Hazleton

Anthony D. Romero is the executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union The mean-spirited anti-immigrant laws of Hazleton, Pa., went on trial Monday. That judicial spotlight will expose the laws as misguided, unconstitutional and undemocratic. The laws would revoke the business permits of landlords who do not immediately evict anyone the city identifies as an "illegal alien"; they also would shut down businesses that did not immediately fire such persons. They would require anyone wanting rental housing to provide immigration documentation to the city.

The Chester Clippers barely let the Wilson Bulldogs up for air during the second half of the second-round PIAA Class AAAA tournament game last night at West Chester University. The Clippers' stifling defense gave them a 58-47 win over the Bulldogs from West Lawn, and advanced Chester to the state quarterfinals against Hazleton, a 85-72 winner over Allentown-Dieruff, on Saturday at a site and time to be decided. After a first-half stalemate (29-29), the Clippers allowed their opponents only 18 points in the entire second half.

A massive drug sweep that netted at least two non-U.S. citizens in Hazleton, Pa., demonstrates that local municipalities need the power to crack down on illegal immigrants, according to the city's mayor, Lou Barletta. After a seven-month investigation, the state Attorney General's Office announced Thursday that it had charged 40 people - all of them suspected dealers - with involvement in a Northeast Pennsylvania cocaine ring that allegedly made $31 million over three years and is based in Hazleton.

Decibels were not enough to stop Penn Wood's Rap Curry last night. With a large, pro-Hazleton crowd screaming for a miss, Curry hit two free throws with four seconds to play to give the Patriots a 66-64 victory over previously unbeaten Hazleton in a PIAA Class AAAA Eastern Regional semifinal before about 6,000 fans at Lehigh University's Stabler Arena. Curry, a junior point guard, had already scored 24 points when he made the biggest steal of his career, which led to the crucial free throws.

In a high-profile Pennsylvania case that helped spark the ongoing national debate over immigration policy, a federal appeals court ruled Thursday that the City of Hazleton has no right to punish businesses or landlords who hire or rent to illegal immigrants. The ruling, by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in Philadelphia, upheld a 2007 lower-court decision prohibiting Hazleton from enforcing local immigration ordinances. The judges said federal immigration law preempted Hazleton's controversial 2006 initiatives.

Chester used its superior depth to down taller Hazleton, 76-60, yesterday in the quarterfinals of the PIAA Class AAAA tournament at Lehigh University. The Clippers advanced to the Eastern final against Carlisle on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. at Reading High. Chester was bothered by the Mountaineers' height early in the game. Hazleton sophomore forward Jeff Antolick collected 10 points as the Mountaineers threw over Chester's press in the first quarter. When Antolick wasn't dunking on the fastbreak, junior Bob Krizansky was helping himself to rebounds as the Mountaineers took a 20-16 lead.

The only player missing when Pennsbury defeated Hazleton, 6-0, in a softball tournament last month here at Patriots Field was Michelle Morris, who was the starting pitcher in every one of Hazleton's 22 other games. The senior righthander was at her prom that night. Morris was back on the mound for the Cougars yesterday, and she kept Pennsbury's batters off balance with her slow stuff as Hazleton advanced to the PIAA Class AAA state semifinals with a 3-0 victory over the District 1 champion Falcons.

Heaps of slag dot the outskirts of Hazleton. The black hills, now merely obstacles for kids on ATV bikes to jump, date from the city's heyday as a coal-mining hub. They are reminders of a vanished past in a place lately given to evoking the way things used to be. Before Latinos started to arrive by the thousands five years ago. And before the small city in the Poconos foothills passed a first-of-its-kind ordinance this summer intended to scatter...

Kelly Culp did not play for Central Bucks South in Thursday's PIAA state Class AAAA softball quarterfinal tournament game against Hazleton, but she was a key factor in the Titans' 7-1 win. With no score in the fifth inning, Hazleton had a runner on third base who apparently scored on a sacrifice fly to C.B. South rightfielder Shana Steigerwalt. But from the bench, Culp alerted her coaches that the runner failed to tag up, and the runner was called out on an appeal to end the inning and keep the game scoreless.

Downingtown East had to weather a late barrage of three-pointers, but used its superior height and free-throw shooting to beat Hazleton, 48-35, last night in the second round of the state girls' basketball playoffs at Martz Hall. The victory put East (25-6), the District 1 runner-up, in the quarterfinals of the PIAA Class AAAA state girls' basketball tournament against Harrisburg on Friday at a site to be determined. East received 18 points from 6-foot-5 junior center Emma Moretzsohn, who towered over the tallest Hazleton player, 5-10 Rachel Weismiller.

Through his private consulting service and 45-year career in law enforcement, Ron Smeal has had a hand in building a countless number of regional police departments. Smeal's role in completing state- and locally funded regional police studies dates to when the state Department of Community and Economic Development was known as the Department of Community Affairs. In 1980, he left his first police job in State College to serve as chief of the Northern York County Regional Police Department.

A rising star among local lawyers, Elena Park, 40, of Cozen O'Connor, was honored recently by the American Bar Association with a 2011 Pro Bono Publico Award for extraordinary dedication in providing 200 hours a year of free representation to needy immigrants. Born in Canada to parents who moved there from Korea, Park is herself an immigrant, now a U.S. citizen, with special empathy for her clients. A graduate of the University of Toronto and Temple Law School, she joined Cozen O'Connor in 1999.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday gave the Northeastern Pennsylvania city of Hazleton another chance to resurrect its 2006 ordinance cracking down on illegal immigrants. The closely watched local law would penalize landlords who rented to illegal immigrants, and employers who hired them. It was immediately challenged by Hispanic and other groups, and blocked in 2007 by a federal district court. Last year, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in Philadelphia affirmed the lower court's ruling.

In a high-profile Pennsylvania case that helped spark the ongoing national debate over immigration policy, a federal appeals court ruled Thursday that the City of Hazleton has no right to punish businesses or landlords who hire or rent to illegal immigrants. The ruling, by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in Philadelphia, upheld a 2007 lower-court decision prohibiting Hazleton from enforcing local immigration ordinances. The judges said federal immigration law preempted Hazleton's controversial 2006 initiatives.

Kelly Culp did not play for Central Bucks South in Thursday's PIAA state Class AAAA softball quarterfinal tournament game against Hazleton, but she was a key factor in the Titans' 7-1 win. With no score in the fifth inning, Hazleton had a runner on third base who apparently scored on a sacrifice fly to C.B. South rightfielder Shana Steigerwalt. But from the bench, Culp alerted her coaches that the runner failed to tag up, and the runner was called out on an appeal to end the inning and keep the game scoreless.

Baseball PA. INDEPENDENT SCHOOLS TOURNAMENT Germantown Acad. 14, Germantown Friends 4 Germantown Academy 13, Mercersburg 1 Germantown Friends 5, Chestnut Hill 4 PIAA State Class AAA BOYS' EVENTS Team scoring: Altoona 47, Central Bucks South 24, Cardinal O'Hara 24, Methacton 20, Penn Hills 20, State College 20. 100 meters: 1, Tyler Smith, Norristown, 10.65. 2, Alex Kenney, State College, 10.74. 3, Andre Williams, Parkland, 10.76. 4, Myron Ross, Wissahickon, 10.76.

Federal agents seized boxes and documents this week from two Hazleton area companies with contracts to transport dredge material from a Navy pier on the Schuylkill in Philadelphia. Authorities, including agents from the FBI's Scranton office, raided offices of Fort Mifflin Reclamation Associates Inc. in Kingston near Wilkes Barre, and Hazleton Creek Properties L.L.C., Hazleton, on Tuesday. Fort Mifflin Reclamation won a $21 million contract in 2006 from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to haul 500,000 cubic yards of sediment to Hazleton as fill for abandoned mines, said Corps spokeswoman Sarah Rivette.

The last time Council Rock North lost a playoff game this season, the Indians received a second chance and capitalized, winning three straight District 1 consolation games to earn a PIAA state playoff berth as the district's ninth and final seed in Class AAAA. But the Indians' season ended after last night's 58-55 home defeat to Hazleton, District 2's second seed, in the play-in round of the state tournament. "When we lost to Chester, we were hungry to get back into states," Indians junior forward John Raymon said of his team's second-round District 1 tournament upset defeat.

A Hazleton, Pa., lawyer who grew rich paying cash bribes to judges who sent youngsters to his juvenile facility agreed yesterday to plead guilty to two felonies and to relinquish his interest in a yacht and a corporate jet. The lawyer, Robert J. Powell, 49, will continue cooperating with federal prosecutors in the sprawling Luzerne County corruption probe that has resulted in a slew of criminal charges, including guilty pleas from two top former...

West Chester Henderson had stayed close to Downingtown East in the teams' second regular-season meeting, battling to the final minute and losing by just four points. That said, the Warriors believed a slightly improved effort vs. the Cougars in the third go-around between Ches-Mont League National Division neighbors could result in a victory. Unfortunately for Henderson, which this season made its first appearance in the state tournament, that did not come close to happening against East coach Bob Schnure and his playoff-savvy Cougars.