A chronology of the events that made headlines in the Standard-Speaker during 2014:

January:

1: Bob "Ranger" Dolieden, a Vietnam veteran, spends his first full day in his newly remodeled and furnished home on Hemlock Street in White Haven. He had lived out of a motel room for the past two years after falling on hard times. Fellow members of the White Haven Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 6615 and other friends and volunteers raised money to secure the home and worked to renovate it for Dolieden, who suffers from medical problems associated with Agent Orange.

Fresh air provided a fresh start to the new year for more than 20 people who hiked through Nescopeck State Park. First Day walks also were held at 17 other state parks.

Hazleton General Hospital officially becomes Lehigh Valley Hospital-Hazleton as a merger between the Greater Hazleton Health Alliance and Lehigh Valley Health Network takes effect.

A late-night fire breaks out in the laundry room of a home on Main Street in Quakake, leaving a woman temporarily homeless.

The area's first baby of 2014, Jalexy Torres, is born at Lehigh Valley Hospital-Hazleton at 12:35 p.m.

2: Furloughs begin for 22 Luzerne County employees who are members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees after union members fail to approve health insurance concessions.

James Edwards resigns as president and CEO of Lehigh Valley Hospital-Hazleton.

State police serve a search warrant at Jumbo China Buffet on North Church Street in Hazle Township and say a man who waited tables at the restaurant for two or three shifts in December 2013 stole customers' credit card information and used it to make purchases totaling between $18,000 and $20,000.

A man is arrested on burglary and other charges after a fire breaks out inside a vacant double house on North Kennedy Drive in McAdoo. Borough police said Scott Branz Jr., 31, of McAdoo claimed to have started the fire in the building where the former Gene's Gray Goose bar was located.

3: Single-digit temperatures and strong winds follow a storm that dumped about 6 inches of powdery snow in the Hazleton area.

Magisterial District Judge Joseph Zola of Hazleton is sworn in for his fourth six-year term during a ceremony at the Luzerne County courthouse in Wilkes-Barre.

6: At its reorganization meeting, Hazleton City Council elects Jack Mundie president and hires the law firm of Skokoski and DeCosmo as its own legal adviser.

Local schools cancel classes as temperatures dip well below zero.

Hazleton City Council agrees to buy a hangar at Hazleton Regional Airport and lease it to Lehigh Valley Health Network, which plans to base a medical helicopter there.

Hazleton police officers raid a pawn shop at 15th and Vine streets and seize some merchandise. That shop and one on East Broad Street that was raided three days earlier will be cited for several violations of the city ordinance regarding secondhand goods stores, police Chief Frank DeAndrea said.

Suspended Gilberton police chief Mark A. Kessler sues the borough, seeking to prevent a hearing on his job status from being held later this month in Scranton.

7: A fire destroys a double house on South Ferguson Street in Shenandoah, leaving one man homeless. Firefighters battled subzero temperatures and gusty winds in trying to douse the blaze.

Hazle Township Zoning Hearing Board grants a special exception for an indoor shooting range and gun sales and repair business on Lehigh Drive after a hearing that ran for more than two hours. About a half-dozen neighboring homeowners voiced concerns for the facility jeopardizing the safety of children at the nearby West Hazleton Elementary/Middle School and adjacent ballfields.

A federal judge ruled that former state Sen. Raphael Musto is not mentally competent to withstand the rigors of a trial on public corruption charges. Judge A. Richard Caputo ordered that Musto be placed in a medical treatment facility where doctors will monitor his condition and decide whether he could regain the mental capacity to appear in court.

8: Abigail Hartz, an eighth-grade student at Freeland Elementary/Middle School, wins the 2014 Hazleton Area School District Spelling Bee.

9: The Hazleton Area School Board approves new contracts with its teachers and support staff unions that run through 2017.

A ceremony at what is now named Lehigh Valley Hospital-Hazleton celebrates the merger of the Greater Hazleton Health Alliance into Lehigh Valley Health Network.

10: An electric space heater is blamed for starting a fire that left five people homeless and heavily damaged their home in Quakake, Rush Township. An elderly woman suffered burns to her feet during the blaze.

13: A strip of ice along South Church Street in Hazleton is blamed for a crash in which a sport utility vehicle rolled onto its side. The icy patch ran from Buttonwood Street to the top of the No. 6 Hill. The driver was not injured. Firefighters put out flares to keep vehicles off the ice until the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation treated the road.

The state Superior Court upholds the life sentence given to Benjamin T. Westbrooks after he was convicted in May 2012 of first-degree murder for the slaying of Alicia Weaver in 2010.

Two men are arrested on drug charges after Hazleton police serve a search warrant at a home in the 600 block of Garfield Street.

14: Craig Budde threatens to sue Hazleton City Council after it votes 3-2 against his nomination to the city planning commission. Prior to the vote, council members asked Budde if he would continue carrying a firearm if he was appointed to the seat.

Two men are charged after state police uncover a suspected mobile methamphetamine lab operating in the parking lot of the Dorrance Township Municipal Building.

An early-morning fire that heavily damaged the scale house of Rossi Coal Co. in New Coxeville is labeled suspicious.

West Hazleton Borough Council decides that roughly 80 percent of a building proposed for a shooting range is in the borough, and notifies the owner that the plans must go through the borough's zoning office rather than Hazle Township's.

15: JCPenney announces that it will close 33 underperforming stores nationwide, including its store in the Laurel Mall, which will close May 3. Forty employees will lose their jobs.

Seven people are arrested on drug charges after police and state drug agents serve search warrants at three residences in Hazleton.

16: Hazleton's administration unveils what it called a "starting point" budget for 2014 that would eliminate a storm water fee but increase property taxes to make up for the $500,000 in revenue.

Alberto Hernandez-Torres, formerly of Hazleton, is sentenced to 27 months in federal prison for his role in a multi-state, multi-national identity theft and fraud scheme. He was one of 53 people charged in the case; all 49 who have been arrested have entered guilty pleas.

Hazleton Redevelopment Authority's board agrees to sell for $45,000 a half-double house at 654 N. Locust St. that the authority has owned since 2009 and spent $125,000 in grant money to renovate.

17: U.S. Rep. Lou Barletta presents long-overdue military medals to Joseph C. "Sarge" Heintz of Hazleton, David Sturdevant of Tunkhannock and the family of the late George W. Zeeb.

Attorneys for former Sen. Raphael Musto announce that they will appeal a judge's decision to place the ex-lawmaker in a federal treatment facility to determine if he could regain the mental capacity to stand trial on public corruption charges.

18: Joseph Ronald Boris, 60, of Shenandoah Heights is shot to death during a dispute with his neighbor, Ronald Adam Kozak, 66, who is arrested on criminal homicide and related charges.

20: Local police officers stage an emergency drill at Heights-Terrace Elementary/Middle School in Hazleton.

Terrence J. Roberts, one of nine African-American students dubbed the "Little Rock Nine" who enrolled at a whites-only high school in Little Rock, Ark., in 1957 and initially were denied entry, speaks during a Martin Luther King Jr. Day observance at Penn State Hazleton.

A Drifton man is arrested by Freeland police after he allegedly posted his own wanted photograph on Facebook and used it to mock law enforcement. Anthony J. Lescowitch Jr., 35, was wanted on charges in connection with an assault in Freeland in July 2013. Nine months earlier, while an inmate at the Luzerne County prison, he spoke to Keystone Job Corps students about the dangers of drugs and alcohol.

21: A storm leaves about 3 to 4 inches of snow behind as more frigid air moves into the region.

Conyngham Borough Council hires Lynn Falatko, former Freeland borough manager and now a councilwoman there, as borough secretary.

Freezing groundwater buckles a portion of state Route 437 between White Haven and Mountain Top, closing the road to traffic in that area.

22: Hazleton Police Chief Frank DeAndrea breaks the silence about the work of the state attorney general's street crimes unit in the city, calling it a "resounding success."

After nobody won a car or $20,000 in cash through a promotion connected to the Greater Hazleton-opoly game, the Greater Hazleton Chamber of Commerce opens the safe with a six-digit code -- 676342 -- after more than 500 people tried, unsuccessfully, with their own six-number combinations.

23: Hazleton Mayor Joseph Yannuzzi issues a memorandum stating he vetoed a tax rate ordinance that was ratified by a former council majority last December, leaving the present council with no way to fund the 2014 budget.

Hazleton Area School Board announces that it is considering removing seventh and eighth grades from the existing elementary/middle schools and will hold a special meeting to present its plan to the public.

Carbon County commissioners vote to return a $1 million grant to the federal government that was dedicated to the now-abandoned Packerton Yards business park project.

U.S. Rep. Lou Barletta, R-11, Hazleton, announces that he will seek a third term.

Shawn Luther Kelley, 35, of Hazleton is sentenced to 100 months in prison for robbing three local financial institutions over a nine-day period in April 2012.

Hazleton Area School Board votes 5-4 to appeal the Hazle Township Zoning Hearing Board's decision to grant a special exception that would allow an indoor shooting range in a building near West Hazleton Elementary/Middle School.

Two Hazleton residents are arraigned on charges that they twice sold someone 10 baggies of sugar passed off as heroin within eyesight of the Weatherly police station.

24: Local school districts delay the start of classes for a second day this week due to near-zero temperatures and subzero wind chills.

The dioceses of Allentown and Harrisburg announce that Pope Francis has named the Most Rev. Ronald W. Gainer as the 11th bishop of Harrisburg. Gainer, a native of Pottsville, has been bishop of the Diocese of Lexington, Kentucky, for 11 years.

26: A Hazleton woman dies at Lehigh Valley Hospital-Hazleton after receiving the wrong blood type during a transfusion.

27: Banks Township supervisors adopt a 2014 budget for $275,110. The supervisors also announced that a $21,000 surplus remaining from 2013 was used for $19,000 in unpaid bills that were discovered.

28: Hazleton Area School Board votes to reject a proposed restructuring of the district's elementary/middle schools after parents express their objections to the plan, which would have placed seventh- and eighth-graders in their own buildings on the Hazleton Area High School campus.

Luzerne County Council approves a settlement with elected tax collectors under which they will continue to collect county taxes at $2 per bill.

29: Hazleton Mayor Joseph Yannuzzi delivers his annual "State of the City" address at a Greater Hazleton Chamber of Commerce Red Carpet Breakfast. Among his topics was the new parking garage planned for downtown.

Law enforcement officials announce that Oscar Lozano Garcia, 36, who is charged with homicide in the death of Maria Brea in December 2012, has been apprehended in Mexico.

McAdoo police find a pit bull chained to a street sign a South Kennedy Drive and Adams Street. Callers told police the animal had been there in single-digit temperatures for about 1 1/2 hours. The dog also appeared to have been abused, and police said the owner would face charges.

30: Sen. John Yudichak visits the Hazleton Active Adult Center with a state budget message of his own, urging Gov. Tom Corbett not to play games with the Pennsylvania Lottery.

A Schuylkill County judge denies a special exception for the development of a cargo airport in East Union Township. Judge James P. Goodman ruled that Gladstone Partners failed to show it had sufficient off-street parking, proper access and a state aviation license for the airport.

31: Donna Palermo, president of the Greater Hazleton Chamber of Commerce for the past 13 years, announces that she will retire effective April 30.

One woman is charged after Tamaqua police raid a suspected methamphetamine lab on East Elm Street.

A water line break floods the basement of Empire Cleaners on East Fifth Street in Hazleton.

February

1: The body of Angela Serfass Steigerwalt, 35, of Tamaqua is found by firefighters battling a brush fire in a wooded area off Flagstaff Road in Jim Thorpe. State police termed the case a "homicide investigation."

2: Terrence Clarke, 26, of Hazleton is arrested and charged with criminal homicide in the early-morning shooting death of Garey S. Cox, 45, of Hazleton in a parking lot at 711 W. Broad St. A second man was wounded in the incident. Two state police troopers who were driving by heard gunshots and numerous people fighting, and pursued and apprehended Clarke.

Ralph Luchetta Jr., 27, of McAdoo is arrested on charges including attempted criminal homicide after police allege he stabbed his sister, Megan Luchetta, the previous evening with a pair of brass knuckles that contained a knife, after an argument between the two turned physical.

Darrell Heath, 24, of Allentown is apprehended in North Carolina while driving the stolen vehicle of homicide victim Angela Steigerwalt of Tamaqua. He was jailed on various charges.

3: A storm that wasn't supposed to be a big deal tracks farther north than expected, leaving behind about 6 inches of snow and forcing most local schools to cancel classes.

Former state senator Raphael Musto surrenders to federal custody at a medical prison in Butner, N.C., where he will undergo court-ordered evaluation and treatment to determine if he could regain the mental capacity to stand trial.

4: During a work session, McAdoo Borough Council members talk about getting tough on delinquent garbage bills.

5: Area schools are closed again after a snowstorm that ended as freezing rain and sleet dumped more than 8 inches.

Hazleton's Keith London advances to the next round of "American Idol."

Hazleton City Council cancels a special meeting that it advertised on the city's website and on the doors of City Hall rather than in a newspaper legal notice. No reason was given for the cancellation.

6: The documentary "Kids for Cash" premieres before an invitation-only audience at a movie theater in downtown Wilkes-Barre.

Hazleton Area School Board approves a four-year contract with the union that represents the district security staff. It provides wage increases of 35 cents an hour retroactive to the 2012-13 school year, 45 cents per hour in the current year and 50 cents per hour in each of the final two years.

Jamielynn Reilly, 36, of Sheppton pleads guilty to two counts of criminal solicitation to commit aggravated assault in relation to a case in which she was accused of trying to hire a man to assault two people in the village in February 2013.

Pointing to a rash of drug overdose deaths in Pennsylvania, and specifically in Carbon County, state Rep. Doyle Heffley, R-122, announces that he will propose creation of a state task force to examine opiate prescription drug proliferation and the heroin epidemic.

Six people are arrested on drug charges at a home in the 600 block of Grant Street in Hazleton after investigators purchased 150 bags of heroin in three transactions.

Keith London's run on "American Idol" ends.

7: Lehigh County law enforcement officials announce that Anthony D. Heath, 24, of Allentown will be charged with killing Angela Steigerwalt of Tamaqua on Feb. 1 and burning her body in a wooded area in Jim Thorpe.

Legislators attending a Manufacturers and Employers Association roundtable say the $50 billion shortfall in the state pension system is the biggest financial issue facing the state as talks on the 2014-15 budget begin.

9: The body of Nicholas McCabe, 23, is found along a former railroad bed in Shenandoah, and police are investigating the cause of death. An officer said hypothermia may have been a contributing factor.

An icicle about 7 feet long falls onto a natural gas meter, causing an "orange flameball," behind Januzzi's Pizza in Mountain Top. Firefighters extinguished the flames and UGI Utilities personnel repaired the meter.

10: Richard M. Matsick, 47, of Nesquehoning is charged with two counts each of homicide by vehicle, homicide by vehicle while under the influence, involuntary manslaughter and DUI, plus related charges, in connection with a crash Aug. 4, 2013 in Packer Township in which two people were killed.

With Banks Township's finances tight, township supervisors say they'll give up their salaries for the time being.

11: Hazleton City Council ratifies a 2014 budget of almost $9 million and members say they'll work with the city administration to iron out differences. Council also voted to reject accepting a surplus aircraft from the federal government to display at Hazleton Regional Airport, despite an engineer's assurances that no cost would be involved.

State Attorney General Kathleen Kane, in her budget request to the Senate and House Appropriations committees, says her mobile street crime unit's assignment in Hazleton is ending and that she'll make a decision in two or three weeks on its next destination.

12: A man with a handgun robs the Turkey Hill convenience store at Alter and 15th streets in Hazleton.

13: A nor'easter that hits in two parts dumps more than a foot of snow on the area, forcing schools to close for two more days.

The Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency approves $6.5 million in tax credits that will help the Hazleton Housing Authority and a partner, Monarch Development, build 36 apartments for senior citizens on the site of the former D.A. Harman school at North Church and First streets.

Conyngham Borough Council votes to prepare an ordinance to dissolve the borough authority.

14: A thief gets away with cigarettes and an undetermined amount of cash from Pantry Quik on West Diamond Avenue in Hazleton. No weapon was shown during the robbery, according to police.

16: A man with a knife robs an undetermined amount of cash from Family Dollar in the 700 block of West Broad Street in Hazleton.

17: Conyngham Borough Authority's board of directors votes 4-1 to hire legal counsel to fight borough council's plan to dissolve the authority and assume its assets and liabilities.

18: Hazleton police swarm a home on South Poplar Street as they searched for a man suspected of firing a gun from his vehicle at two people two days earlier.

19: Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane's street crimes unit wraps up its stay in Hazleton with about 30 arrests over a two-day period. All told, what has been called Operation Rising Star resulted in 150 arrests and netted 35,000 packets of heroin with a value of more than $100,000.

A propane tank fire at Koch's Turkey Farm in Walker Township shoots flames 40 feet into the air. Damage was confined to the tank.

Chevonne M. Martinson, 29, of Shenandoah pleads guilty to charges that she burned down the home in which she lived in January 2013. She was sentenced to time served plus probation. The fire destroyed Martinson's home and damaged four others.

Hazleton Mayor Joseph Yannuzzi denies a request from Dominican House President Victor Perez to fly the flag of the Dominican Republic outside City Hall on Feb. 27 in celebration of the country's founding. Yannuzzi cited a 119-year-old state law that he said prohibits flying anything other than the U.S. flag from a public building.

Makenna Copeland, 15, of Schuylkill Haven is named 2014 Schuylkill County Junior Idol at the conclusion of a four-week competition at the Schuylkill Mall near Frackville.

20: The weight of snow and ice causes the roof of a garage on South Lee Court in Hazleton to collapse.

Gilberton and its suspended police chief, Mark Kessler, reach a settlement that will pay Kessler $30,000 and consider him "voluntarily retired."

21: New management at the Eagle Rock Equestrian Center reiterates that 13 horses owned by its former manager are up for sale or adoption and will not be euthanized.

22: Two people are shot after a domestic dispute inside a home in the 400 block of West Patterson Street in Lansford.

23: A cigarette that ignited a mattress is blamed for a fire that gutted a second-floor apartment at Majestic House Apartments in Tamaqua. A man who was sleeping on the mattress sustained minor injuries.

A man with a knife robs Pantry Quik on West Diamond Avenue in Hazleton.

24: A fire destroys Hazleton Sports Academy Fusion inside the former St. John's Byzantine Catholic School on North Wyoming Street in Hazleton.

Former Gilberton police chief Mark Kessler reveals that he has signed a contract with Relativity TV in Hollywood to develop a reality television program.

Luzerne County Council calls off an executive session that had been scheduled to discuss proposed changes to the county's ethics code. Chairman Rick Morelli said he instead would appoint an ad hoc committee to allow a public forum on the issue.

Conyngham Borough Authority's board hires legal counsel to oppose the "hostile takeover" of the authority by borough council, saying it is not in the best interest of ratepayers and residents.

25: Hazleton City Council fails to override Mayor Joseph Yannuzzi's veto of a budget it approved on Feb. 11, and neither side is willing to budget on competing budgets they want to use for 2014. "You can take me to court," Yannuzzi told council during its meeting.

A driver suffers a medical emergency, setting off a crash that damaged his vehicle and five others in the parking lot of the Church Hill Mall in Hazle Township.

Hazleton City Council President Jack Mundie offers to place the flag of the Dominican Republic in City Hall council chambers, next to the flags of Poland and Italy that represent Hazleton's sister cities.

Two simultaneous vehicle fires a block apart on East First Street in Hazleton are termed suspicious.

Dominican House of Hazleton files a complaint with the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission regarding Mayor Joseph Yannuzzi's decision to deny the group's request to fly the Dominican Republic flag outside City Hall on Feb. 27, the anniversary of the nation's independence. The complaint alleges "discriminatory service based on national origin."

26: Hazleton Area School Board member Tony Bonomo announces that he will run for the 119th District seat in the House of Representatives that now includes portions of the Hazleton area.

An electrical fire causes minimal to moderate damage to a vacant duplex on East Kline Avenue in Lansford.

Hazleton Shaft Corp. receives a $250,000 state grant to build a rail spur to a new coal-drying facility along Stockton Road in Hazle Township that will create 15 to 20 new jobs.

A tractor-trailer crahses into several vehicles in Tamaqua after the driver suffers a medical emergency.

A man with a knife robs a cab driver in Hazleton, taking an undetermined amount of money and the driver's cellphone after forcing her to drive for several blocks.

27: "Legal friends" of Dominican House of Hazleton forwarded information about the controversy over flying the Dominican Republic flag outside City Hall to the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission, according to Victor Perez, the organization's president.

Hazleton Area School Board appoints teachers Kevin Schadder and Laura Gavio-Barletta as vice principals to fill two vacancies.

Snow and ice cause the roof of a second-story porch to collapse on an apartment building at 242-248 S. Kennedy Drive in McAdoo.

Gilberton Borough Council votes to begin the process to abolish the borough's police department.

28: Dale Garrison of Berwick visits the Hazleton Health and Wellness Center to thank those who saved his life when he suffered a near-fatal heart attack on Dec. 4, 2012.

A group of Latino residents holds a press conference to say Victor Perez was not speaking for their community when he asked that the city of Hazleton allow the Dominican Republic flag to be flown at City Hall to commemorate the 107th anniversary of Dominican independence.

March

3: The U.S. Supreme Court decides not to hear Hazleton's appeal that its Illegal Immigration Relief Act is unconstitutional. The high court also denied former Luzerne County judge Mark A. Ciavarella Jr.'s appeal of his conviction in the kids-for-cash scandal.

Illegal drugs are a growing concern that continues to get worse in Beaver Meadows, police Chief Michael Morresi tells borough council. He said police made three drug arrests the previous weekend and that illegal drugs are found in one out of five traffic stops in the borough.

4: The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission announces that it has approved an historic marker for the site of the Sheppton Mine Disaster in August 1963.

East Union Township residents ask the supervisors to rehire solicitor Donald Karpowich as a special counsel to handle Gladstone Partners' appeal concerning its proposal to build a cargo airport. A motion to do that by Supervisor Dennis Antonelli, however, was not seconded.

Elizabeth Shickora, 72, of Quakake is found guilty of 18 counts of cruelty to animals by Magisterial District Judge Stephen Bayer following a summary trial. The charges were filed by Rush Township police after they assisted Hillside SPCA personnel in taking 17 dogs and a cat out of her home on Dec. 10, 2013.

7: A jury is chosen for the first coroner's inquest in Schuylkill County in more than a decade. The inquest will examine the death of Matthew Koncsler, 21, of Shenandoah, on March 13, 2013 while he was an inmate at the county prison.

Alyce Anne Simmons, 48, of Weatherly is arrested on charges that she allegedly stole $196,000 from two accounts of the Gans family that were being handled by the Hazleton accounting firm where she had worked.

8: A fire heavily damages a home on Virginia Avenue in Shenandoah Heights.

Kimberly Gatski, 22, of Weatherly is crowned Miss Greater Hazleton 2014 during the inaugural scholarship pageant held at Hazleton Area High School. Emily Seratch, 16, of Hazleton was crowned Miss Greater Hazleton Outstanding Teen; Laura Traub, 22, of Camp Hill, Miss Keystone, and Tory Deluhery, 17, of Bethlehem, Miss Keystone Outstanding Teen.

10: Hazleton Mayor Joseph Yannuzzi fires Acting City Administrator Steve Hahn, who said he is a casualty in the budget battle between the mayor and city council.

More than 200 students stay home from school due to an illness at Valley Elementary/Middle School.

11: Butler Township police Chief Dave Pavelko retires after 38 years in law enforcement. At a supervisors' meeting that evening, Sgt. Brian Sabatini was promoted to replace him.

A day after firing Steve Hahn, Mayor Joseph Yannuzzi announces that he will nominate Thomas Pribula as city administrator. Pribula is a former Luzerne County budget director and interim county manager.

A bill proposed by U.S. Rep. Lou Barletta, R-11, Hazleton, that spares fire companies and other emergency services from providing health insurance to volunteers is approved unanimously in the House.

12: About 100 hens, roosters and chicks are found in a double home at 733-735 N. Vine St. in Hazleton.

13: Conyngham Borough Council votes unanimously to dissolve the borough authority, with a goal of forming a joint authority with Sugarloaf Township.

A woman is struck by a sport utility vehicle that fled the scene near West Broad and Vine streets.

Elsi Rita of Tamaqua is feted to a surprise 100th birthday party in the Tamaqua Area High School kitchen, where she was washing dishes. Rita has served as a volunteer in the district for 40 years.

14: Jonathan Alejo, 29, of Hazleton is arrested on 10 felony charges related to a home invasion in which a young couple was beaten and robbed in their West Maple Street apartment on Dec. 23, 2013.

17: United Way of Greater Hazleton officials announce that the 2014 campaign will realize an estimated $636,492, more than $50,000 short of the previous year's total.

Hazleton police Chief Frank DeAndrea said congressional candidate Andrew Ostrowski's claim that a city police officer seized a nominating petition from one of his campaign workers is not true, calling it a "false claim." Ostrowski, meanwhile, said he stands by the facts as stated and that DeAndrea's claim is "a blatant falsehood."

A late-night fire destroys Damenti's Restaurant in Drums.

18: A 50-acre tract near Walmart in Hazle Township could be developed into five vehicle dealerships, a car wash and a bank, according to plans submitted to the Hazle Township Planning Department.

Jamielynn Reilly, 37, of Sheppton is sentenced to two to 10 years in prison followed by 10 years probation for trying to hire someone in February 2013 to kill her landlady, who was trying to evict her, and her landlady's fiance.

A magisterial district judge dismisses a charge of driving under the influence against James A. "Jamie" Barton of Orwigsburg, who is a Republican candidate for state representative in the 124th District.

The Greater Hazleton Chamber of Commerce announces that Mary R. Malone will be its 11th president and chief executive officer.

19: An audit has revealed about a dozen "irregularities" in accounting and internal controls in the Schuylkill County Clerk of Courts office, according to county Controller Christy Joy, who turned over his findings to the district attorney and county commissioners.

20: A fire destroys a backyard shed along South Main Road in Mountain Top. The blaze was discovered by a U.S. Postal Service mail carrier.

A mother confirms that an attempted abduction occurred in the 400 block of Kiefer Avenue in Hazleton.

Schuylkill County prosecutors say they will refile driving under the influence and related charges against James A. "Jamie" Barton of Orwigsburg, a candidate for the state House in the 124th District.

21: Criminal homicide and related charges against Terrence W. Clarke are held for Luzerne County Court after a preliminary hearing. Clarke is charged in an early-morning shooting Feb. 2 in Hazleton that left Garey Cox dead and another man wounded.

United Rehabilitation Services employees in Hazleton say they were told they would be out of work by mid-April.

24: State Rep. Tarah Toohil, R-116, said she will ask Gov. Tom Corbett and others for their help in seeing that United Rehabilitation Services does not close.

An overloaded extension cord starts a small fire on the third story of a home at 914 N. Church St. in Hazleton. Residents returned to the home after an electrician made repairs.

Beaver Meadows police and firefighters rescue a pet rabbit from the porch roof of a home on Broad Street.

25: Conyngham Borough Council overrides Mayor Joseph Carrelli's veto of an ordinance to dissolve the borough authority. The authority's board, at an emergency meeting earlier in the day, authorized its solicitor to order the borough to vacate the authority's building at 245 Main St.

State Rep. Tarah Toohil, R-116, hosts a town-hall meeting on traffic problems near the Pilot truck stop in Sugarloaf Townshp.

26: Firefighters call in excavating equipment to help put out a stubborn brush fire near the Valley Country Club in Sugarloaf Township.

James A. "Jamie" Barton drops out of the Republican race for state House in the 124th District.

27: Hazleton Area School Board increases eligibility requirements for admittance into the Academy of Sciences and admits all 179 students who met the standards for the 2014-15 freshman class. The board also approved grade configurations for the Hazle and Maple Manor buildings next year.

A spokeswoman for United Rehabilitation Services says there will not be a stoppage of services to clients "in the near future."

About 300 people turn out in the first hour for the 18th annual Greater Hazleton Chamber of Commerce Job Fair at Genetti Best Western in Hazle Township.

An email threat leads to the closing of Luzerne County Community College in Nanticoke and all its off-campus centers for the rest of the day. The college remained closed the following day.

Conyngham's code inspector issues a notice of violation and stop-work order on the borough authority building at 245 Main St.

Gilberton Borough Council votes unanimously to abolish the police department.

28: Two ticketholders share a Pennsylvania Lottery Cash 5 jackpot of $450,000. One of the tickets was sold at Hometown Mini Mart on Mahanoy Avenue in Rush Township.

29: Two Roman Catholic parishes in Tamaqua and seven in the Shenandoah area will be consolidated into a single parish with two churches for each community, parishioners are told at weekend Masses. The Tamaqua parish will be named St. John XXIII and the Shenandoah parish Divine Mercy.

30: Numerous vehicle crashes result from a late-spring storm that started as rain, switched over to sleet and freezing rain and ended as snow.

31: Hazleton police Chief Frank DeAndrea said he will put the owner of a fire-ravaged McKinley Street property in jail if the New Jersey woman does not pay fines of between $30,000 and $40,000 that have accrued over the past year.

A Schuylkill County coroner's jury concludes that official neglect led to the death of Matthew Koncsler of Shenandoah from an accidental drug overdose in the county prison a year earlier. The jurors, however, did not blame anyone in particular.

April

1: YES Network is taken off the Service Electric Cablevision system due to a contract dispute that the cable company blamed on a fee increase that "would be cost prohibitive for our customers."

The Hazleton Police Department unveils its new K-9 vehicle.

West Hazleton Borough Council approves borrowing up to $150,000 from Miners Bank to cover costs that exceed a state gaming grant for converting the Broad Street annex into a new police station.

2: A fire destroys an unoccupied home on East County Road in Butler Township. A state police fire marshal ruled the blaze accidental, caused by a dehumidifier in the basement.

Jessica Alinsky pleads guilty to third-degree murder in the shooting death of Matthew Gailie, her live-in boyfriend, on Sept. 2, 2011 at their Hazle Township home. On her way out of the courtroom moments later, however, she told reporters she didn't do it.

Robert L. Raeder of Tamaqua pleads guilty to charges that he raped a 5-year-old girl and took photographs of a younger girl in 2001 in Tamaqua.

3: Freeland Borough Council presents an engraved crystal statuette to Ann Swankoski in honor of her 40 years of service to the borough through her work with the recreation board. She resigned from the post earlier in the year.

4: A 30-day ban on outdoor burning goes into effect in Schuylkill County.

The fourth annual Art Youth Expo opens at various locations in downtown Hazleton.

The Shenandoah Valley School District cancels classes due to an unexpected shortage of teachers and other staff members.

5: Two men fled after their vehicle crashed and rolled onto its roof in a residential yard at 21st and Alter streets in Hazleton.

7: The Downtown Alliance for Progress holds a meeting with Latino business owners for their input on a plan that will shape the future of the downtown.

Conyngham Borough Authority's auditor credits the board and management with keeping an eye on finances and running the authority well.

A second-floor window falls onto the street from the J.W. Cooper Community Center in Shenandoah.

8: The Hazleton Area School Board holds the first in a series of traveling town hall meetings at Freeland Elementary/Middle School.

Butler Township supervisors hire two new police officers and promote two patrolmen: Brian Zalutko to sergeant and Eugene Rafalli to corporal.

McAdoo Borough Council, for a second time, adopts a quality-of-life ordinance.

9: Amazon.com announces that it is adding 300 full-time jobs with benefits at its fulfillment center in the Humboldt Industrial Park.

Members of the Schuylkill County Retirees Association ask the county commissioners for a cost-of-living increase.

10: An attorney advises the Hazleton City Authority board of directors that it would violate the U.S. Constitution if it were to dig a 8-by-8-foot hole in the middle of South Wyoming Street to accommodate Annunciation Parish's Good Friday procession. The board took no action on the request.

A demolition contractor begins removing fire debris from a property at 590-592 McKinley St. in Hazleton after city officials threatened the property owner from New Jersey with extradition and jail time.

Hazleton firefighters are called to an apartment building in the 500 block of Alter Street for a report of smoke; they detected a "strong smell" of tobacco products from a hole in a hallway wall.

Four students at Valley Elementary/Middle School were sent home after possibly coming in contact with a small amount of liquid mercury from a home thermometer. A student brought the liquid into school in a small plastic container.

11: Onix Gorbea-Lespier, 51, of Mechanicsburg pleads guilty to charges of homicide by vehicle, aggravated assault by vehicle, driving under the influence and careless driving in connection with a crash on Interstate 81 in Hazle Township on July 3, 2011, in which 18-year-old Kayla Bahrey of McAdoo was killed.

Schuylkill County Clerk of Courts Stephen M. Lukach resigns in the midst of an investigation into the alleged misappropriation of money. The Democrat from Lake Hauto has held the post for 27 years.

Four people from Baltimore are arrested by Butler Township police on charges related to trespassing at Keystone Job Corps Center in Drums.

14: A couple is displaced by a fire that heavily damaged their home on Church Road in Wright Township.

15: Secretary of the Commonwealth Carol Aichele urges students to register to vote while speaking to a group of Hazleton Area High School seniors.

After a three-hour hearing, the West Hazleton Zoning Hearing Board continues a session on a proposal for an indoor shooting range on Lehigh Valley Drive to resolve jurisdictional issues.

Kimberly Lynn Hons, 33, of Mahanoy City is charged with voluntary manslaughter, aggravated assault and other offenses in relation to the fatal stabbing of Lawrence Quinn, 52, her mother's boyfriend, on Dec. 1, 2013.

16: United Rehabilitation Services informs employees and clients that the agency will close its doors June 18. At a meeting with the Luzerne County Human Services board that evening, Judy Dinofrio, a longtime URS volunteer, said a group that includes her is considering buying the URS building in Hazleton and keeping the agency in operation.

17: Schuylkill County Clerk of Courts Stephen M. Lukach Jr. officially resigns, a day after FBI agents and state police troopers searched his courthouse office as part of an investigation into alleged misappropriation of public money.

18: The newly renovated Jim Thorpe Visitors Center, inside the train station, is dedicated.

19: Conyngham Borough Council accepts resignations from three members of the borough authority's board of directors, leaving it without a quorum to conduct business.

20: Hazleton police spend Easter Sunday morning investigating numerous reports of vehicle vandalism in the northwest section of the city.

A community Easter dinner is served by a group of volunteers organized by a partnership that included the United Way of Greater Hazleton, Catholic Social Services, Hazle Park Meats and Hazleton firefighters.

21: Luzerne County Councilman Edward Brominski introduces a surprise motion asking county Manager Robert Lawton to resign. The motion was seconded by Councilwoman Kathy Dobash then defeated on a 6-5 vote.

Weatherly Borough Council again rejects advertising a new burning ordinance.

22: Hazleton Area Academy of Science students host eighth-graders from other district schools for various Earth Day activities. Also, Ellen Ferretti, secretary of the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, joins eighth-grade gifted students at Nescopeck State Park.

Five schools in the Hazleton Area School District are ranked at the bottom 15 percent of Pennsylvania public schools on a list released by the state Department of Education. Students who attend those schools can transfer to a better-achieving public or private school through the state's expanded Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit program.

Hazleton City Council, on a 4-1 vote, directs Mayor Joseph Yannuzzi to recognize the Skokoski & DeCosmo law firm as legal adviser to council. Yannuzzi, however, said he will not follow the directive because the position is not in his budget.

Ben Medina, coordinator of the family self-sufficiency program for the Vine West family development, tells Hazleton Housing Authority board members that residents aren't taking advantage of the program.

23: Items consistent with cooking methamphetamine are found inside a Tamaqua apartment after firefighters were dispatched to the building at 14 W. Broad St. A small fire inside the apartment was doused by police officers. The occupants could not be located, and police said arrests are expected.

24: Former state senator Raphael J. Musto of Pittston Township passes away at his home at age 85.

A ceremony is held at Penn State Hazleton to name the administration building Pasco L. Schiavo Hall in honor of the longtime university benefactor.

Jose M. Arroyo of Reading pleads guilty in Schuylkill County Court to charges that he fired several shots outside a Shenandoah restaurant on March 3, 2013. One man was wounded in the incident.

Hazleton Area School Board approves the resignation of Carl Yorina, director of operations.

25: Robert K. Mericle is sentenced to one year in prison for his role in the Luzerne County kids-for-cash scandal.

A cigarette butt thrown out a second-floor window ignites a bird's nest at a home at 14th and Alter streets in Hazleton. Damage was confined to the porch roof.

A brush fire destroys more than 100 acres of woodlands and damages several homes atop Autumn Mountain in Foster Township. The fire was ruled arson.

27: A house and a mobile home are damaged in separate early-morning fires in Foster Township.

28: David A. Kalaburda, 50, is found dead inside his home on Wylam Street in West Mahanoy Township. His death was ruled homicide.

A pizza deliveryman is robbed and assaulted in the 800 block of Penn Court in Hazleton. The man sustained multiple head lacerations.

29: Wendy Contreras-Hernandez, 38, is found dead inside her home on West Centre Street in Shenandoah, the victim of an apparent homicide. State police charge Luis Ramos Nunez-Calderon, who shared the home with the victim, in her death.

West Hazleton Zoning Board decides that it can't rule on an indoor shooting range proposed for a building along Lehigh Valley Drive, stating that it has determined the building is in Hazle Township, which previously granted a special exception for the business.

30: Hazleton Mayor Joseph Yannuzzi and his staff host an hour-long community forum at the Hazleton One Community Center.

NBTY in the Humboldt Industrial Park ships 260,000 Pure Protein bars to Baxter Springs, Kansas, which was devastated by a tornado three days earlier.

May

1: Joseph E. Kuhla, 22, and Alyssa L. Shellhammer, 23, both of Tamaqua, are charged in the death of their 6-week-old child, Bronx Kuhla, from accidental suffocation.

An interfaith prayer service is held at the Hazleton One Community Center in observance of the National Day of Prayer.

Schuylkill County and state officials agree that former First Assistant District Attorney Thomas J. Campion Jr. should be the county's next clerk of courts.

2: U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey and U.S. Rep. Lou Barletta meet with local business leaders in Hazleton to ask for their help in convincing the Federal Aviation Administration to locate a new air traffic control station at Tobyhanna Army Depot.

3: JCPenney closes its store at the Laurel Mall, putting about 30 people out of work.

The Helping Hands Society raises $123,500 during its annual telethon.

4: Christ Lutheran Church in Mahanoy City celebrates its 150th anniversary.

5: Hazleton police investigate the death of a 3-month-old girl at a home on East First Street. However, the Luzerne County Coroner's Office later said the death is not considered suspicious, though additional test results were being awaited.

6: Hazleton City Council authorizes its legal adviser to prepare a mandamus that would require the administration to follow the budget that council ratified in February. Council would have to cast another vote to move forward with the legal process.

Black Creek Township supervisors deny a request from two families to vacate Hilltop Road.

An 18-year-old Hazleton man and six juveniles are taken from the roofs of two buildings along North Wyoming Street by police officers, with the assistance of a city fire department ladder truck. All seven were cited for disorderly conduct and simple trespass; the adult and two of the boys were cited for violating the city drug ordinance, police said.

7: Schuylkill County Judge John Domalakes rules that the Kline-Banks-McAdoo (KBM) Joint Sewer Authority owes $310,567.22 to McAdoo and $11,899 to Kline Township as the result of a lawsuit alleging that that the authority improperly calculated the amounts they owed.

8: Hazleton Mayor Joseph Yannuzzi said city council members must pay from their own pockets if they have a court intervene in a budget dispute with the administration.

Former Hazleton mayor John Ford, owner of Hazleton Standard Fuel Co., passes away.

9: Residents in the area of Second and Grant streets report hearing three to six gunshots being fired. A spent shell was found on the roof of a vehicle with New Jersey plates, and a witness said the shots were fired from inside the vehicle toward a man who was running from the scene.

Penn State Hazleton graduates its first class of engineers earning a baccalaureate degree with a focus on alternative energy and power generation.

10: A car crashes into Diamond United Methodist Church on West Diamond Avenue in Hazleton.

Beaver Meadows police stop a vehicle containing six people who were in the country illegally.

12: A stubborn, smoky fire destroys two homes and damages a third on Towanda Street in White Haven.

Hazle Township supervisors approve the first phase of a plan to build five car dealerships, a bank and a car wash on 45 acres of land between New York Giants linebackers Antonio Pierce and Jesse Armstead are partners in the company, All Pro Airport Road.

A former Hazleton woman, Carola Sauers, is killed in a crash involving a Nesquehoning police cruiser along U.S. Route 209, a mile and a half north of the Route 93 intersection.

Banks Township supervisors ask residents to clean up their properties.

13: Mahanoy City has filed civil complaints against nine properties with the largest delinquent accounts, borough solicitor Michael A. O'Pake tells council. The nine accounts total $31,588.60, including interest and penalties.

McAdoo residents complain to borough council that young police officers are being more aggressive in pulling over motorists for minor traffic violations.

14: A jury convicts Bryant X. Peguero of Hazleton of raping a woman whom he grabbed from the street and strangled until she passed out in 2012.

15: Final paving work begins on Broad Street, from Locust Street in Hazleton to McKenna's Corners in West Hazleton.

Hazleton police officers and other law enforcement personnel are honored for their part in Operation Rising Sun, characterized as the largest drug roundup in the city's history, during a National Police Officer Memorial Day ceremony outside City Hall.

Downtown Hazleton Alliance for Progress members introduce a project manager and architect who will develop a 10-year blueprint for revitalizing the downtown.

A car owned by Elias Rojas of Hazleton is towed from outside the Luzerne County courthouse after he parked in the reserved space of county Manager Robert Lawton while on jury duty. A Kingston law firm paid the bill so Rojas could get his car back the next day.

16: Jessica Alinsky appears in Luzerne County Court and asks to withdraw her guilty plea to third-degree murder in the shooting death of her boyfriend, Matthew Gailie, on Sept. 2, 2011. Judge Tina Polachek Gartley set Alinsky's trial for Oct. 6.

The Gulf gasoline station and convenience store on East Broad Street in Hazleton is robbed at gunpoint.

19: Hazleton Area School District administrators unveil tentative reconfigured boundary lines for four school zones for the 2014-15 school year with the addition of Maple Manor Elementary/Middle School and the Hazle Township Early Learning Center.

Luzerne County Manager Robert Lawton names Tanis Manseau as the new head of the Division of Operational Services.

A controlled drug buy that went bad in Mahanoy City results in four arrests and 67 bags of heroin seized.

20: The primary: Incumbent state Rep. Gerald Mullery easily wins the Democratic nomination in the newly reconfigured 119th District. Mullery outpolled Hazleton Area School Board member Tony Bonomo by a more than 4-to-1 margin.

21: At least three children, the youngest a baby, are found alone in a half-double home in the 500 block of West Maple Street in Hazleton.

22: An employee who was working to get the Claremont Group's Hazleton project off the ground said the company recently terminated many of its employees for financial reasons. "We were all conned," said Kate Daye, who lost her job in March. Daye was involved with the firm's project to convert the former St. Joseph Hospital in Hazleton into an assisted living facility.

Hazleton Area School Board holds off on soliciting bids to repair an estimated $1 million in water damage to Hazleton Elementary/Middle School.

Luzerne County District Attorney Stefanie Salavantis, in her annual report to county council, said the criminal caseload is increasing while resources are not.

Thirty-five seniors receive their diplomas from MMI Preparatory School in Freeland.

23: A clerk at the Dorrance Sunoco gas station and convenience store near the Dorrance exit of Interstate 81 is robbed at gunpoint. Two men were charged in the crime.

26: The Hazleton Area High School Cougar Marching Band performs in the National Memorial Day Parade in Washington, D.C.

A fire guts a single home off Route 309 in Hazle Township between Hazle Village and McAdoo, leaving one man homeless.

27: Hazleton City Council tables a resolution concerning a lease agreement with DHD Realty Holding concerning parking spaces in the city's garage for employees of DBi Services who will be relocated to the former Traders Bank building. Council members said they need more information from the developers.

West Hazleton police said they believe two burglaries and an attempted break-in that occurred in the same neighborhood over Memorial Day weekend are linked.

The Claremont Group's top officer said the company "soon" will get back to work on converting the former St. Joseph Hospital in Hazleton into an assisted living facility.

28: Hundreds of job seekers attend the Great Northeast Job Fair 2014, sponsored by the Standard-Speaker and Republican Herald newspapers.

Nesquehoning Borough Council places Officer Stephen Homanko on administrative leave as the result of his involvement in a vehicle crash that killed a Hazleton woman, Carola Sauers, on May 12.

A 16-year-old West Hazleton boy is arrested in relation to a string of four burglaries and two attempted break-ins since February.

29: The long-standing tradition of celebrating Ascension Day at the Old White Church near Ringtown continues, with about 90 people in attendance.

A man is arrested as Nesquehoning police shut down a suspected methamphetamine lab at a home on East Railroad Street.

30: Two seniors graduate from Immanuel Christian School in Hazleton.

Tamaqua Area High School holds its 124th commencement; 147 seniors receive diplomas.

31: Ninety-one seniors graduate from Marian Catholic High School.

Hazleton Area Homeschoolers holds a graduation ceremony for seven students.

A male is found dead on a sidewalk on South Vine Street near West Broad Street in downtown Hazleton. City police investigated but said it did not appear that a crime was committed.

31: The Greater Hazleton Relay for Life raises $106,291.96.

June

2: Hazleton Mayor Joseph Yannuzzi announces that he has vetoed a parking-sign ordinance that was adopted unanimously by city council a week earlier. Yannuzzi also announced plans for establishing a program that would let people using downtown parking meters pay by smartphone.

Robert K. Mericle reports to a prison camp on the grounds of Federal Correctional Institution at Schuylkill to begin serving a one-year sentence for his role in the Luzerne County kids-for-cash scandal.

North Schuylkill High School holds commencement ceremonies for 142 seniors.

3: Pat Fritsky, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation's construction manager for the Broad Street Corridor Project, said personnel from the agency can't figure out why westbound traffic is backing up at a new signal at East Broad and Poplar streets. Fritsky also told the Greater Hazleton Chamber of Commerce's downtown committee that the final portion of Broad Street, between Vine and Pine streets, will be paved at night starting June 16.

West Hazleton Borough Council votes unanimously to ask the state Department of Community and Economic Development to rescind the borough's financially distressed status.

Seventy-five graduates receive diplomas from Mahanoy Area High School.

John A. Pino of Shenandoah is convicted of 18 crimes in relation to an incident in August 2013 involving a retail theft in Saint Clair and a police chase that ended near Mahanoy City. During the chase, Pino crashed his sport utility vehicle into two police cruisers and nearly struck a state police trooper, police said.

Two men armed with a handgun steal cash from Castillo's Bakery at 20 N. Vine St. in Hazleton.

4: After a public hearing, Conyngham Borough Council and the Sugarloaf Township supervisors each vote unanimously at special meetings to form a joint municipal authority.

5: Seventy-one seniors graduate from Shenandoah Valley High School.

Students and faculty at Trinity Academy in Shenandoah honor retiring teachers Sister Jeanette Maria Keszkowski and Barbara Beacher Eiche, who had a combined 105 years of service to Catholic education.

6: Luis Figueroa, 33, is apprehended in New York City hours after allegedly kidnapping a woman and assaulting a pregnant woman at an apartment building on North Church Street in Hazleton, and assaulting a National Park Service employee in New Jersey.

9: Hazle Township supervisors vote to buy a half-dozen portable infrared security cameras that will be posted at various dumping "hot spots" throughout the township.

A fire breaks out in an unoccupied garage behind a vacant home on North Church Street in Hazleton. Fire officials ruled that the blaze was intentionally set.

10: Oscar Lozano-Garcia is arraigned on criminal homicide and other charges in relation to the death of his ex-girlfriend, Maria Brea, who was found strangled and bound in the attic of her East Diamond Avenue apartment in December 2012. Lozano-Garcia was extradited from Mexico, where he was apprehended on Jan. 27, one year after a warrant was issued for his arrest.

A funnel-like cloud seen rising from the woods to the east of the Church Hill Mall in Hazle Township was a "scud cloud," according to the National Weather Service. A caller to Luzerne County 911 first described it as a plume of black smoke, while others who saw it said it spun down from the clouds.

Emmanuel Paulino, 30, of West Hazleton pleads guilty to charges related to the brutal assault of a 27-year-old woman in November 2013. The assault caused severe intestinal injuries.

11: Diplomas are awarded to 758 members of the Hazleton Area High School Class of 2014, including the late Kelly Flores, who passed away three days earlier. Principal Rocco Petrone presented Flores' diploma to her parents.

The Luzerne County Convention Center Authority votes to move forward with a $3.6 million expansion of Mohegan Sun Arena that would add food services and create a lounge that planners hope will become a destination for event attendees.

Weatherly Area School Board adopts a $12 million budget, using approximately $1 million from the district's fund balance to avoid a property tax increase. The board also approved a three-year contract extension for Superintendent Thomas McLaughlin.

12: Federal agents close Waschko's Pharmacy, 257 N. Wyoming St., Hazleton, and remove documents after congregating inside with city police for several hours. At one point, city firefighters lifted the bucket of their aerial truck to the building's roof.

Richard Corkery, 75, former mayor of Coaldale, is convicted of 27 counts of sexual abuse of children-child pornography by a jury that deliberated more than two hours after a two-day trial in Carbon County Court.

13: A fire damages a vacant house on Tamaqua Street in Beaver Meadows.

During their respective commencement ceremonies, diplomas are awarded to 52 graduates of Weatherly Area High School, 73 graduates of Panther Valley High School and 257 Crestwood High School seniors.

14: Ellen Ferretti, secretary of the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, attends the 11th annual observance of National Trails Day at the Greater Hazleton rail-trail.

16: Shenandoah Borough Manager Joseph Palubinsky submits his letter of resignation to the surprise of residents during a council meeting. He will remain on the job until Oct. 3.

Diamond Fire Co. receives a citation from Hazleton code enforcement for its failure to pay a business license fee. After a harsh reaction from John Paletski, the company's president, Mayor Joseph Yannuzzi discontinued the citation the next day, and said it was for failure to pay $50 for an electronic games license.

Seventeen people are apprehended during drug raids in the Tamaqua area.

17: U.S. Rep. Lou Barletta, R-11, said he doesn't favor impeaching President Barack Obama and isn't proposing or advocating the idea even though he thinks the president has violated the Constitution repeatedly. Barletta said he was trying to diffuse statements about impeachment a day earlier while speaking on a York talk-radio show.

Luzerne County Community College's board of trustees approves a $46.2 million budget with a 7.3 percent tuition increase.

Hazleton City Council ratifies a revised parking agreement with DBi Services to lease a portion of the city's parking garage when the company moves into the former Traders Bank building.

Charles Gennaro is elected chairman of the Hazleton Housing Authority board for the 16th consecutive year.

Tamaqua Area School Board adopts a $28.69 million budget for 2014-15 that includes a .93-mill property tax increase.

18: Michael DeCosmo is elected chairman of the Democratic Party in Luzerne County. The Hazle Township tax collector is the first person from the county's First District, which encompasses the Hazleton area, to hold the party post.

United Rehabilitation Services closes its doors. About 20 staff members and 100 clients in Hazleton were impacted.

19: A man robs an undetermined amount of money from First National Community Bank on West Broad Street in downtown Hazleton.

21: Six teenagers are injured when their sport utility vehicle runs off Susquehanna Boulevard in West Hazleton and rolls several times, ejecting all of them from the vehicle. Three of the youths were flown to trauma centers in helicopters that landed in Bowl Arena's parking lot just north of the crash site.

22: A fire destroys two homes and damages an adjoining building in the 200 block of East Lloyd Street in Shenandoah. An investigation determined that the blaze was accidental, caused by an electrical problem.

23: Onix Gorbea-Lespier, 52, of Mechanicsburg is sentenced to 18 to 36 months in state prison for the death of 18-year-old Kayla Bahrey of McAdoo in a drunk-driving crash on July 3, 2011.

White Haven Borough Council hires two additional part-time police officers.

24: The president of Lexington Realty International, the Laurel Mall's new management firm, said he's confident the mall will reach 100 percent occupancy within two years. Alan Retkinski also disclosed that in early 2015 two "national retailers" will fill the former JCPenney space and a new restaurant will occupy the former Ground Round.

Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association District 2 suspends Hazleton Area High School varsity softball coach Vince Trivelpiece from coaching anywhere in the 2014-15 season for using an ineligible player in two games. The team also was placed on probation through the end of the 2014-15 season.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announces that Hazleton, Foster Township and 83 other municipalities in Pennsylvania must improve their programs for managing stormwater.

25: Shenandoah Valley School Board approves participation in a program that will provide free breakfast and lunch to all students.

Schuylkill County's salary board creates a security position in the sheriff's office that will result in an armed guard being stationed at the entrance to the courthouse. Weatherly Area School Board appoints Chad Obert to fill a vacant seat on the board left by the resignation of Corey Gerhart.

26: Hazleton Area School Board approves a 2014-15 budget that increases property taxes by 2.9 percent for Luzerne County residents and 2 percent for Carbon County residents, and decreases taxes by 1.47 percent for Schuylkill County residents of the district. Six directors voted in favor of the budget and tax hike.

30: U.S. Rep. Lou Barletta, R-11, announces that the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigration inquired about using the Altamont building in downtown Hazleton to house children who are streaming across the nation's southern border. Barletta stressed that he is opposed to bringing the children to Hazleton. Two days later, Barletta announced that the committee indicated it would look elsewhere due to general opposition from the community.

Attorneys for the plaintiffs who successfully challenged Hazleton's Illegal Immigration Relief Act file petitions seeking payment of $2.8 million from the city to cover legal fees and costs.

July

1: West Hazleton Borough Council awards a contract to Shea Industries for $28,428 to demolish a dilapidated building at 216 N. Fourth St.

2: West Hazleton Councilman William T. Sharkey Jr. pleads guilty to a citation for retail theft and pays $241 to the court system.

5: A fire is intentionally set in the vacant half of a double home at 573-575 Alter St. in Hazleton.

Legal fireworks smoldering in a garbage can are blamed for causing a fire in a garage on North Pine Street.

6: The city of Hazleton holds its 15th annual Hold Your Flag High Day and fireworks display at Harman-Geist Memorial Field.

7: Schuylkill County Register of Wills Theresa Santai-Gaffney asks the U.S. Supreme Court to allow her to challenge the ruling overturning Pennsylvania's statute barring same-sex marriage. Two days later, Justice Samuel Alito rejected her appeal without comment.

Andrew Ostrowski, candidate for Congress in the 11th District, adds Hazleton police Chief Frank DeAndrea as a defendant in his lawsuit alleging that an unnamed city police officer confiscated a nomination petition that a "young Hispanic woman" was circulating in the city.

8: The Downtown Hazleton Alliance for Progress and a team of consultants working to develop a long-term downtown revitalization plan hold a public workshop at the Altamont ballroom.

9: A 21-year-old Virginia man threatens to commit suicide by jumping off the bridge that carries state Route 93 over Interstate 81 in Sugarloaf Township. Traffic was at a standstill in the area for about a half-hour. The man surrendered peacefully to police.

Lehigh Valley Health Network holds a ribbon-cutting ceremony at ExpressCARE, which includes internal medicine, pediatrics and an urgent care suite, at the Hazleton Shopping Center.

The state Public Utility Commission grants permission to La Union Taxi of Hazleton to operate within 10 miles of the city and Hazle Township.

Martha Herron, regional affairs director in Hazleton for PPL Corp., retires after 47 years with the company.

The Diocese of Allentown announces that it will sell the former Cardinal Brennan Junior-Senior High School building in Fountain Springs.

10: A man brandishing a gun robs an undisclosed amount of cash from National Penn Bank in Drums.

The newly formed Conyngham-Sugarloaf Township Joint Municipal Authority holds its first meeting and elects Conyngham representative Joseph Gallagher as its chairman.

11: The family of Jonathan Garay, who was shot to death by Hazleton police on Oct. 13, 2013, files a federal lawsuit that seeks more than $3.45 million in damages and claims city officers routinely use excessive force against minorities.

Hazleton POWER! holds its first Second Friday event, drawing people to downtown Hazleton with a farmers' market, live music, vendors and a movie at dusk.

A 36-year-old man is found shortly after 2 a.m. unconscious with injuries to his face in the area of East Hemlock Street and Fulton Court.

Denise Wilkinson, 44, is killed by her husband, William Wilkinson, 44, who then died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in their Junedale home, according to state police.

Residents of Stockton No. 6 and Stockton No. 8 are advised by the state Department of Environmental Protection that the water from their private system is not safe to drink.

14: Banks Township supervisors vote to advertise for a code enforcement officer.

Pedro Lozano, 64, of Hazleton is sentenced to four to 23 months in the Luzerne County Correctional Facility for downloading child pornography. Lozano was the lead plaintiff in the case that challeged Hazleton's illegal immigration ordinance.

15: At a special meeting, the Hazleton Area School Board votes unanimously to open the Hazleton Area High School varsity girls' softball coaching position.

Sean M. Donahue of Hazleton files a lawsuit against the city, its police chief and 12 officers, alleging his civil rights were violated when he was arrested in August 2012.

The potential repair or replacement of the bridge that carries Butler Avenue in Conyngham over the Little Nescopeck Creek is discussed at a borough council meeting.

Hazleton police Chief Frank DeAndrea announces at a city council meeting that the department's officers will be issuing tickets for vehicles parked on sidewalks, in handicapped spaces or blocking driveways.

16: Luzerne County Council Chairman Rick Morelli says he has organized a meeting for July 29 between county and Hazleton officials to discuss the fate of the Security Savings building in downtown Hazleton.

17: Gov. Tom Corbett visits Tom's Kitchen in Sugarloaf to talk about pension reform, saying the debt is rising at an unsustainable level and creating a problem the government can't tax its way out of.

18: Shots are fired in two early-morning incidents, about an hour apart, in Hazleton. No injuries were reported.

19: A 21-year-old Virginia man commits suicide during a train festival in Danville. On July 9, the man threatened to jump off the bridge that carries state Route 93 over Interstate 81 in Sugarloaf Township before he surrendered peacefully to police.

Deivon Barlow, 19, of Hazleton sustains gunshot wounds to his neck in an early-morning shootout in the 400 block of West Green Street in West Hazleton. Based on the large amount of blood found at the scene, police believed there may be a second victim.

20: Two men, one carrying a handgun, rob cellphones and tablets in a midday holdup at NTX Wireless outside the Laurel Mall.

21: Weatherly Borough Council agrees to allow a nonprofit organization, Starting Over Animal Rescue, to help resolve a feral cat problem.

22: Jennifer Wisniewski, 28, of Mountain Top is injured when her leg becomes impaled on a post of the iron fence that surrounds Vine Street Cemetery in Hazleton.

Luzerne County Council votes against providing local match funding of $150,000 to Hazleton Public Transit that would allow the agency to receive $1.7 million from the state.

A tractor-trailer rips down power lines outside Hazle Park Packing Co. in Hazle Township, causing a power outage that affected more than 1,700 customers of PPL Electric Utilities for about an hour.

West Hazleton Borough Council accepts the resignation of Dan Zola, long-time code enforcement and zoning officer, two weeks after Councilman Paul Platukis complained at a meeting that council wasn't doing enough to get the streets, police and code enforcement departments to report "quality of life" and code violations.

23: KBM Regional Authority board approves giving credit to McAdoo and Kline Township to satisfy a Schuylkill County Court ruling in a billing dispute with its member municipalities and their sewer authorities.

24: Hazleton City Authority's board of directors ratifies a five-year labor agreement that awards raises of more than 3 percent to its unionized workforce but offers a less-costly medical benefits package and puts new hires in a 401(k) retirement program rather than the existing defined-benefit program.

25: The leader of Casa Dominicana de Hazleton says the organization will no longer pursue a complaint it filed with the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission concerning the city's refusal to fly the Dominican Republic flag outside City Hall in February.

26: Javier Miranda, 21, of Hazleton is killed when struck by a vehicle at East Broad and Pine streets in Hazleton. The black sport utility vehicle that struck Miranda fled the scene; the man allegedly behind the wheel at the time, Luis Jimienez-Reyes, 20, of Hazleton, was taken into custody shortly after the accident and charged with accidents involving death or injury.

A closing Mass is celebrated at Annunciation BVM Church in Shenandoah, the first of seven to be held in three days as the Roman Catholic churches of the Shenandoah area merge into the new Divine Mercy Parish.

28: After a three-hour preliminary hearing an open count of criminal homicide against Oscar Lozano-Garcia, accused of killing 32-year-old Maria Brea in December 2012, is held for Luzerne County Court.

White Haven Borough Council approves new regulations that allow livestock to be kept on properties that are a minimum of 5 acres.

29: Luzerne County Council splits in a vote to transfer ownership of the Security Savings building in downtown Hazleton to the city, ensuring that the building will be offered for public sale.

Greater Hazleton Joint Sewer Authority's board of directors ratifies a budget for 2014-15 with no fee increases.

Three people are arrested at a home in West Hazleton where police said more than 30 grams of heroin was found.

31: Hazleton police investigate four incidents of gunshots fired within a 12-hour period. Officers pursued a vehicle in one of the incidents and recovered a firearm, which had been reported stolen, when it was thrown from the vehicle.

Hazleton Area School Board hires 16 teachers and other personnel to staff the district's new Maple Manor Elementary/Middle School and Hazle Township Early Learning Center.

First Federal Foundation presents a $200,000 grant to the Salvation Army in Hazleton to help continue renovations to its food service area.

A man is taken into custody on suspicion of driving under the influence after several hit-and-run crashes on North Street in West Hazleton. Three vehicles and possibly a home were hit by the skip vehicle, police said.

August

1: Fred Gattis, 33, undergoes surgery after he was stabbed in the leg behind the 200 block of East Diamond Avenue in Hazleton. Sean Ortiz, 21, of West Hazleton was taken into custody the next day and charged with aggravated and simple assault. According to police, the incident occurred after the two smoked synthetic marijuana together.

A boy is injured when his bicycle collides with a car at East Oak Street and North Bennett Court in Hazleton.

Richard Petty Motorsports teams with Weis Markets and Smithfield to donate 40,000 pounds of pork products to the Weinberg Northeast Regional Food Bank. Petty visited Weis' store in Mountain Top to make the donation.

2: Rashod R. Clark, 38, of Pittsburgh is charged after he fled from state police when they attempted to stop his vehicle along Interstate 80 in Dennison Township. Clark was taken into custody along Route 309 in Butler Township and $2.4 million worth of heroin was found in the trunk of his vehicle, police said.

At least 27 vehicles are damaged overnight when vandals sprayed a liquid on them on Clay Street, Gay Street and Mountain Avenue in Tamaqua. One of the vehicles is owned by the borough and used by the fire department.

4: Friends and family of Javier Miranda, who was struck and killed by a vehicle on East Broad Street on July 26, gather in front of his home after his funeral and release red and white balloons to remember him.

Richard Seiwell, 19, of Dorrance Township pleads guilty to charges of manufacturing methamphetamine and operating a meth lab in January in the parking lot of the township municipal building. He also pleads no contest to charges in relation to threats that disrupted classes in the Crestwood School District on three occasions in April and May 2013.

5: John A. Pino, 70, of Shenandoah is sentenced to seven to 18 years in state prison for leading police on a high-speed chase in August 2013 from St. Clair to the Mahanoy City area following a retail theft.

On their way home from a training session in Monroe County, off-duty Beaver Meadows police Chief Michael Morresi and Sgt. Matt Williams help apprehend a suspect fleeing from state police along Interstate 80. They learned later that 300 pounds of heroin were found in the vehicle.

6: Local and state officials meet to discuss ways to pay for an engineering study that would evaluate options for delivering safe drinking water to residents of Stockton No. 6 and Stockton No. 8 in Hazle Township.

Bernadine Fendrick of West Hazleton is awakened to the sound of contractors demolishing the front steps into her home. The men worked for a company that held the mortgage to the other half of the duplex along East Green Street that shares steps with Fendrick's home. West Hazleton police Chief Brian Buglio said the workers did not have a permit for the job.

7: Damenti's Restaurant owner Kevin McDonald announces that he plans to rebuild at the same location along Route 309 in Butler Township.

A fire believed to be started by vandals damages a trailer at the Hazle Township Babe Ruth field.

Financial consultants warn West Hazleton Borough Council to consider pursuing tax structure changes to avoid a deficit as the borough emerges from its "financially distressed" status.

8: Jose Paulino Jr., 38, of Tamaqua dies en route to a hospital after being shocked with a Taser numerous times by police during an incident on Center Street in the borough in which he allegedly was unruly and acted aggressively.

A masked man robs National Penn Bank in Butler Township. Minutes later the suspect's vehicle was spotted along Stockton Road and he fled into the woods, but an effort by numerous law enforcement officers, aided by a state police helicopter, failed to apprehend him.

A walking tour of downtown Hazleton's historic structures highlights the monthly Second Friday event. More than 100 people participated, leading organizers to split the group into two tours.

State Rep. Tarah Toohil, R-116, announces that a $105,000 state grant has been awarded to dredge strip-mine sediment from the Lake of the Four Seasons at Beech Mountain Lakes in Butler Township.

9: A home in the Hazleton Housing Authority's Vine West development sustains major damage when struck by a sport utility vehicle. The driver fled the scene. The occupants were allowed to remain inside the home.

An armed man wearing a Spider-Man mask robs an undetermined amount of cash from the C&P Store on East Chestnut Street in Hazleton.

11: A man wearing a Spider-Man masks robs a second Hazleton store in three days, this time the Convenient Store on West Juniper Street.

12: Butler Township supervisors approve naming a short street that leads to three properties Palance Lane, in honor of the late Oscar-winning actor who owned a farm in the township.

Shenandoah police find more than 300 bags of synthetic marijuana while assisting state parole officers at a residence on South Bower Street. A man was arrested on drug charges.

Sugarloaf Township supervisors grant conditional approval for the land development application of Red Truck LLC, which plans to construct a facility near the Pilot truck stop. Approval is conditional upon the township receiving a state grant to improve Old Berwick Highway in an effort to ease truck traffic congestion.

13: At a dinner celebrating its 40th anniversary in Freeland, Citterio USA pays tribute to Edward M. Sharp, 94, who was instrumental in recruiting the meat-processing business to the borough in 1974.

14: The extension of state Route 424 into the Humboldt Industrial Park, five bridge improvement projects and three new park-and-ride facilities are included in the State Transportation Commission's new 12-year plan for road construction.

At a special meeting, Conyngham Borough Council votes to apply for a $100,000 Community Development Block Grant from Luzerne County for streetscape improvements in the downtown.

15: A Luzerne County jury convicts Adamis Arias of third-degree murder in the fatal shootig of Angel Villalobos, 19, on West Maple Street in Hazleton on Feb. 23, 2013, over a $700 debt.

A 94-year-old woman is assaulted inside her home on Muir Avenue in Hazleton by a man who either forced himself inside or was let in by the woman.

16: A man points a gun at a motorist in an early-morning attempted robbery at North Laurel and Fourth streets in Hazleton.

17: A flash mob of Hazleton Area High School band members gathers outside the home of Aaron Leshko in McAdoo for a performance to lift the spirits of their ill bandmate. Leshko, 18, passed away the next day.

Twenty-three residents of the Freeland Senior Apartments on Centre Street are evacuated after a resident noticed cracks in a wall. Most returned the next day, but six apartments were ordered to remain vacant until repairs are made.

A man with a handgun robs an undetermined amount of cash from KFC on East Broad Street in Hazleton.

18: Two men, one of them armed with a handgun, rob more than $5,000 in merchandise from Radio Shack at HT Commons, Hometown, after taping an employee to a chair in the back room.

19: Luzerne County Manager Robert Lawton tells council that the county government is on track to hit its target budget by year's end due to cost-saving measures and unexpected revenue.

20: A 12-year-old Mahanoy City girl's left leg is partially amputated after she was struck by a train in the borough.

21: Rescuers work for more than two hours to free a man trapped inside his tractor-trailer that fell more than 75 feet down an embankment and rolled onto its side along Interstate 80 in Black Creek Township. The man, from Michigan, did not appear to be injured.

American Eagle Outfitters holds a grand opening celebration at its new distribution facility in the Humboldt Industrial Park, where nearly 600 people are expected to be employed in three years.

23: At weekend Masses, Holy Name of Jesus Parish in West Hazleton launches a fundraising drive to save the former Transfiguration School. The three-phase, three-year project to renovate the building for parish and community use is expected to cost about $1.2 million.

Mountain Council of Governments holds its first municipal surplus equipment auction.

25: Angel A. Resto, 22, of Tamaqua is convicted by a jury in Schuylkill County Court on charges that he raped a 12-year-old girl on Jan. 5, 2013, at her Tamaqua home.

26: A security system at First National Community Bank in downtown Hazleton is credited for preventing an attempted robbery. Forty-five minutes later, a man of similar description robbed an undetermined amount of cash from Mauch Chunk Trust's office in Hometown. The getaway vehicle later was involved in a hit-and-run crash on South Poplar Street in Hazleton, and some of the stolen money was recovered.

A fire heavily damaged seven homes in the 200 block of East Centre Street in Mahanoy City, leaving 20 people homeless. An eighth home sustained minor damage, leaving its two occupants homeless until repairs could be made.

A man posing as a "water company employee" gains access to a woman's home in the 100 block of South Manhattan Court in Hazleton and steals a purse and keys.

Luzerne County Council votes to negotiate with the Downtown Hazleton Alliance for Progress, which is seeking to acquire the former Security Savings building on West Broad Street. The alliance was the only party that responded to a request for proposals on the county-owned building.

27: Fernando Torres-Torres, 28, is charged a second time in relation to a shooting at a North Poplar Street garage on Sept. 14, 2013, in which a man was shot in the neck. The charges were withdrawn last year when the victim refused to cooperate and left the country. However, the charges were refiled in May after the victim told police he would testify.

Marisa S. Mallets of McAdoo is acquitted by a Schuylkill County Court jury of lying on a report she made to borough police in October 2013.

28: Luis Ramos Nunez-Calderon of Shenandoah is returned from New York City and formally charged with criminal homicide in the fatal stabbing of Wendy Contreras-Hernandez, 38, on April 29 in the home they once shared in the 500 block of West Centre Street.

The Carbon County commissioners adopt a resolution thanking Gary F. Dobias for 34 years of service in the district attorney's office, including 22 as the county's top prosecutor, the day before he retired.

Emmanuel Paulino, 30 is sentenced to up to 17 years in state prison for the brutal assault of a woman in November 2013. Paulino pleaded guilty in June to two counts of aggravated assault for the attack as well as for head-butting a state police trooper who detained him for questioning.

Hazleton Area School Board approves new admission standards for the Academy of Sciences.

29: Ben Medina resigns from his position with the Hazleton Housing Authority. Medina was working in the authority's Family Self-Sufficiency Program, but a federal grant that paid his salary was not renewed because the program drew fewer than the required 25 people.

Ronald Taveras, 27, of Hazleton is arrested by city police on charges related to an assault on March 10, 2013 that left Andrew "A.J." Goryl badly beaten and permanently disabled.

Sue Farley retires after 10 years as director of the Hazleton YMCA/YWCA.

Hazleton Mayor Joseph Yannuzzi vetoes three ordinances adopted recently by city council concerning parking on Chestnut Street, budget line items and bid openings.

31: Wayne Volciak, 55, and his wife, Michelle, 51, are found dead of gunshot wounds inside their home on Penn Court in Hazleton. Luzerne County Coroner William Lisman said investigators believe Wayne Volciak shot his wife and then took his own life.

September

2: A second man, 30-year-old Roberto E. Plasencia, is charged in the assault of Andrew "A.J." Goryl on March 10, 2013, along Lafayette Court in Hazleton.

The opening of Maple Manor Elementary/Middle School and the Hazle Township Early Learning Center highlight the first day of classes in the Hazleton Area School District.

The body of a 44-year-old Hazleton man is found outside a parked car in front of the former Kmart and Ollie's building on West Broad Street. City police said the death is not suspicious.

A fire damages a section of the roof of American Legion Post 473 in Freeland and causes some water damage to the first and second floors. The post home was closed until repairs were made.

3: Cargill will acquire six Archer Daniels Midland plants, including one in the Humboldt Industrial Park, where 90 employees will lose their jobs but 118 will transfer to Cargill when the $440 million transaction is completed in the first half of 2015.

Kenneth R. Kondash, 37, is charged with new crimes, including criminal attempt at homicide, a first-degree felony, in relation to an alleged attack on his wife and her family in Beaver Meadows on Aug. 4.

U.S. Rep. Lou Barletta, R-11, presents medals owed to six men for their service during World War II to the veterans or their family members.

4: The Pennsylvania Industrial Development Authority awards a $2.25 million low-interest loan for renovations to the Hazleton National Bank building in downtown Hazleton. DHD Development obtained the loan for the project through CAN DO Inc.

5: Tamaqua YMCA holds a ribbon cutting and open house to celebrate the completion of a 5,000-square-foot expansion along with the addition of new equipment.

U.S. Rep. Lou Barletta, R-11, announces that he will introduce a bill that would give municipalities and states a say in whether the federal government can house immigrant children in their communities. Barletta also revealed that four teenagers who were among those who streamed across the southern border recently are staying with local families and attending class in the Hazleton Area School District.

6: Skeletal remains are found in a wooded area of Coaldale by a man and his children who were picking mushrooms. Police said the remains are believed to be those of Corey M. Samuels, 24, of Coaldale, who was reported missing by his family Jan. 20.

7: Thieves steal thousands of dollars worth of tools from Lehigh Tire, Tamaqua, after breaking inside a back door and tunneling their way through a hole they bored into a cinder block wall. Three days later, police charged Thomas J. Kehl, 24, of Tamaqua in relation to the burglary after the store's manager saw some of the stolen tools for sale on Facebook.

Ernesto Lius Quinones, 18, is found in the area of North Wyoming and Maple streets with a stab wound to his upper body.

8: Bill Boran stands in front of Hazleton City Hall wearing a mask and holding a sign that called on citizens to help police fight crime.

A man robs an undetermined amount of cash from Dollar General at West 15th and McNair streets in Hazleton shortly after the store opened for the day.

Men swinging a baseball bat and a machete rob Pence's Store, 586 Alter St., Hazleton. They made off with money, three packages of cigarettes and two boxes of cigars.

Banks Township supervisors hire Joseph Dunner as a code enforcement officer. He will work six to 10 hours a week at $10 an hour.

9: State police serving a bench warrant at the home of Joseph S. Hyduk in Hollywood find the man injured. Hyduk, 54, missed a federal court hearing earlier in the day on charges that he swindled more than $1 million from clients of his investment business, BNA Financial Services.

State gaming grants are awarded to various projects in Luzerne County, including renovations to the Hazleton National Bank building, the Freeland YMCA, Hazleton City Hall and the new West Hazleton police station.

A homeowner along Honey Hole Road in Butler Township fires a gunshot into the ground as a boy and girl, both 16, who were lost in the woods approached his property.

Butler Township supervisors and the union representing its police officers approve a new three-year contract that provides pay increases of 3 percent per year and slightly higher raises in the first year for the chief and ranking officers.

10: Hazleton Mayor Joseph Yannuzzi officiates at City Hall's first same-sex wedding, marrying city residents Zavier Barreto, 19, and Jhorlan Raycony Lopez Salas, 20, in a short ceremony attended by a small group of family and friends.

Two men rob $2,100 from Tresckow Superfood. The owner, Minoj Patel, was assaulted during the incident and was flown to a trauma center for treatment of his injuries.

Weatherly Area School Board tables a proposal to increase the salaries of district administrators.

11: Zachary Richards, 27, is stabbed to death inside a home on Cleveland Street in Hazleton.

A school bus carrying about a dozen Hazleton Area School District students is rear-ended along state Route 309 in Hazle Village. No students were injured. The driver of the car that hit the bus fled but was taken into custody later.

Hazleton Fire Department members are joined by local first responders, clergy, military service members and public officials at Holy Rosary Church for a ceremony remembering the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

12: Amir M. Edwards, 22, of Hazleton is charged with criminal homicide in the stabbing death of Zachary Richards the previous day and with robbery, assault and related offenses in an armed robbery at Tresckow Superfood that occurred hours before the homicide.

14: A fire heavily damages a vacant building at 10th and Alter streets in Hazleton. Firefighters had to battle the blaze from the top down after the first floor collapsed when they attempted to enter the building. An investigation determined the fire was set.

15: Hazleton Mayor Joseph Yannuzzi proposes a ballot question that would let voters decide whether to increase property taxes by 1 mill to hire an additional 10 police officers.

Three men dressed in black and carrying a baseball bat, a machete and a metal pipe rob the Beltway Diner on South Church Street in Hazleton as the owner was getting ready to close.

Separate motions filed in Luzerne County Court by the Conyngham Borough Authority and borough council concerning the dissolution of the authority are withdrawn prior to a hearing.

16: Hazle Township Planning Department grants preliminary subdivision approval to CVS Pharmacy to build a new store at North Church and 28th streets.

Elton Molina, 24, of Hazleton is arrested on charges related to a robbery at Tresckow Superfood in which the owner was assaulted on Sept. 10. He is the second man facing charges in the incident.

Richard Corkery, former mayor of Coaldale, is sentenced in Carbon County Court to nine to 36 months in state prison for looking at child pornography in 2011 on a computer at his workplace in Nesquehoning.

Donald Bayzick, retired assistant to the superintendent of the Hazleton Area School District, is named principal of Holy Family Academy in Hazleton by the Diocese of Scranton. Thomas Kostic was named assistant principal.

Funfest executive director Judiann McGrogan resigns after organizing the community celebration for a quarter-century.

17: United Way of Greater Hazleton kicks off its annual fundraising campaign by welcoming a new member agency, Avenues, which is filling a void left in the area by the closing of United Rehabilitation Services.

18: Conyngham Borough Authority threatens to shut off water to the borough building for nonpayment but reconsiders after realizing the move would leave the Conyngham branch of the Hazleton Area Public Library without water. The borough has been paying its water bill to the newly formed Conyngham-Sugarloaf Joint Municipal Authority; it doesn't recognize the borough authority as council has voted to dissolve it.

20: C&P Store in downtown Hazleton is robbed.

21: An apparent assault victim is found unconscious in a parking lot after police were called to a fight involving people with guns and baseball bats at Empire Hooka Lounge on East Broad Street.

22: Dennis Sunshine Fisher, 20, is charged with a home invasion in which a West Hazleton woman was assaulted on Sept. 5. Arrest papers say Amir Edwards, who is in prison on homicide charges, was a co-conspirator in the incident.

Gina Tombasco pleads guilty to stealing from the Independence Fire and Rescue Co. in Rice Township. Tombasco, who was the company's former executive secretary, agreed to pay $30,863.95 in restitution.

An armed robbery is reported at Heights EZ Stop on South Poplar Street in Hazleton.

23: Hazleton City Council unanimously approves a resolution that authorizes the city to place a "police protection tax referendum" on the next available election ballot. Approval came too late for the November ballot.

Joseph Lumina, 20, sustains a stab wound to the left side of his abdomen in an incident at his home on West Centre Street in Mahanoy City. Two people were charged in the incident.

A man is attacked with a baseball bat in the area of Kennedy Drive and Blaine Street in McAdoo.

George Irizarry of Hazleton is found not guilty of obstructing police officers while he was working security at a Hazleton bar near where a street fight erupted on Oct. 21, 2012.

24: More than three dozen adults and children attend a meeting of the Shenandoah Valley School Board to request that busing of all students living in the borough be restored.

25: A ribbon-cutting ceremony is held to mark completion of the $27.5 million Broad Street Corridor reconstruction project in Hazleton and West Hazleton.

Hazleton Area School Board approves the unplanned purchase of additional classroom furniture and supplies, and the hiring of additional staff, after being told the district's enrollment has reached an all-time high of more than 11,000 students.

26: A locomotive derails near Beech Street Playground in Hazleton. City police said objects placed on the track were to blame.

Schuylkill County Clerk of Courts Thomas J. Campion and Recorder of Deeds Ann Dudish are sworn into office, three days after being unanimously confirmed by the state Senate.

27: A plane giving rides to the public as part of Aviation Day blows a tire on the runway at Hazleton Regional Airport. None of the four people on board were injured.

28: Four suspicious fires damage 13 unoccupied houses in separate sections of Shenandoah within about five hours.

A fire destroys Paul and Lisa Lloyd's trailer home on their cattle farm in Black Creek Township. The couple also lost all their possessions.

29: Attempted armed robberies at two stores in downtown Hazleton are scuttled when employees of the S&M Food Mart on East Broad Street and the C&P Store on East Chestnut Street scare away the would-be robbers.

30: A fire breaks out at Silgan White Cap in the Valmont Industrial Park, sending black smoke and at times flames into the sky from two rooftop smokestacks. An equipment failure at the plant's roof sparked the blaze.

National Penn Bank in Drums is robbed for the third time in a three-month period. A masked man valuted over the teller counter and made off with an undisclosed amount of money. The getaway car was recovered the next day; it had been stolen from the Scranton area sometime before the robbery.

October

1: The Domestic Violence Service Center kicks off a Safe Dating/Teen Dating Violence Awareness program with a presentation for Hazleton Area High School juniors at the Maple Manor school.

2: A clerk at Puffs 'n Pics on West 15th Street in Hazleton chases and apprehends a man who demanded money and then, after he was refused, grabbed some cigarettes and ran from the store. Hazleton police took the suspect, 29-year-old Christopher Robinson, into custody. Robinson then walked into an ambulance for treatment of minor scrapes and bruises.

Shenandoah Borough Council votes 4-3 at a special meeting to rescind the acceptance of Borough Manager Joseph Palubinsky's resignation, leaving it up to him whether he wants to go through with his planned retirement or stay on to help guide the completion of various projects.

3: Todd Dohner, 48, of Pine Grove is arrested on charges that he called in threats to the Schuylkill County Courthouse resulting in the building being evacuated and schools in the county taking extra security precautions.

Pennsylvania Revenue Secretary Dan Meuser visits Polymer Group of America in Freeland to talk about the importance of manufacturing and praise Gov. Tom Corbett's efforts in promoting manufacturing in the state.

4: A burglary is discovered at St. Joseph's Romanian Orthodox Church on West Broad Street in Hazleton. The church's tabernacle and other sacred items, with a total value of about $4,000, were stolen.

5: Flames destroy an outside patio and heavily damage the adjoining home in Ryan Township.

6: A man walks into First National Bank in Rittenhouse Place, Drums, and demands cash from a teller's cash drawer. He made off with an undetermined amount of money.

7: Hazleton City Council hires Bret Green as a full-time police officer, bringing the roster to 38. Green will be the second woman on the force; council hired Jessica Levine in August. Four residents who attended the meeting appealed to council to do something about rising crime in the city.

Jessica Alinsky's homicide trial is delayed indefinitely after prosecutors announced they would appeal Luzerne County Judge Tina Polachek Gartley's ruling that they cannot introduce evidence that Alinsky once staged a burglary at her residence.

Three Hazleton residents are jailed on drug charges after city police serve a search warrant on a home in the 700 block of Peace Street.

8: Hundreds of people line up in the parking lot of Iron House Gym in Hazle Township to purchase "PSP Strong" T-shirts, wristbands and window decals in support of the Pennsylvania State Police and an effort to raise funds for the families of two troopers who were shot in an ambush in Pike County on Sept. 12.

9: The Luzerne County Planning Commission votes 3-2 against recommending to county council that it change the law to allow backyard chickens in communities zoned by the county.

Schuylkill United Way reports at a mid-campaign luncheon in Tamaqua that the drive is only about one-third of the way to its $1,051,000 goal.

Donations from businesses in the Hazleton area help feed nearly 1,000 police officers who are searching the woods of Pike and Monroe counties for Eric Frein, who is suspected of killing one state police trooper and wounding another outside their barracks in Blooming Grove on Sept. 12.

10: A man armed with a handgun and wearing a gray bandana across his face demands money from tellers at M&T Bank in the Laurel Mall. He fled with an undisclosed amount of cash.

12: The 30th annual Tamaqua Heritage Festival is held in the borough's downtown.

13: Wright Township police Officer Michael Marshall accepts the Knights of Justice Award from the American Police Hall of Fame and Museum during a meeting of the township supervisors. Marshall was honored for making several efforts to enter a burning home on Walden Drive in Mountain Top on Aug. 9, 2013, to rescue Mary Ann Navin, 70, and her 2-year-old grandson, Jack Nevin, both of whom died in the smoky blaze.

14: Luzerne County Council approves the sale of the former Security Savings building to the Downtown Hazleton Alliance for Progress, which offered $25,000 for the property.

Adamis Arias is sentenced to 20 to 40 years in state prison for third-degree murder in the shooting death of Angel Villalobos, 19, over a $700 debt on Feb. 23, 2013 in Hazleton.

Sugarloaf Township police discover a marijuana and hallucinogenic mushroom-growing operation inside a home while investigating a stolen car. Two people were arrested on drug charges; a third person in the home was wanted on a warrant from Berks County, according to court papers.

McAdoo firefighters Daniel Leshko and Vincent Chitswara receive the Spirit of Courage Award from the Burn Prevention Network at Lehigh Valley Hospital-Mulhenberg in Bethlehem for their heroic efforts during a fire in the borough on June 22, 2013. Another 23 firefighters will receive certificates of merit.

15: A fire destroys a vacant three-story building at 709-711 Main St. in Freeland and damages an adjacent home, leaving its three occupants homeless.

Luzerne County Manager Robert Lawton proposes a 4 percent property tax increase as part of a $266.6 million budget for 2015 that he said is balanced.

The Northwest Neighborhood Crime Watch proposes to the Hazleton Area School Board creation of a program that will show children as young as 9 and 10 years old that there are alternatives to joining a gang and using drugs. After the presentation by crime watch coordinator Judy Yurcho, Superintendent Francis X. Antonelli said he and George Donati, the district's director of elementary and middle school education, will meet with the group to help develop the program.

16: Lee T. Sokalsky of Scranton is arraigned on charges that he robbed First National Community Bank in Hazleton.

Hazleton Mayor Joseph Yannuzzi unveils a draft budget for 2015 that includes a 26 percent property tax increase, most of which will be used to hire 10 new police officers.

19: Two people sustain injuries when a pickup truck in which they were riding cashes into the front of a home on Towanda Street in White Haven. The driver fled but was apprehended a few blocks away, and was taken into custody on suspicion of driving under the influence.

The 30th annual Father Walter J. Ciszek Day Mass is celebrated in St. Casimir Church, Shenandoah, the native church of the priest whose cause for canonization as a saint is being reviewed by the Vatican.

20: Hazleton Area School District signs an agreement with The Commonwealth Medical College in Scranton to extend its Regional Educational Academy for Careers in Health -- Higher Education Initiative program through at least the next three years. The program helps economically disadvantaged students pursue health-related careers.

Two people are taken to Lehigh Valley Hospital-Hazleton after being found unconscious inside a vehicle that was stopped in the middle of the intersection of South Poplar Street and Arthur Gardner Parkway in Hazleton.

A man is robbed at gunpoint in the area of Ninth and James streets in Hazleton.

21: U.S. District Judge A. Richard Caupto denies a request for a preliminary injunction to freeze a multi-million-dollar settlement that is due to disbarred lawyer Robert Powell for his work in a national environmental contamination lawsuit. The Powell Law Group is owed between $150 million and $200 million in attorneys fees, or 40 percent of the local share of the settlement.

Hazleton Councilman David Sosar calls for circulating a petition demanding that Mayor Joseph Yannuzzi resign.

Two men break into a home on Winters Avenue in West Hazleton, threaten the resident and steal a 51-inch television, an iPhone and cash.

The Jeddo Tunnel and other acid mine drainage issues are discussed during a forum at Penn State Hazleton sponsored by the Western Pocono Chapter of Trout Unlimited.

22: Kimberly Hons of Mahanoy City is found not guilty of voluntary manslaughter and other charges in the stabbing death of her mother's boyfriend, Lawrence Quinn, on Dec. 1, 2013.

Weatherly Area School Board approves salary increases for a number of administrators.

23: West Hazleton borough officially exits financially distressed status after nine years.

A Commonwealth Court panel upholds Schuylkill County Court's rejection of a special exception for a proposed cargo airport near Humboldt.

Hazleton Area School Board votes 7-2 to reject another bill for unsuitable soil at the Maple Manor Elementary/Middle School expansion project. The bill was for $114,226.14.

24: After a suspected case of mumps is found at Drums Elementary/Middle School, the Hazleton Area School District orders students who attend the school who are at risk for contracting the disease to stay home until Nov. 11.

Luzerne County issues a request for proposals for the purchase of the Broad Street Business Exchange in downtown Hazleton.

The second annual Jobs For You Expo is held at Hazleton Area High School.

26: Gunshots are fired outside Empire Hooka Lounge, 41 E. Broad St., Hazleton. City police responded to multiple disturbances at the business earlier in the morning, resulting in arrests.

State police arrest a Scranton man on drug charges after he fell asleep in a taxicab and was found with a large quantity of heroin, $1,000 cash and synthetic marijuana.

A man armed with a gun threatens a clerk and takes money from the register at Pantry Quik, 145 E. Diamond Ave., Hazleton.

27: A charge of criminal homicide against Amir M. Edwards, 27, of Hazleton is bound over for court after a preliminary hearing. Edwards is charged in the stabbing death of Zachary J. Richards on Sept. 11 in a home on Cleveland Street in Hazleton.

Mary Jimison, 83, dies from injuries sustained in a fire at her home on Seybert Street in Hazleton two days earlier.

28: The Brueningsen Memorial Food Pantry in Freeland holds its inaugural food distribution.

29: Matthew Nonnemacher, an employee of Boyer's supermarket in Hazleton, wins a trophy as Pennsylvania's Best Bagger in a competition hosted by the Pennsylvania Food Merchants Association in Harrisburg.

Mahanoy Area School District students are dismissed early for the second consecutive day after a "threatening message" was found in a bathroom, according to Mahanoy City police Chief John Kaczmarczyk.

30: Tamaqua Area and North Schuylkill school districts deal with bomb threats. Tamaqua Area High School students were evacuated to the auditorium while the building was cleared, and North Schuylkill students were evacuated about a half-hour prior to dismissal.

31: Charles P. Chiao, the husband of Mahanoy Township Supervisor Sharon Chiao, is charged with two counts each of simple assault and disorderly conduct and other charges in relation to an alleged assault following a board of supervisors meeting on Oct. 16.

November

1: Two men are shot near North Wyoming and First streets in Hazleton.

Flames level a home in a remote area of Ryan Township.

3: Hazleton Mayor Joseph Yannuzzi introduces his proposed 2015 budget that increases property taxes by 26 percent, revives a stormwater maintenance fee and allocates money for a full-time city solicitor.

A man sustains a serious stab wound to his right forearm while handing money to a man who was robbing him near Alter and Second streets in Hazleton. One of two suspects, Jeury Caraballo-Jimenez, 24, was taken into custody in the 500 block of Alter Street and charged with robbery, aggravated assault and criminal trespass.

Foster Township Planning Commission decides that EDF Renewable Energy's plans to construct up to 25 wind turbines at three sites does not fit the township's land development and comprehensive plans.

Beaver Meadows Borough Council appoints former councilman Kevin Hines to fill a vacancy on the governing body.

Careless smoking was ruled as the cause of a fire at the rear of the 800 block of Alter Street in Hazleton.

4: While resting in a Hershey hospital, U.S. Rep. Lou Barletta, R-11, is re-elected to a third term in Congress. Barletta underwent a procedure to clear a build-up of plaque in a cartoid artery the previous evening. U.S. Rep. Matt Cartwright, D-17, was re-elected to a second term.

East Union Township voters reject a referendum to increase the board of supervisors from three to five members.

5: Hazleton City Council kills a proposal by Mayor Joseph Yannuzzi to provide a cellphone payment option for downtown parking.

6: The Carbon County Prison Board votes unanimously to fire Warden Joseph Gross.

7: West Hazleton police Chief Brian Buglio and other law enforcement officials tell the Pennsylvania Economy League at a meeting in Wilkes-Barre that heroin is affecting the region at epidemic levels and the problem is only going to get worse.

Amy Lynn Boppel, 36, of Ashland is charged with homicide by vehicle while under the influence and other felony offenses in relation to a crash in which Mary Lou Leiby of Ringtown was killed on June 25.

8: Hazleton police investigate two unrelated stabbing incidents. In the first, a 17-year-old West Hazleton girl was taken into custody and charged after a male was stabbed in the back during a domestic dispute at a residence in the 500 block of Lincoln Street. About an hour and a half later, a 51-year-old Hazleton man was stabbed with a kitchen knife while fighting with another man at a residence near South Pine and East Mine streets.

10: Hazleton Mayor Joseph Yannuzzi attends a city council budget work session, his first appearance at a council meeting since February.

Shenandoah Valley and Panther Valley school districts join Wilkes-Barre Area and advocacy groups in a lawsuit calling for an end to sharp inequities in funding for public education throughout Pennsylvania.

11: Americans are growing detached from their military, retired Air Force Maj. Gen. William B. Lynch tells the audience during a Veterans Day ceremony at Hazleton City Hall.

For the third time in three weeks, Mahanoy Area School District students are dismissed early after a threatening message is found written on a bathroom wall.

12: Weatherly Area School Board reappoints Superintendent Thomas McLaughlin for a four-year term that runs through June 30, 2018.

13: Hazleton Area School District parents express their frustrations over new state academic standards during a forum on PA Common Core hosted by the Hazleton Area PTA Council.

16: Fire destroys two homes and an apartment building and damages two other structures in the 500 block of West Centre Street in Shenandoah, leaving 21 people homeless.

Three Shenandoah men are jailed on charges related to the beating of a man who was taken to a trauma center with serious injuries.

17: A 30-year-old man tells state police he was stabbed during an altercation with two men in the Hickory Hills development in Foster Township. The victim sustained two minor stab wounds, police said.

18: Hazleton City Council scraps a tax increase proposed for 2015 by Mayor Joseph Yannuzzi to hire 10 additional full-time police officers.

19: A pre-dawn drug sweep takes 47 suspected drug dealers off the streets in the Shenandoah area. A total of 92 arrest warrants were issued.

Five state legislators and a Luzerne County councilman join students and parents at St. Jude School in Mountain Top for an event celebrating its recognition as a 2014 National Blue Ribbon School.

A district judge rules that a summary harassment charge against Luzerne County Council Chairman Rick Morelli will be dropped in a year as long as he and the man he is charged with harassing have no contact.

Penn State Hazleton Chancellor Gary Lawler shows a video of the campus and talks about its growth during a Greater Hazleton Chamber of Commerce Red Carpet Breakfast held at the campus' Slusser-Bayzick building.

20: Richard Hughes is unanimously elected president judge of the Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas by his colleagues.

A federal court jury clears three Hazleton police officers of using excessive force during a traffic stop in 2011.

21: A day after Hazleton police issue a scam alert about a man posing as a city fire inspector, the man -- from East Stroudsburg -- said he was servicing clients and soliciting new customers for his fire extinguisher business.

Schuylkill United Way officials report that the 2015 fundraising campaign raised $995,000, about 2 percent short of its $1.015 million goal. The officials said they were pleased with the total.

22: Terence M. O'Donnell of Freeland is arrested on charges that he held a loaded shotgun to the faces of three people inside his Centre Street home, refusing to let them leave the residence, according to borough police.

A wildfire scorches 7 acres on top of the Freeland Mountain, outside Beech Mountain Lakes, in Butler Township.

23: Michael McDonough, 46, of White Haven is arraigned on four counts of robbery and one count of terroristic threats in connection with a robbery at PNC Bank in Avoca two days earlier.

24: PPL Electric Utilities announces a nearly 4 percent increase in default electric rates for the three-month period starting Dec. 1.

Bryant X. Peguero of Hazleton is sentenced to 13 to 30 1/2 years in prison for raping a woman in the city on June 16, 2012.

25: A teenage boy and girl are wounded by a bullet fired by a hunter near the Tamaqua/Walker Township border.

An auditor tells Luzerne County Council that the government had an estimated $10.1 million deficit in 2013.

26: The season's first snowstorm drops about 9 inches on the Hazleton area.

28: On Black Friday, about 1,400 Luzerne County employees learn their paychecks had not been deposited into their bank accounts. County officials attributed the error to a miscommunication and said they had corrected it by the afternoon.

Windy conditions prevent Santa Claus from parachuting into Veterans Memorial Stadium in Shenandoah, arriving instead on a firetruck.

December

1: Coordinated Health's plans for a medical clinic and 20-bed hospital in Humboldt Station are put on hold when a Hazle Township Zoning Board hearing is postponed because nobody had a key to get into the township Commons building.

Luzerne County budget and policy analyst Jason Parrish is fired for an error that resulted in about 1,400 employees not being paid on time, even though Parrish was on vacation when the mistake happened.

2: An audit report presented to Hazleton City Council indicates that the city ended 2013 with a $285,355 fund balance.

A light mix of snow, sleet and freezing rain causes local school districts to dismiss classes early.

A railroad crossing safety arm at South Church and Chestnut streets comes down on the roof of a school bus carrying 25 Hazleton Area High School students. District Superintendent Dr. Francis X. Antonelli commended the bus driver for being extra cautious at the crossing.

Larry Wittig again is elected president of the Tamaqua Area School Board, which he has led since 1995.

Jeffrey J. Pecha of Nesquehoning reports to state police that three men robbed him of money and jewelry in his room at the Penn Terrace Motel in Hazle Township.

3: James Chapman, a retired teacher, coach and principal, was elected president of the Hazleton Area School Board during its reorganization meeting. Tony Bonomo was elected vice president.

Black Creek Township supervisors adopt a $912,337 budget for 2015 that does not increase property taxes.

Foster Township zoning board denies a special exception for EDF Renewable Energy's proposal to place wind turbines in three locations.

4: A minor fire breaks out in a room behind a store at the Laurel Mall in Hazle Township. The building's fire-suppression system doused the flames before firefighters arrived.

Hazleton City Authority's board approves an audit report that shows the authority finished its 2013-14 year in an "overall healthy" financial position.

Late-night sightings of a bear are reported at West Diamond Avenue and Laurel Street, Laurel and Acacia streets and at the Pine Street Playground in Hazleton.

7: A fire destroys a double home and attached garage with an apartment on Sunny Drive in Mary D, leaving seven people homeless.

8: Hazle Township Zoning Board grants a special exception to an Allentown firm that plans to build a medical office building for Coordinated Health in Humboldt Station. The building will include a 20-bed outpatient hospital.

Hazle Township supervisors adopt a $3.81 million budget for 2015 that includes no tax or fee increases.

Ryan Township supervisors approve a 2015 budget that increases property taxes 1 mill.

9: West Hazleton Borough Council adopts a 2015 budget of $2.15 million that increases property taxes by .9 mill to offset rising pension and insurance costs.

10: A gas leak forces the evacuation of Kmart in the Laurel Mall. The store reopened about an hour later.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony is held at West Hazleton's new police station in the former borough annex on East Broad Street.

11: Carbon County commissioners unanimously adopt a $43.3 million budget for 2015 with no increase in property taxes.

Hazleton City Council votes 4-1 to table the 2015 budget on second reading after voting for amendments that put revenue projections about $619,000 below estimated expenses.

Marc Cherasaro, 40, a caterer who worked out of the Jeddo Stars in Hazle Township, dies in a fire at his home in the 600 block of Vine Street in Freeland. His death was ruled accidental, due to carbon monoxide intoxication.

Ronald A. Kozak, 67, of Shenandoah Heights is acquitted of all charges in the shooting death of his neighbor, 60-year-old Joseph Boris, during a dispute Jan. 18.

Schools are closed after about 6 inches of snow falls in the area overnight and most of the morning.

12: A groundbreaking ceremony is held for Gennaro Gardens, an $8.9 million project that will put 36 apartments for senior citizens on the site of the former D.A. Harman school in Hazleton. The complex is named for Charles Gennaro, longtime chairman of the Hazleton Housing Authority board of directors.

15: Luzerne County Council rejects a proposed 4 percent property tax increase for 2015 and instead repeals the homestead exemption on taxes for three years. The exemption in 2013 was $57 for each primary residence.

16: A meeting of Luzerne County Council comes to an abrupt halt when minority members who opposed repealing the homestead property tax exemption a day earlier walked out at the start of a work session, causing the body to lose its quorum.

17: State Public Utility Commission officials visit Hazleton to study visibility issues at a railroad crossing at South Church and West Chestunt streets, where a crossing gate fell on a school bus on Dec. 2. Officials from the city, Pennsylvania Department of Transportation and Norfolk Southern Railroad also were present.

A 17-year-old boy sustains a gunshot wound in an incident near East Second Street and Scott Court.

Hazleton City Council approves on first reading a $9.28 million budget for 2015 that will not increase property taxes and eliminates a maintenance fee for the stormwater system. It also increases the city's share of the real estate transfer tax by .5 percent.

18: Two Hazleton schools -- Arthur Street Elementary and Hazleton Elementary/Middle -- are locked down after shots are fired near East Fifth Street and Garibaldi Court and a man is taken into custody at East Eighth and Garfield streets in relation to a domestic dispute.

Hazleton Area School Board fires ninth-grade principal Thomas Chirico on a 7-2 vote.

21: Joe Maddon hosts his fourth annual Thanksmas dinner at the Hazleton One Community Center.

22: Hazleton Mayor Joseph Yannuzzi announces a new candidate for full-time city solicitor, Wilkes-Barre attorney Robert M. Cohen. Yannuzzi said he didn't agree to some of the demands sought by his first choice, Hazleton native Amanda M. Sidari.

Two males rob Community Bank, Airport Road, Hazle Township.

Freeland Borough Council finalizes the 2015 budget including a 1.4-mill increase in property taxes.

23: Otto McNab Jr. of Hazleton pleads guilty to one count of robbery for a holdup at Susquehanna Bank in the Valley Plaza, Conyngham, on Aug. 22, 2011. He also pleaded guilty to charges in three unrelated incidents.

A 20-year-old Hazleton woman and a 15-year-old boy from Freeland are charged after allegedly fleeing from a stolen vehicle near South Cedar Street and Samuels Avenue in the city's Heights section.

Five people are jailed on charges related to a burglary earlier in the week at a home on West Beech Street in Hazleton.

Angel Carmona, 38, of Shenandoah is attacked from behind at North Laurel and West First streets in Hazleton. The thief stole her purse and Christmas presents she was carrying.

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(c) Standard-Speaker, Hazleton, Pa.