Magisterial District Judge William J. Kissner of Palmerton was again certified for service as a member of the Pennsylvania Unified Judicial system after successful completion of continuing legal education course work.

Conducted by the Minor Judiciary Education Board and the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts, the educational program for magisterial district judges is held in Harrisburg.The weeklong program is designed to ensure that district judges remain current in a variety of legal topics and management techniques required to fairly adjudicate cases and effectively supervise a district court office.Included in this year's curriculum are updates on the vehicle code, civil law update, landlord/tenant update, international property maintenance codes (universal BOCA code), active shooter awareness, ethics, mental health law update, constables and the fee bill, mental health behavioral clinical assessments, bail and PFA, drugs and electronic wiretap, criminal law update, language access in Pennsylvania counts, veterans programming update, AOPC update, drug recognition testimony, truancy and SORNA update, MDJS updates, stress management and ethics, phishing, vishing and other viral threats.Continuing education coursework is required by statute of each of the more than 500 state magisterial district judges, with about 50 magisterial district judges attending one of 13 such classes during each academic year.District Judges represent the "grass roots" level of the state judicial system. In counties other than Philadelphia, district judges have jurisdiction over summary, criminal and motor vehicle cases; landlord/tenant matters; and other civil actions were the amount claimed does not exceed $12,000.District judges may also accept guilty pleas in misdemeanor cases of the third degree under certain circumstances. District judges also have jurisdiction to issue arrest and search warrant and to hold arraignments and preliminary hearing on criminal cases.