Free Republic

When Hillary Clinton was on the campaign trail in 2008 and spoke at Scranton High School, the line to get tickets a few days before her appearance stretched about 1,000 people long. Monday's line to grab the available free tickets to President Barack Obama's speech Wednesday was noticeably shorter — about 225 people were waiting when the doors opened for the distribution. "It's a little disappointing to see that," said Cathy Kneeland, 64, of Scranton, who showed up more than three hours early to stand in line and found herself second. "You would think more people would want to see...

A day of action to stand in solidarity Occupy Scranton turns four days old with no intentions of stopping as demonstration turns into full time occupation on Linden Street in Scranton.Members of the Occupy Wall Street- Scranton, PA, started out on Saturday Oct. 15 at noon with a two-day event to help contribute to the Occupy Wall Street day of action and day of solidarity. Over the weekend of marches, speeches, music and over night sleeping happened on the Linden Street side of the Lackawanna Court House. At the end of Sunday’s event the body of Occupy Scranton had a...

(edit) Authorities say 27-year-old Karin Mackaliunas was detained last weekend following a crash. Scranton police say they found three bags of heroin in her jacket and after being taken to the police station she told investigators she had more hidden in her vagina.A doctor performed a search and recovered 54 bags of heroin, 31 empty bags used to package heroin, prescription pills and $51.22. (edit)

Tuesday October 12, 2010 Obamacare 'Absolutely' Played Role in Catholic Hospital Sale: Scranton CEO Catholic Health Association scrambles to defend Obamacare By Kathleen GilbertSCRANTON, Pennsylvania, October 12, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A potentially explosive scandal has arisen after it became public that the sale of several Catholic hospitals in Pennsylvania was due in part to increased burdens imposed by the federal health reform legislation, according to the hospitals' director. However, that message was quickly combated by the Catholic Health Association (CHA), an organization infamous for its role in helping pass the bill despite U.S. bishops' opposition, which attempted to dismiss the...

A mushrooming political battle over ObamaCare involving the White House, two incumbent Pennsylvania congressmen, three Catholic hospitals and a nun has just exploded in, of all places, Scranton, Pennsylvania. Charges from the Scranton medical community of intimidation by the Obama White House and its allies are filling the air. All of this just as Vice President Joe Biden arrives in Scranton today to raise money for one of the participants.

Can you say "October Surprise"? A mushrooming political battle over ObamaCare involving the White House, two incumbent Pennsylvania congressmen, three Catholic hospitals and a nun has just exploded in, of all places, Scranton, Pennsylvania. Charges from the Scranton medical community of intimidation by the Obama White House and its allies are filling the air. All of this just as Vice President Joe Biden arrives in Scranton today to raise money for one of the participants. There are two issues at the core of the controversy. 1. ObamaCare and the sale of three Scranton-area Catholic hospitals. 2. The re-election prospects of...

Can you say "October Surprise"? A mushrooming political battle over ObamaCare involving the White House, two incumbent Pennsylvania congressmen, three Catholic hospitals and a nun has just exploded in, of all places, Scranton, Pennsylvania. Charges from the Scranton medical community of intimidation by the Obama White House and its allies are filling the air. All of this just as Vice President Joe Biden arrives in Scranton today to raise money for one of the participants. There are two issues at the core of the controversy. 1. ObamaCare and the sale of three Scranton-area Catholic hospitals. 2. The re-election prospects of...

A golden container and the hosts for Holy Communion inside it were stolen during an overnight break-in Tuesday at St. Rose of Lima Church in Carbondale. Called the ciborium, it was the only thing taken. The theft rendered the building desecrated under Catholicism, in which practitioners believe the hosts change into the body of Jesus Christ. On Wednesday afternoon, Bishop Joseph C. Bambera led a ritual ceremony and celebrated Mass to rededicate and bless St. Rose. Monsignor David L. Tressler, the church's pastor, described the Catholic community as stunned and hurt. There is a "real sense of violation," and it...

Irene Bambera, mother of Bishop Joseph Bambera, greets her son following his ordination and installation as the 10th bishop of Scranton at St. Peter's Cathedral in Scranton on Monday. SCRANTON — For eight months, the 320,000-plus Catholics of the Diocese of Scranton didn't have a local leader. For two months, they knew who that leader would be.Monday, they finally got to greet him.Joseph C. Bambera became the 10th bishop of the 142-year-old Diocese of Scranton — which includes Monroe and Pike counties — at an ordination and installation Mass at St. Peter's Cathedral in Scranton.Flanked by about two dozen current...

Greetings from the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport where Vice President Joseph Biden is about to speak. This is one of the smallest crowds I’ve ever seen for someone of his stature. Only about 200 people in a half-filled hangar, most of them local politicians or the politically active or just volunteers for U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter’s re-election campaign. His opposition is actually here, too. Veterans who back Rep. Joe Sestak hosted a news conference outside the hangar, criticizing Mr. Specter for running a television commercial that basically says the congressman was fired from his last major naval post. Bill Walsh, 57,...

SCRANTON, Pennsylvania, March 15, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) -- The Scranton Diocese has banned well-known anti-war protestor Cindy Sheehan from speaking at a diocesan church hall, citing her opposition to Church teaching on life and marriage. Sheehan told LifeSiteNews.com (LSN) that she considers the diocese's action to be "against the teachings of the Prince of Peace." Cindy Sheehan, mother of the deceased Specialist Casey Sheehan, has been a prominent anti-war activist since she camped outside President Bush's ranch in August of 2005.  She had been scheduled to speak at St. John the Evangelist Church hall in Scranton on April 9. According to a statement...

Bishop-elect Joseph Bambera Vatican City, Feb 23, 2010 / 11:59 am (CNA).- Pope Benedict appointed a replacement today for the diocese left vacant by the unexpected resignation of Bishop Joseph Martino last August. Msgr. Joseph C. Bambera was chosen by the Holy Father to lead the Diocese of Scranton, Pennsylvania as its 10th bishop.The bishop-elect is currently the pastor of St. Thomas Aquinas parish at Archbald and of St. Mary of Czestochowa parish at Eynon. With the Diocese of Scranton vacant, Msgr. Bambera served as a delegate to Cardinal Justin Rigali of Philidelpia and helped run the daily operations...

A South Scranton man was arrested Thursday after allegedly dousing a woman with lighter fluid, setting her on fire during an argument, and leaving her critically burned, city police said. Randy Barr, 44, told investigators he was angry at Marianne Krug for talking down to him and threatening to poison his dog prior to the early-morning incident in an apartment at 632 Moosic St., police said. Ms. Krug, 44, was taken to Community Medical Center and then airlifted to the Lehigh Valley Hospital burn center in Allentown, where she was listed in critical condition Thursday evening, a hospital spokeswoman said....

The $100 million was too good to be true. On Sunday, The New York Times reported Scranton's Commonwealth Medical College would likely be the recipient of a $100 million earmark in the Senate health care bill. When contacted by a New York Times reporter, Robert D'Alessandri, M.D., the school's dean and president, said such a windfall was news to him. Dr. D'Alessandri told the reporter he doubted the money was for the state's newest medical school - but anything was possible. On Monday, The Associated Press ended the speculation, reporting that the money had been put in the bill at...

SCRANTON, Pa. (AP) - A northeastern Pennsylvania restaurant co-owned by a state legislator has made just one partial payment in the last three years on a decade-old state loan. State Rep. Ken Smith is the co-owner of Smith's Restaurant in Scranton. Records show the business has not a made a full monthly payment on the loan since July 2006. That's two months after Smith won the Democratic nomination in the 112th District. Smith says the restaurant is a victim of the economic downturn. The $125,000 loan at 5 percent interest was made in 1998. The last partial payment was $1,000...

I spent an hour in an alternate reality on Thursday. In this grim place of long shadows and short tempers, paranoia is the coin of the realm. Fear trumps fact. Anger is virtue. Grievance is universal. Rage is a commodity. Dissent is throatily endorsed, so long as it conforms to majority opinion. The Mob rules here, fella. In this alternate reality, history is malleable. If the record doesn't match the Mob's memory or support its agenda, it must be hammered into shape. Nothing is what it seems, anyway, except of course those things that really are what they seem. In...

I spent an hour in an alternate reality on Thursday. In this grim place of long shadows and short tempers, paranoia is the coin of the realm. Fear trumps fact. Anger is virtue. Grievance is universal. Rage is a commodity. Dissent is throatily endorsed, so long as it conforms to majority opinion. The Mob rules here, fella. In this alternate reality, history is malleable. If the record doesn't match the Mob's memory or support its agenda, it must be hammered into shape. Nothing is what it seems, anyway, except of course those things that really are what they seem. In...

Attracted by a national bus tour organized by conservative groups, about 500 people on Courthouse Square raged Thursday against President Barack Obama, cheering wildly as speakers accused the president of leading the nation into socialism. The day after Mr. Obama's congressional address on health care reform, the 34-city Tea Party Express rolled into the city where Vice President Joseph Biden once lived, aiming to unravel Mr. Obama's plans for health care reform and much of the rest of his agenda. The tour, accompanied by a CNN bus and national reporters and scheduled to end with a large rally Saturday in...

As he considers a run for governor next year, Mayor Chris Doherty says he supports a woman's right to choose an abortion. Mr. Doherty acknowledged his previously undeclared position when a Times-Tribune reporter asked, following a tip that the mayor was expressing his support for abortion rights to Democrats he met with across the state. "I just believe it's a woman's right to choose," Mr. Doherty said. "It's a private matter what they want to do with their lives, and I don't think government or anybody else should interfere with that." Mr. Doherty said he favors reducing the number of...

"The battle for orthodoxy is literally ferocious in today's Church, and it will be the dividing point between the sheep and the goats." FRONT ROYAL, Virginia, September 4, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Human Life International president Rev. Tom Euteneuer has fired back at Politics Daily writer David Gibson for his column disparaging the pro-life leadership of Scranton's former bishop, Joseph Martino, following his retirement earlier this week.  Euteneuer said that Martino's insistence upon fidelity to the teachings of the Catholic Church, and his subsequent early retirement, symbolized if anything that "the battle for orthodoxy is literally ferocious in today's Church, and it will...