Citizens Voice

18 hours ago | citizensvoice.com | Bob Kalinowski

DALLAS TWP. — The shuttered Offset Paperback factory site could be transformed into a major commercial hub anchored by a supermarket, convenience store with gas pumps and a drive-through restaurant, according to designs presented by the developer. Sordoni Properties LLC of Forty Fort, through a holding company called Fernbrook Commons 1 LLC, recently purchased the idle, 16-acre property for $5.5 million.

19 hours ago | citizensvoice.com | Bob Kalinowski

WILKES-BARRE — Five months after its namesake died, Walter’s Hardware announced a “retirement sale” ahead of its pending closure. Karen Letanski, who ran the store with her husband during the entirety of their 50-year marriage, said closing the business is bittersweet but the right thing to do. She’s been managing the store since her husband, Walter, died in December.

23 hours ago | citizensvoice.com | Mike Stobbe |Geoff Mulvihill

By MIKE STOBBE and GEOFF MULVIHILL, Associated PressThere were 30,000 fewer U.S. drug overdose deaths in 2024 than the year before — the largest one-year decline ever recorded. An estimated 80,000 people died from overdoses last year, according to provisional Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data released Wednesday. That’s down 27% from the 110,000 in 2023. The CDC has been collecting comparable data for 45 years.

1 day ago | citizensvoice.com | Michael P. Buffer

WILKES-BARRE — Luzerne County would not need a loan for a proposed $615,000 purchase of the historic former train station in downtown Wilkes-Barre, officials said at the county council meeting on Tuesday. The county could buy the former train station with available community development funds, Budget & Finance Division Head Mary Roselle told council.

1 day ago | citizensvoice.com | Bob Kalinowski

A Dickson City woman chipped a tooth and swallowed a piece of metal while consuming Middleswarth barbecue chips, according to a lawsuit filed last week in Lackawanna County Court against the famous snack company. Attorneys for Alicia Kandrac filed the suit against chip manufacturer Ira Middleswarth & Son, Inc. of Middleburg in Snyder County and the Gerrity’s supermarket in Luzerne, where she bought the allegedly tainted chips.