The LuLac Edition $5,049, January 2nd, 2024

 

 NEWS RECAP OF 2023

TOP 5 INTERNATIONAL STORIES

1.Hammas Invades Israel. An armed conflict between Israel and Hamas-led Palestinian militant groups[u] has been taking place chiefly in and around the Gaza Strip since 7 October 2023, with clashes also taking place in the West Bank and Israel–Lebanon border. On that day, militant groups launched a surprise attack on southern Israel from the Gaza Strip, marking the start of the most significant military escalation in the region since the Yom Kippur War in 1973.

 

2.Congress GOP holds Ukraine funding hostage. The U.S. will run out of funding for Ukraine this month if Congress does not act to pass President Joe Biden’s emergency supplemental spending request that has been stalled for weeks on Capitol Hill, a top U.S. official said Monday. The REPUBLICAN CONGRESS WENT HOME!

The Biden administration plans to announce one more package of military aid to Ukraine this month, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters on Monday. But after that, funding for Ukraine will dry up, he said.

3.U.S. interests attacked by Iran supported Pirates. Two ballistic missiles were fired from Houthi rebel-controlled Yemen toward a US warship in the Gulf of Aden, after the US Navy responded to a distress call from a commercial tanker that had been seized by armed individuals, the US military said Sunday.

The tanker, identified as the Central Park, had been carrying a cargo of phosphoric acid when its crew called for help that “they were under attack from an unknown entity,” the US Central Command said in a statement.

4.Pope Francis will give blessings to gay couples. Pope Francis has granted his formal approval allowing Catholic priests to bless same-sex couples so long as they do not appear to endorse their marriage, marking the church's most permissive decree yet on the issue of same-sex couples.

The declaration, published  in a new document titled "Fiducia Supplicans: On the Pastoral Meaning of Blessings," marks a major departure for the Vatican, which only two years ago had said God "cannot bless sin" in a controversial 2021 decision about same-sex couples. The document was approved by Pope Francis.

5.The space race heats up. One hundred and fifty years ago the advice was: “Go west.” Today the advice might be: “Go to the heavens.” Both countries and companies are making big bets on space. Seventy-seven countries have space agencies; sixteen countries can launch payloads into space. The moon has been of particular interest. Russia’s moon effort ended in disappointment in August when its lander crashed into the moon’s surface. Days later, India became the fourth country to land an unmanned vehicle on the moon, and the first to do so near the moon’s south polar region. Two weeks later, India launched a mission to study the sun. China and the United States also have ambitious moon programs, with NASA aiming to return astronauts to the moon by 2025. These and other space-related efforts are fueling concerns that geopolitical rivalries will lead to the militarization of space. The surge in interest in space has also highlighted the lack of rules governing space operations. The United States has promoted the Artemis Accords to “govern the civil exploration and use of outer space.” China and many other space-faring countries have declined to sign on. Working out rules for space is complicated by the fact that private companies such as SpaceX, Blue Origin, and Virgin Galactic play a large role in space operations. That raises questions about profit motives and national obligations. But the surge in space activity also raises questions about whether the seemingly mundane problem of space junk will complicate exploration of the heavens.

 

TOP 5 NATIONAL STORIES

1.January began with turmoil in the U.S. House of Representatives, with Kevin McCarthy requiring 15 ballots to be elected speaker.  He lasted nine months.

2.he U.S. Air Force shot down a Chinese spy balloon that had drifted across North American airspace. Officials later concluded with high certainty that the balloon never transmitted any intelligence to China.

3.On June 18, a submersible called the Titan carrying five people to view the wreckage of the Titanic lost communications with the ship that it launched from soon after it began its descent to the ocean floor. A massive search was begun in the North Atlantic, and for four days, people around the world held out hope the vessel would be found before the 96-hour supply of oxygen ran out.

Tragically, at about the hour the oxygen in the craft would have run out, the U.S. Coast Guard announced that it had found a debris field from the Titan, which authorities said had imploded about two hours after it was launched. Killed in the submersible were Stockton Rush, the American CEO of OceanGate; Paul-Henri Nargeolet, a French deep-sea explorer and Titanic expert; Hamish Harding, a British businessman; Shahzada Dawood, a Pakistani-British businessman; and Dawood’s son Suleman.

 4.Lewiston, Maine shooting spree ends with 18 dead  On the evening of Oct. 25, Robert Card, a military reservist who had a history of mental health issues, walked into the Just-In-Time Bowling Alley in the small town of Lewiston, Maine, and began shooting. He killed seven people, including a 14-year-old boy there for a youth bowling league event.

Card, 40, then left the bowling alley and drove 4 miles to Schemengees Bar & Grille which was hosting an event for members of the deaf community. He entered that building and, again, began firing. Eight people were shot dead there. Three others died on their way to the hospital. In a matter of 12 minutes, Card had shot and killed 18 people and wounded another 13. Following a 48-hour manhunt, authorities found Card in a tractor-trailer, dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

5. Trump indicted  4 times. In 2023, in four courtrooms across the country, former President Donald Trump faced criminal indictments.

During a five-month span, Trump was indicted in Washington, D.C., on four felony counts related to efforts to overturn the 2020 election; indicted on 13 felony counts in Georgia for alleged election interference; indicted on 34 felony counts in New York in connection with hush money payments to a porn star; and indicted on 40 felony counts in Florida for hindering the government’s efforts to retrieve classified documents and for possession of those documents.

 

TOP 5 STATE STORIES

1.Josh Shapiro takes office.

Democrat Josh Shapiro took the oath of office Tuesday to become the 48th governor of Pennsylvania, placing his hand on a stack of three Jewish Bibles at an inaugural ceremony outside the state Capitol to cap his blowout win in November's election.

Shapiro, 49, takes over in the nation's fifth-most populous state with more experience in state government than any of his recent predecessors, including six years as Pennsylvania's elected attorney general and seven as a state lawmaker.

2. Pa. House of Representatives gets a Democratic majority.

Democrats were in the driver’s seat in the House in Harrisburg. Securing a majority they nearly won in 2022, Democrats won three special elections for House seats they carried in November.

 The reasons those seats were vacant? One candidate simultaneously won election to statewide office, one won election to Congress, and one died shortly before Election Day—too late to be replaced on the ballot.

3.Fetterman takes seat, hospitalizes himself.

U.S. Sen. John Fetterman said Sunday that he thought his political career was over once he checked himself into a hospital to be treated for depression.

“When it got released where I was and where it was going, it was a big story,” Mr. Fetterman, D-Pa., said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “And so, I had assumed that that would be the end of my career. And I don't know what kind of impact that would have on my family or anything, so I really didn't know what would happen at that point.” Mr. Fetterman, speaking on a special edition of the iconic Sunday program that this week tackled the single topic of mental health, said he was willing to take that risk.

 

4.  McClinton becomes first black female speaker.

Democrat Joanna McClinton was elected the first female speaker of the Pennsylvania House on Tuesday after Mark Rozzi stepped down after two tumultuous months presiding over the lower chamber. McClinton was supported by all 102 Democrats in the chamber and no Republicans.

5.Pa Presidential primary train pulls away from the Keystone state ONCE AGAIN. 

 Pennsylvania’s House of Representatives on Wednesday passed another bill to give an earlier date for its 2024 presidential primary, an effort that has become drawn out and politically charged in a battleground state still weathering former President Donald Trump’s baseless claims about a stolen 2020 election.

 The bill would move up the date by one week, from April 23 to April 16, and passed with a slim margin of 104-99. However, it faces an uncertain future.

The state Senate’s Republican majority has insisted that the date be moved up by five weeks to March 19, and Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman, R-Indiana, reiterated that Wednesday, calling the House bill “too little, too late.”

 

 

TOP 5 LOCAL STORIES

1.Rail Service Coming to NEPA.

federal and local lawmakers held a news conference  to confirm the federal funding they needed to make this project a reality. With more than $80 million in federal money, the Amtrak service would be restored in Scranton, something that's been talked about for nearly 40 years.

2.Mayor Brown brings Guess Who and rock to Wilkes Barre. 

 

Over 5,000 people gathered on Public Square for the city’s free The Guess Who concert on Saturday evening.

Featuring an opening performance from local, blues-injected, rock n’ roll trio, Dustin Douglas and the Electric Gentlemen and plenty of local food trucks, the event marked just one more opportunity for the community to gather before the summer slips away.

The Guess Who, now composed of Garry Peterson, Derek Sharp, Michael Devin, Leonard Shaw and Michael Staertow, produced chart topping hits in the late ’60s and early ’70s with an impressive catalogue of songs including “American Woman,” “These Eyes,” and “No Time.”

The Spin Doctors previously played in the downtown in May. 

3. Crocomo returns as County Manager. 

   Meet the new Luzerne County Manager Romilda Crocamo. She's an attorney and no stranger to the area.

"I care deeply about Luzerne County, it's my home, the people I care about live here," said Crocamo.

She's also no stranger to the job.

Crocamo spent ten months as Luzerne County's acting county manager after David Pedri resigned about two years ago.

4. Dems win back county council seats.

Luzerne County voters selected four Democrats and two Republicans for county council Tuesday, according to unofficial general election results, averting a concern among some that there would be no Democratic representation on the 11-member body when lone Democratic Councilman Tim McGinley left the end lof '23.

The four Democrats elected Tuesday: Patty Krushnowski, Jimmy Sabatino, Joanna Bryn Smith and Brittany Stephenson. The Republican winners: incumbent LeeAnn McDermott and Harry Haas, who previously served on council.

 5. Two new Lackawanna County Commissioners Matt McGoin and Bill  Gaughan become the new Dem majority. 

After claiming victory in November, Bill Gaughan and Matt McGloin became the new generation of Demovcrats to take lover county government in The Lac. Both candidates told us they ran for their kid’s futures.

 

 

TOP 5 SPORTS STORIES

1.CHIEFS WIN SUPERBOWL.

2.2. NUGGETS WIN NBA CROWN.

3.PHILLIES LOSE WORLD SERIES BUT COME CLOSE. 

4.HOCKEY CHAMPS VEGAS GOLDEN KNIGHTS

5.COLLEGE FOOTBALL AND THE PORTAL 

 

 

 

TOP 5 LOCAL MEDIA STORIES

1.Where is John Hickey? 

People are still wondering where WNEP TV weatherman John Hickey went. He hasn't been on the air since October.

2.WVIA FM celebrates 50 years. 

WVIA FM celebrated 50 years on the air in April. 

3.Paula Deignan   retires, Hughes steps in. 

Long time broadcaster Paula Deignan retired from WILK this year. She has been replaced by broadcast veteran Brian Hughes. 

4.LCCC Radio station rocks at Christmas. 

When every commercial radio station was playing the same Christmas music over and over, the Luzerne County Community College Radio station  WSFX FM was playing a unique blend of Christmas as tunes picked by the students. It was very refreshing.

5.WARM reunion held at JCC. 

A 65th anniversary celebration of the WARM Radio station was conducted at the Jewish Community Center on Jukly 13th of 2023.