Sunday, May 20, 2012
The Safety 1st toilet and cabinet locks were sold at Bed, Bath and Beyond, Burlington Coat Factory, Home Depot, Target and Walmart.
Hundreds of thousands of child safety locks are being recalled because they can fail, exposing children to dangerous situations. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and Health Canada, in cooperation with Dorel Juvenile Group, Thursday announced a voluntary recall of about 183,000 toilet locks and 685,000 cabinet locks. Young children can unexpectedly disengage the toilet locks and gain access to water in the toilet, posing the risk of drowning, according to the CPSC, and the cabinet locks are being recalled because young children can disengage the lock, posing the risk of injury from dangerous or unsafe items stored in the cabinet. Have you had issues with these locks or others not working? Tell us in the comments below. Consumers …
Saturday, May 19, 2012
Infants and toddlers are at risk of serious injury or death in the Tots in Mind tents. The product is being recalled.
- GOVERNMENT
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Saturday, May 19
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is recalling crib tents and play yard tents made by Tots in Mind Inc. According to CPSC, infants and toddlers are at risk of serious injury or death by strangulation and entrapment caused by the products. The recalled products were sold at numerous retail stores including Walmart for between $60 and $85. Tots in Mind recalled the play yard tents in July 2010 and offered a repair kit that is no longer available. The company is no longer in business and has stopped all sales. Parents and caregivers are urged to stop using the crib tents and play yard tents immediately and not to try to repair these products. CPSC is aware of 27 tent failures, including one fatality and one serious injury …
40.715072
-75.285525
Walmart
3722 Easton Nazareth Hwy, Easton, PA
/articles/crib-tents-sold-at-bed-bath-and-beyond-recalled-f2160f07
1563091
/locations/7059306
Friday, May 18, 2012
A month after starting job, Forks Township Manager John Cornell has emergency triple bypass surgery.
A little more than a month after starting his new job, Forks Township Manager John Cornell is out of action after undergoing an emergency triple bypass operation, township officials said. Board of Supervisors Chairman Erik Chuss announced at Thursday's meeting that Cornell was "a little bit under the weather" and wasn't attending. "He's out for a little while," Chuss said. "He did not quit, leave or escape. He should be back soon." When asked before the meeting why Cornell has been missing from recent municipal functions, Supervisor Bob Egolf said that Cornell had undergone an emergency triple bypass over two weeks ago. "He's all right," said Egolf, who stated he was surprised since Cornell had a clean bill of health when he was examined …
40.714256
-75.219243
Forks Township
1606 Sullivan Trl, Easton, PA
/articles/forks-township-manager-has-emergency-heart-bypass
1663718
/locations/7059310
Forks Township employees will have to pay federal taxes for free use of the community center's fitness facility.
As a new perk for Forks Township employees, supervisors agreed to let them use the community center's fitness area for free this year. Township resident Ed Reagan, however, questioned if that benefit was a conflict of interest. "It's a use that's unethical," Reagan stated at a recent board meeting. "That's a conflict of interest. If you want to give it to employees for free, then you have to give it to residents too. We are paying our fair price. We don't want to subsidize them." Township Solicitor Karl Kline said at Thursday night's Board of Supervisors meeting though there's no conflict of interest, the use of the fitness facility does constitute income under federal guidelines. That means Forks employees will have to pay taxes on the …
40.71524
-75.21995
Forks Township Community Center
1604 Sullivan Trl, Easton, PA
/articles/free-ride-over-for-forks-township-employees-on-fitness-facility-use
1664566
/locations/7049822
Years in the making, the old, broken-down bridge that connects Main Street in Tatamy with Uhler Road in Forks Township is finally being demolished.
The old, broken-down bridge in Tatamy is finally coming down. Construction workers Wednesday afternoon sliced through the steel bridge supports with a torch, which then allowed the crane operator to lift bridge beams off their concrete support pillars. The beams were then gently placed on the closed roadway leading to the bridge. “It’s coming down fast," Tatamy Mayor Luke Duignam said about the bridge that spans the Bushkill Creek. "Let’s hope [the new bridge] goes up just as fast.” The bridge, which connects Main Street in Tatamy with Uhler Road in Forks Township, was closed last year when a hole in the road deck expanded, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation reported. Sean Brown, a representative for PennDOT, wouldn’t give an …
40.74301
-75.24752
Uhler Rd & Bushkill Dr, Easton, PA
/articles/tatamy-bridge-demolition-finally-begins-3925797a
/locations/7039307
Grandview Drive to get two 25 mph speed limit signs after Board of Supervisors approves resident's request.
The Palmer Township Board of Supervisors has signed off on a resident's request for speed limit signs on Grandview Drive. A resident of Wayne Street had made a request asking township officials to consider installing speed limit signs for Grandview Drive where it tees off from Freemansburg Avenue. The supervisors approved the motion for two signs at the board's meeting Monday night after little discussion. The speed limit will be 25 mph. The township's traffic safety committee recommended to supervisors that the two, 25 mph speed limit signs be considered after reviewing information about traffic in the area. In an April 30 traffic safety committee memo regarding the request, it stated that Grandview Drive is designated as a collector …
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Forks Township officials seeking pre-approval of burn ban ordinance from DEP before it goes before Board of Supervisors for vote.
After more than a month of having a ban on burning, the Forks Township Board of Supervisors is mulling whether to make it permanent. "I am very supportive of a township-wide burning ban," Supervisor Bob Egolf said. "Forks offers complete garbage and recycling pickups and brush recycling at our public works complex." Forks Township does allow homeowners to have open fires on their properties; however, supervisors are considering a repeal of the township's burn ordinance so that open burning would be illegal at all times. "From what I have learned, open burning is not only dangerous and also detrimental to our environment -- the air we breathe," Egolf continued. "If we adopt a burning ban, I believe our residents will comply." Township …
40.714256
-75.219243
Forks Township
1606 Sullivan Trl, Easton, PA
/articles/forks-township-mulls-permanent-burn-ban
1663718
/locations/7038804
A New York Times story on graduates weighed down with college debt makes the case for last week’s column.
Once again, The New York Times is playing catch-up with Patch.com. On Sunday, The Times had a front-page story about the growing burdens of college loans, three days after my column ran on the same subject. The paper did a wee bit more legwork for their gazillion-word story – my research consisted mainly of talking to a friend at the deli counter at the Giant supermarket – so I’ll leave the term “copycat” out of this discussion. The lead of The Times story was about a young Ohio college graduate who owes $120,000 in loans and is working two jobs to pay the $900-a-month bill. Her mother is taking out life insurance on her because if anything happens to her daughter, she couldn’t pay the loans for which she co-signed. A decade ago, 58 …
Township supervisors across Pennsylvania are fighting unfunded mandates from Harrisburg and Washington.
- GOVERNMENT
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Thursday, May 17
Pennsylvania’s township officials are taking aim at unfunded mandates, which they say waste millions in tax dollars every year. Close to 4,000 local leaders attended the Pennsylvania State Association of Township Supervisors’ 90th Annual Educational Conference last week in Hershey, where they launched a campaign to eliminate the mandates that Harrisburg and Washington pass on to local governments without accompanying dollars. Township officials wore green stickers, which featured a rifle’s crosshairs over the words “Unfunded Mandates” throughout the conference. In particular, PSATS members have set their sights on the state’s outdated legal advertising requirements — studies say reforming these would save municipalities $23 million a year…
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Northampton County hosts electronics recycling event Saturday.
- GOVERNMENT
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Wednesday, May 16
Do you have an old VCR in your attic? A computer monitor that's seen better days? Don't just toss them away, recycle them. On Saturday, Northampton County's Department of Community and Economic Development will hold an electronic recycling event from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Easton Area High School. Whether it's an old fax machine, printer, phone or answering machine, residents can drop them off free of charge. The only cost is for getting rid of batteries (75 cents a pound) or fluorescent lamps (25 cents each). For more information, contact Tom Dittmar, the county's environmental conservation coordinator, at tdittmar@northamptoncounty.org.
40.68139
-75.25051
Easton Area High School
2601 William Penn Hwy, Easton, PA
/articles/get-rid-of-your-old-electronics-this-weekend-31d5b1ca
1563098
/locations/7031003
John
8:07 am on Sunday, May 20, 2012
The issue here is about 2 things; Greed on the part of colleges, and fiscal incompetence on the parent/student. Colleges are no better than the real estate brokers 5 years ago, enticing people into buying a product they can I'll afford. Not even as bad as a car salesman selling ou a car you cannot afford, or a real estate agent selling you a home you cannot afford. The only thing they do is lock … more ›