of murdering 39-year-old Jessica Lockwood in April.

Prosecutors say Ray killed Lockwood in his Muir Avenue home, then burned her body along Club 40 Road near Hazleton. The coroner says Lockwood died from blunt force trauma and a gunshot wound.

Missing Moosic man found dead in Luzerne County

BUCKHORN — AYR Wellness, the marijuana dispensary here, has closed.
The company...

WILLIAMSPORT -- Ex-Conyngham Township secretary and treasurer Linda Tarlecki pleaded guilty Thursday to felonies...

DANVILLE -- Construction crews were putting the finishing touches on Geisinger's new Behavioral Health Center Thursday...

LIME RIDGE -- Post's pet food operation here plans to shut down its wet food line, which will put the jobs of 160...

NESCOPECK -- An abandoned house along Zenith Road burned to the ground early Thursday, the fire chief said.
Nescopeck...

MIFFLINBURG — The state Department of Environmental Protection reported that more mosquitoes in Mifflinburg have been detected with West Nile virus.