Inmates transferred

Schuylkill County will ship 40 inmates to prisons in Delaware and Lycoming counties to comply with a state order to alleviate overcrowding.Fifteen women will be sent to the state correctional facility at Muncy, about 64 miles away, at a cost of $60 per inmate per day. Twenty-five men will be sent to George Hill Correctional Facility, Thornton, about 83 miles away, at a cost of up to $60 a day each under a one-year agreement.Electric rate hike OK'dPPL customers should expect to see an increase in the amount they pay for electricity next year. State regulators announced they have approved a request from the utility to raise the rates it charges customers to distribute power to their homes.The increase applies to any customer who receives a bill from PPL, regardless of whether or not they use a different electric supplier to generate their power. Under the rate hike approved by the Pennsylvania Public Utilities Commission, a typical customer using 1,000 kWh will see their bill increase by 5.11 percent, about $7.53 per month.No tax increaseCarbon County residents can expect to pay the same amount on their county taxes in 2016.During the county commissioners' meeting, the board voted to approve the tentative 2016 spending plan, calling for the millage to remain at 10.25. That means a homeowner with a $100,000 home that is assessed at $50,000 will pay $512.50 in county real estate taxes again next year. The budget, which is broken down into operating funds, $42,576,007; capital projects, $509,086; and special funds, $2,505,072, totals $45,590,165.Assessment loweredA Nesquehoning-based business will see a reduction in its fair market value of two of its properties, per a court stipulation, resulting in less tax revenue coming into the borough, Panther Valley School District and Carbon County.Per the stipulation of counsel agreement between Ametek Inc., Carbon County, Nesquehoning and Panther Valley School District, the company's two properties in question, which originally were valued at a total of assessed value of $1,333,331, will now total $947,867 for tax year 2015 based on that year's common level ratio factor; and $930,232 for 2016 and beyond.The fair market value for assessment purposes of the two properties is $2 million, down from the $2.8 million it initially had been.That means that for 2015, Carbon County will return $3,871.99 to Ametek; while Panther Valley will lose $22,238; and Nesquehoning, $6,331, according to Kim Steigerwalt, chief assessor in the Carbon County Tax Assessment office.CCTI has best yearbookCarbon Career and Technical Institute is home to the nation's top yearbook for the second straight year."The Craftsman" took first place in the high school division of the 6th Annual National Yearbook Competition sponsored by Entourage Yearbooks. The overall category entries were judged according to consistency, theme and coverage. Over 1,000 yearbooks were submitted for judging.Fire destroys Tamaqua homesThree people were left homeless and seven others were displaced in a fire in Tamaqua's South Ward. The cause was determined to be accidental. The fast-moving blaze quickly destroyed attached houses at 129 and 131 Orwigsburg St. An adjacent duplex at 125 and 127 Orwigsburg sustained damage. The intense heat melted vinyl siding on houses located across the street.Farmhouse destroyedFive residents of a historic, 190-year-old farmhouse fled to safety as the second house fire in 24 hours struck the Tamaqua area less than a week before Thanksgiving. The Schuylkill Communications Center dispatched regional units and tanker trucks around 6:30 p.m. to 252 Hillside Drive, Barnesville, for a working structure fire.Hunter shoots womanA New Jersey woman was slightly injured when a Lehighton man hunting coyotes in East Penn Township accidentally shot her.State Game Commission officials interviewed Michael Harvan who said he was hunting coyotes when he mistook the woman for game, said Bill Williams, information and education supervisor for the Game Commission's Northeast region.The woman, identified as Sharon Krause, was taken to the Gnaden Huetten campus of Blue Mountain Health System after the bullet grazed her leg.Hospital donatesSt. Luke's Miners Campus has agreed to give Coaldale Borough a cash donation in exchange for some of the services that the borough provides the nonprofit hospital tax-free, according to borough officials.The donation is the latest development in the complicated relationship between the hospital and the three entities that collect property taxes in Coaldale. Borough officials recently announced that the hospital recently agreed to contribute $34,000 to the borough's coffers.To be tried as adultJamie Lynn Silvonek, 14, will stand trial as an adult for the March killing of her mother, Cheryl Silvonek, formerly of Jim Thorpe, in the driveway of their Upper Macungie Township home.Since being charged with allegedly plotting with her then 20-year-old boyfriend Caleb Barnes to kill her mother, Silvonek has been held as an adult in Lehigh Count Prison.Her defense attorney, John Waldron, filed a request for decertification, and three weeks ago Lehigh County Judge Maria Dantos heard evidence from both the defense and the prosecution. Dantos denied Silvonek's request to transfer proceedings to juvenile court.