News

Lycoming County's public safety director presents plan to ease staffing shortage

News May 30, 2026

When someone calls the county’s 911 center, it’s usually at a time of crisis in their lives. Currently that department is operating significantly below the 18 personnel that they are authorized to have with 11 positions vacant, a situation that may not be resolved for some time due to the training, background investigations and medical screenings involved once the appropriate candidates are found. “It’s not a comfortable number to say out loud, but I think the board deserves honesty. The public we serve deserves a department that owns where it is and what it plans to ...

Attorney’s concerns include water, proximity of proposed egg farm in Muncy Creek Township

News May 30, 2026

“It is not just a case where ‘it’s allowed to be here, so let’s let it happen’ . . . sometimes just because something can be done does not mean it ought to be done.” That is what attorney Layne Oden, who lives half a mile from the proposed concentrated animal feeding operation (CAFO) and solar farm by Sunny Side Up Farms and Bollinger Solar LLC, said in closing remarks during a conditional use hearing for the proposed CAFO, which would consist of five-barns housing 350,000 chickens and Bollinger’s 52,000-plus solar energy facility on land zoned for agricultural ...

News May 30, 2026

Warning that the county is facing a possible “public safety disaster,” particularly as seasonal threats of thunderstorms approach, James Pfleegor, a retired 911 dispatcher, urged the Lycoming County commissioners and Public Safety Director Forest Rothchild to find a short-term solution. Referring to the plan to resolve the staffing shortage at the 911 Call Center, which had been presented to the board by Rothchild, Pfleegor said that it might meet the needs in the long run, but not the immediate concerns. “It looks like he does have a good long term program, but your problem ...

Pedestrian dies after being struck by SUV on I-180 in Fairfield Township

News May 29, 2026

A male pedestrian critically injured Friday night when he was struck by an SUV on Interstate 180 near Montoursville has died, the Lycoming County Coroner's Office confirmed. The victim died in the operating room at UPMC Williamsport shortly after 8 p.m., a deputy coroner said. His ...

Nine motorists charged by area police with DUI

News May 29, 2026

Nine motorists have been charged by area police with DUI, according to court records that were recently made public. Those charged were: Mary Catherine Hagen, 65, of Tyrone, Georgia, state police following a crash at East Third Street and Shiffler Avenue in Loyalsock Township on Tuesday; ...

Teen seriously hurt after being struck by car near his Trout Run home

News May 29, 2026

TROUT RUN — A teenage boy from here was being treated at UPMC Williamsport for serious injuries he suffered when he was struck by a car on Route 14, just about 150 yards south of the firehouse, about 5:45 p.m. Thursday, according to emergency responders. He was loaded into an ambulance and ...