Free Republic

ELYSBURG - A Bloomsburg University student from York was killed Friday when he and another student fell down an icy cliff in Montour County. Greg Anstine was pronounced dead at the scene at 5:22 p.m. from multiple blunt force injuries, Coroner Scott Lynn said Saturday. Injured was another Bloomsburg student, Kyra Defstefano, who was admitted to Geisinger Medical Center near Danville. She has been discharged, a spokesperson said. She fell about 50 feet and was stranded part way down the cliff in Mayberry Twp. between Elysburg and the North Branch of the Susquehanna River, The News-Item in Shamokin reported. Emergency...

Photos of a dunk tank posted to the Bloomsburg Fair’s Facebook page have drawn criticism for transphobia, even after they have been removed. The dunk tank, according to the initial post made by the fair, was part of an effort to raise money for fire companies in the Bloomsburg area. The post included photos of someone in a dunk tank wearing a dress and wig, meant to resemble Dr. Rachel Levine, secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Health. “Dr. Levine? Thank you. You were a hit and raised a lot of money for the local fire companies,” the post read....

A Democratic mayor from Pennsylvania has resigned nearly a month after he was arrested for allegedly soliciting a woman for sex — a woman who turned out to be a police informant. Bloomsburg Mayor Eric Bower, 36, initially claimed the accusations were made up because of his “political position.” He was arrested on April 20 after investigators said he showed up at a Hampton Inn with condoms and $200 in cash. According to the attorney general’s office, the woman, whom Bower solicited for sex that day, was “a Pennsylvania State Police confidential informant.”

BLOOMSBURG — Leaders in Bloomsburg have decided against going ahead with plans for a controversial law at a meeting Monday night. With a narrow vote of four to three, Bloomsburg town officials voted not to draft an ordinance that would make it illegal for businesses to discriminate against people based on sexual orientation. Council met with a packed room and heard hours of input on whether the town needed such an ordinance. “Lacks constitutional weight both federally and at a state level, being carried along more by emotion than reason,” said one speaker who opposed the ordinance. “Many members of...

In the wake of a media firestorm raging against the Christian owners of a bridal shop who refused to supply wedding dresses for lesbian brides, the town of Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania is debating a possible law on whether shop owners have a right to refuse business to customers. Breitbart News reported last month that when Victoria and Thomas Miller, owners of the W.W. Bridal Boutique in Bloomsburg refused to provide wedding dresses to lesbian brides because of their religious beliefs, they were bullied on social media and their website had been hacked to suggest their store had closed under pressure from...

A Pennsylvania Christian bridal shop owner who refused to provide wedding gowns to a lesbian couple because of her religious beliefs was bullied by the lesbians on Facebook, where their post about the shop owner’s refusal to serve them went viral. The New York Daily News reports the lesbians, who tried to schedule an appointment at W.W. Bridal Boutique in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania, were “unidentified,” but said the owner – who was identified as Victoria Miller – told them she “[does] not service same-sex couples.” “We feel we have to answer to God for what we do,” Miller told The Press...

The Bloomsburg Fair has decided to reverse their policy of banning guns at the event following enormous feedback and threats of boycott.Facebook pages calling attention to the ban and calling for a boycott had attracted thousands of fans in a matter of days.According to NewsItem.com, President Paul E. Reichart said the board will not be checking for or banning lawfully concealed weapons.“While we cannot prevent those who want to commit unlawful acts, we recognize those who are law abiding citizens and will continue to handle it on a case-by-case basis,” he said. “As far as we’re concerned, it’s a dead...

Drawing comparisons to Hitler, Mao and the Committee on Public Information, Dr. Kurt Smith of Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania attacked the Pennsylvania state committee on Academic Freedom for the hearings they have been holding throughout the commonwealth. “Pennsylvania’s university professors stand accused today, investigated by this very committee, cast as leftists, Communists, and Socialists, who have conspired to secretly indoctrinate students in their leftist ideologies. Have we learned nothing over these past two millennia?” asked Smith, an assistant professor of Philosophy. Smith argued that House Resolution 177, which created the House Select Committee on Academic Freedom in Pa., did not...