First Posted: 9/15/2014
Here’s a bit of news you might have missed last week. For the full stories and to find out more information, visit timesleader.com
Hazelton man charged with fatal stabbing of Assistant DA’s brother
• Hazelton police and the state Office of Attorney General have charged Amir Edwards, 22, with the fatal stabbing of 27-year-old Zachary Richards. Richards was the brother of Luzerne County Assistant District Attorney Justin Richards. Edwards is charged with an open count of criminal homicide. Edwards is also facing charges of aggravated assault, robbery, criminal conspiracy, theft and simple assault for attacking a clerk at the Tresckow Superfood store on South Walnut Street, Tresckow, Carbon County.
Wilkes-Barre Police respond to several 911 calls
• A man was found stabbed inside a Chevrolet Avalanche early Friday morning. According to Luzerne County Police, the man’s wife called and reported the stabbing.
While police were repsonding to the stabbing, officers received another 911 call for an SUV that had crashed into a levee concrete wall near West River Street. Police said there was an unresponsive man in the driver’s seat whose T-shirt was soaked in blood. He was transported to Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center for non-life threatening injuries.
Former deputy sherrif sentenced on theft charge
• A former Luzerne County deputy sheriff who admitted to taking $375 from a prisoner transport fund for personal use was sentenced to the county’s accelerated rehabilitation disposition program. Donald Lasoski, 35, of Wilkes-Barre was accused by county detectives of removing $375 from the fund that was kept in a safe inside the sheriff’s office in 2013. Lasoski, who resigned amid the allegations in September, repaid the money prior to being charged.
Alinsky trial set, charged with killer her boyfriend.
• Jessica Alinsky’s trial for killing her boyfriend Matthew Gailie, 34, will begin Oct. 6. Her domestic abuse allegations will be allowed for prosecutors during the trial. Alinsky, 30, of Shenandoah, was charged with criminal homicide and tampering with evidence on July 31, 2013, less than a day after a coroner’s inquest found her responsible for Gailie’s death.
Alinsky maintained Gailie took his own life inside his residence on Muskegon Circle in the Eagle Rock Development, a gated resort community in Hazle Township, on Sept. 11, 2011. She allegedly told state police she was in his home on the second floor when she heard a pop and went downstairs to find Gailie on the floor.
An autopsy showed Gailie died from a single gunshot wound to the face.
Junior scores using bicycle kick
• Soccer players practice bicycle kicks for fun, and if they use it during a game it normally doesn’t amount to much.
Not on Tuesday night for Lake-Lehman’s Ed Geist.
The junior saw the perfect opportunity for a bicycle kick, and it actually found the back of the net in the Black Knights’ 6-0 victory over Wyoming Area in Wyoming Valley Conference Division II action on the black turf at Lake-Lehman.
$4 million taxiway expansion set for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport
• U.S. Department of Transportation has awarded a $4.1 million grant to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport to support a taxiway extension at the airport. The grant will enable the airport to extend Taxiway B, a path connecting the runway with the airport’s facilities.
More angels needed
• Wilkes-Barre’s crime watch group has grown to more than 700 members, but organizers say it’s getting more and more difficult to attract new members. The Wilkes-Barre Guardian Angels chapter is down to five active members.
Both organizations are hopeful more people will get involved to help patrol the city streets and report criminal activity to police.
Olympic jacket stolen over the weekend
• Paralympic bronze medal winner Stephanie Jallen reported the jacket she received for qualifying for the USA 2014 ski team was stolen Saturday while she was shopping at the Wyoming Valley Mall.
Police said the theft occurred around 2 p.m. at the Sears store. Jallen told police that the red, white and blue team jacket and a pair of pink sneakers were in a Shoe Dept. store bag that she set down near a fitting room while she tried on clothes.
Seminary’s new building a place for arts to soar
• Wyoming Seminary’s new arts center is officially called the “Allan P. and Marian Sutherland Kirby Center for the Creative Arts,” — a couple that met at the school in the early 1900s — but students have different words to describe the two-story, 34,652-square-foot structure built at an estimated cost of $16.3 million.
Man nearly runs over cops as he texts and drives
• A 25-year-old Pittston man, who was allegedly texting while driving nearly ran over police officers on a sidewalk in Duryea last week.
Duryea Police Chief Nick Lohman said he was assisting officers from Avoca in the 300 block of Main Street just before 11 p.m. when he saw a vehicle driving towards the officers on the sidewalk.
Lohman said he alerted the officers to move out of the way, and the vehicle swerved back to driving straight. Officers noticed the driver was using a cell phone, Lohman said.
