Lebanon Daily News
AI school flips learning on its head
Matt Shenker recently witnessed a group of fourth and fifth graders at Alpha School Scottsdale doing what he said boys that age do: calling each other fat and making jokes at each other’s expense. At most schools, a teacher or staff member would step...
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Israel kills another top Iranian official
Israel said it had killed Iran’s intelligence minister in its second targeted killing of a top leader in two days, as President Donald Trump suggested he might abandon the task of reopening the Strait of Hormuz to shipping traffic, Iran’s huge Pars...
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Board censures member over social media comment
Lebanon School District officials approved a public censure against a board member’s ‘discriminatory’ social media comments March 16, and called for him to resign. In a 8-1 vote, Lebanon Area School Board of Directors passed a resolution calling for...
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Venezuela’s students reclaim the streets
In mid-February, hundreds of students from Venezuela’s most prestigious university did the once unthinkable: Their protest left the campus of the Central University of Venezuela in Caracas and spilled out into a nearby street. Before the U.S. military...
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Local shelter expansion begins
The Lebanon Rescue Mission broke ground on March 12 on its Agape Safe Haven expansion project, which, when completed, will significantly increase the mission’s capacity to serve people experiencing homelessness. The new facility will be located across...
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Controversial beaver pond may get removed
Years of debates over beavers on the Gettysburg battlefield have been reignited amid reports that federal officials are pushing local staff for the eviction of a colony of beavers on the Gettysburg battlefield. A recent call to action from the South...
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Wanted: Volunteers to host nuclear waste
WASHINGTON – The Trump administration’s plan to unleash a wave of small futuristic nuclear reactors to power the AI era is falling back on an age-old strategy to dispose of the highly toxic waste: bury it at the bottom of a very deep hole. But there’s...
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Garman Builders to open new housing development
Garman Builders is preparing to open a new single-family home community in South Annville Township, with a public grand opening scheduled for March 14. County and local officials, along with members of the Annville-Cleona School District, attended a...
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MALARIA FIGHT MOVES FORWARD
Every year, malaria kills more than 600,000 people worldwide. Most of them are children under 5 in sub-Saharan Africa. But the disease isn’t confined to poor, rural areas – it’s a global threat that travels with people across borders. For decades, the...
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Red Cross honored for Lebanon Co. service
American Red Cross officers are calling on donors to help the national blood supply recover following a severe shortage, with county officials recognizing the organization’s efforts within the Lebanon community. During their meeting March 5, the...
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Civil rights veterans see familiar repression
Federal immigration agents in military gear roam city streets, wielding tear gas, pepper spray and firearms against protesters. They forcibly enter homes to make warrantless arrests. Bystanders who record enforcement actions are swept up and...
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Officials table ICE protesters’ resolution
Lebanon County Commissioners did not take an official vote on a proposed resolution Thursday, March 5, that would discourage local law enforcement from assisting with non-criminal immigration enforcement actions. The resolution, presented to...
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Protesters still call for a Rep. Meuser town hall
Nearing the one year anniversary of calling for a public town hall with U.S. Rep. Dan Meuser, Mondays with Meuser protesters say they will be bringing their concerns about potential increased U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement presence to county...
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Trump looks for loyalty from his ambassadors
Just before Christmas, President Donald Trump fired more than two dozen career ambassadors. The action was unprecedented, providing a clear signal that when it comes to diplomacy, Trump values loyalty above all else. All ambassadors face a persistent...
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HACKING THE GRID
The darkness that swept over the Venezuelan capital in the predawn hours of Jan. 3 signaled a profound shift in the nature of modern conflict: the convergence of physical and cyber warfare. While U.S. special operations forces carried out the dramatic...
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Palmyra board OKs $2.1M HVAC fix for local school
Palmyra school officials approved a $2.1 million contract to replace 58 HVAC units at Pine Street Elementary after the district discovered a mold issue in the summer of 2025. Elected school board members approved the $2.1 million contract with the...
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Dubai’s safe-haven status put to the test
DUBAI – For decades, Dubai’s sales pitch featured gleaming skylines, taxfree salaries, ease of doing business and something far more intangible: the unspoken promise that whatever was happening elsewhere in the Middle East, this city was different. The...
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Iranian Americans split over U.S. military attacks
Military strikes in Iran have highlighted deep chasms between Iranian Americans seeking to overthrow the country’s government and others who wanted a peaceful resolution through negotiations. The United States and Israel launched military strikes and...
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Shapiro pushes back on ICE centers
Gov. Josh Shapiro gave an update on proposed ICE detention centers Thursday, Feb. 26, saying his administration plans to do everything to keep them from opening. Shapiro met with state and local leaders of Berks and Schuylkill counties for more than...
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Art collection reveals Susquehanna’s history
It all started with a petroglyph. The petroglyph in question was among a collection of carvings in rock found near Safe Harbor in the lower Susquehanna River, etched onto stone with crude tools by the artisans of the Algonquian tribes that inhabited...
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‘Snowicane’ just bluster, some say
A raucous winter storm that clobbered the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic was both perilous and a “meteorological masterpiece” that hit a sweet spot for maximum snowfall over the warm Atlantic waters and cooler mainland United States. More than one...
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Push to automate science with AI has constraints
Consistent with the general trend of incorporating artificial intelligence into nearly every field, researchers and politicians are increasingly using AI models trained on scientific data to infer answers to scientific questions. But can AI ultimately...
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‘A regional asset’
Officials are looking to highlight the ecological efforts in Coleman Memorial Park in 2026, while representatives lay out their upcoming projects and events for the upcoming year to residents. Organizers want to register Coleman Memorial Park as a...
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Heated meeting
A special Myerstown Borough Council meeting devolved at times into shouting matches as residents and council members spent more than two hours discussing options for police coverage in the borough. More than 100 people gathered at the Myerstown...
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Epstein controversy could sink Starmer
With a series of resignations in his Cabinet linked to another batch of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein being released, U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer is under fire, even though he never knew the convicted sex offender, experts say. “His...
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ICE, county agencies expand partnership
Four Lebanon County law enforcement agencies have signed on to a program to serve as immigration enforcers. The county’s District Attorney’s Office and Sheriff ’s Office, as well as the Lebanon County Regional and South Lebanon Township police...
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Live drummer saves friend’s life after cardiac arrest
Chad Gracey garnered a measure of fame as the rock band Live’s drummer based on his sense of rhythm. That skill came in handy when a friend, George Taylor, suffered a heart attack while hiking. Unbeknownst to either man, Taylor’s arteries were 95%...
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Foster hometown pride to grow civic engagement
Eileen Higgins won a historic victory in December. She became the first woman ever elected mayor of Miami, as well as its first Democratic mayor since 1997. h Although the stakes in the city’s Dec. 9, runoff election were high, interest was not − 4 in...
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STUDY: PLANET IS IN WATER BANKRUPTCY
The world is now using so much fresh water amid the consequences of climate change that it has entered an era of water bankruptcy, with many regions no longer able to bounce back from frequent water shortages. About 4 billion people – nearly half the...
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‘We’re going to do everything we can’
Republican U.S. Rep. Dan Meuser said he’s working with federal authorities to address local concerns about planned immigration detention centers, adding that he believes they’ll ultimately be a net positive for the community. Meuser, who represents...
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Palmyra board delays $2.1M HVAC upgrade
Palmyra school officials postponed a decision on needed heating, ventilation and air conditioning upgrades to the Pine Street Elementary School building, possibly delaying the work into the 2026-27 school year and beyond. A majority of the Palmyra...
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AI COMPANIES GEAR UP TO SELL ADS
Eighteen months ago, it was plausible that artificial intelligence might take a different path than social media. Back then, AI’s development hadn’t consolidated under a small number of big tech firms. Nor had it capitalized on consumer attention,...
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Palmyra board approves ‘Alice: La Liste’ after debate
After more than a month of residents voicing their concerns, Palmyra Area School Board members narrowly approved a popular French language reader to be taught in the district. Board members voted 5-3 Feb. 12 to approve “Alice: La Liste” for use in the...
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Couple was hit with 221% health insurance increase
Tom and Carol Shaw are both 63. Tom is retired – he worked for 16 years for Capitol Blue Cross – and Carol teaches project management, part-time, at Harrisburg University. They live in a comfortable home on a cul-de-sac near Lewisberry, where they...
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Pride flag raised again at NYC’s Stonewall
NEW YORK – In defiance of a Trump administration edict, New York City officials and activists raised the rainbow pride flag again on Feb. 12 at the Stonewall National Monument, the birthplace of the LGBTQ+ rights movement, after it was removed over the...
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Student informants spur academic freedom debate
Texas A&M University told philosophy professor Martin Peterson in early January that he could not teach some of Greek philosopher Plato’s writings that touch on “race and gender ideology.” The university’s local chapter of the American Association of...
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County OKs funding for prison fire system updates
Lebanon County officials approved funding for upgrades of the Lebanon County Correctional Facility systems, which were found to be aging out and in need of updating. County commissioners approved $186,000 in funds for upgrades to the facility’s fire...
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Palmyra apartments future still unclear
The fate of proposed luxury apartments in Palmyra is up in the air after zoning board members made their decisions on proposed exemptions and variations by the owner. The Palmyra Zoning Board on Monday, Feb. 9, voted to reject two of Ventura Real...
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Fractures loosen Socialist Party’s grip on Venezuela
On the edge of Venezuela’s main oil city Maracaibo, members of a local branch of the ruling socialist party went door to door in the weeks after U.S. forces captured President Nicolás Maduro, asking residents if they still supported the party that has...
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CURIOUS MIND?
Gretna Theatre’s Outreach Program is bringing its newest educational production to schools and libraries across Lebanon County during this winter. Framed as a wacky morning talk show, organizers said that “The Science of Stuff” invites audiences...
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Plastic turf will end up in PA landfill
Five years ago, a Danish company announced it was taking abroad its mission to save artificial athletic fields from the trash heap, rolling out an ambitious plan to build its first North American recycling plant in Pennsylvania. Officials in the...
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Social media reshaping research on substance use
When you think of tools for studying substance use and addiction, a social media site like Reddit, TikTok or YouTube probably isn’t the first thing that comes to mind. Yet the stories shared on social media platforms are offering unprecedented insights...
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Trump attacking pillars of democracy, group says
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump has attacked key pillars of U.S. democracy, Human Rights Watch warned on Feb. 4 in its annual report, citing the Republican president’s immigration crackdown, threats to voting rights and other policies. Human...
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Pedestrian deaths by trains persisting
In 2018, high-speed passenger trains branded as Brightline started running along the formerly freight-only Florida East Coast Railway. Initial service from Miami to West Palm Beach was extended to Orlando in 2023. h Unfortunately, the southern end of...
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USAID raised early alarm on Gaza crisis
WASHINGTON – U.S. Agency for International Development staffers in early 2024 drafted a warning to senior officials in Joe Biden’s administration: Northern Gaza had turned into an “Apocalyptic Wasteland” with shortages of food and medical aid. Three...
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New SNAP work requirements begin
Nearly 42 million low-income Americans on the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program must now adhere to increased work requirements, major changes that took effect Feb. 1 as part of President Donald Trump’s law known as the One Big...
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City board discusses snow removal efforts
While finalizing a new salary contract with the police department, Lebanon City officials give an update about efforts to clear the roadways after winter storm Fern. As of Thursday, Jan. 29, city work crews removed 361 dump loads, or 5,415 tons of...
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ICE raids could hurt GOP in midterms
President Donald Trump’s stern nationwide campaign against illegal immigration has reached boiling temperatures that could scald Republicans in swing states and districts ahead of the 2026 midterm election. Outrage over immigration enforcement tactics...
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Trump actions worry free-speech advocates
The FBI search of a Washington Post reporter’s home on Jan. 14 was a rare and intimidating move by an administration focused on repressing criticism and dissent. In its story about the search at Hannah Natanson’s home, at which FBI agents said they...
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Can ‘Trump Accounts’ increase savings?
NEW YORK – “Trump Accounts” are tax-advantaged investment accounts designed to boost the savings of U.S. citizens under the age of 18. More than 500,000 families have signed up for the program. The government will launch the program in July. The U.S....
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Consumer-driven future seen for GLP-1 drugs
LONDON – Ask executives in the health care industry about the future market for weight-loss drugs and the analogies are telling: monthly GLP-1 medicine subscriptions like a streaming video membership; dose decisions managed on a smartphone app; access...
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Lebanon Fair Queen Olivia Morrissey crowned
Lebanon Area Fair Queen Olivia Morrissey was crowned the 2026 Pennsylvania Fair Queen on Saturday, Jan. 24 at the 113th annual convention of the Pennsylvania State Association of County Fairs and Pennsylvania State Showmen’s Association. Morrissey was...
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‘They didn’t leave us anything at all’
DEIR DIBWAN, West Bank – The Jewish settler outpost of Or Meir is small. A handful of prefabricated white shelters, it sits at the end of a short dirt track on a hill leading up from Road 60, a major route that dissects the Israeli-occupied West...
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Board members address backlash
After residents voiced their concerns about recent incidents that include the possibility of rejecting a popular French language reader, Palmyra school board members took time during their public meeting to address the backlash. School board members...
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House sends funding bills to the Senate
WASHINGTON – With just a week left to avoid another government shutdown, the House of Representatives voted Jan. 22 to send a $1.2 trillion spending package to the Senate. The appropriations bills passed despite widespread consternation from Democrats...
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‘VERY DISAPPOINTING’
CHICAGO – In Chicago’s workingclass Pilsen neighborhood, a 1960s-era oil-fired power plant rises up from an industrial lot behind Dvorak Park, which in warmer weather is packed with children climbing on its colorful playground and zooming down...
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Lebanon County history recognized in event
Statewide America250Pa organizers joined with local government and community leaders Jan. 17 at the Lebanon County Historical Society as part of a kickoff tour for the United States’ semiquincentennial anniversary. The event at the Cumberland Street...
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Freight rail industry dirtier than coal power plants
BNSF Railway, one of the crown jewels of Warren Buffett’s sprawling Berkshire Hathaway conglomerate, calls itself an environmental leader in the U.S. rail industry with the cleanest locomotive fleet in North America. “When you see our orange...
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PA locals weigh in on Trump’s first year
Ryan Sprankle says his western Pennsylvania grocery stores definitely ended 2025 on better financial footing than they entered it. Sales numbers were looking good for Sprankle’s Neighborhood Market as the holidays approached, and he said grocery costs...
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Lebanon Transit seeks new facility
Lebanon Transit officials are seeking $280,703 in county funds towards construction cost for a project that will consolidate the transportation organization’s various facilities. Officials spoke to Lebanon County Commissioners during their workshop...
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‘They understand what works and what doesn’t’
Former government workers seeking seats in Congress CAPE MAY, NJ – It was Megan O’Rourke’s dream job. As a top climate scientist for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, she oversaw grants for research projects aimed at making food production healthier...
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Palmyra residents cast doubts over apartment plan
The Palmyra Municipal Building was standing room only as residents voiced their concerns and outrage about updated plans for proposed luxury apartments Monday, Jan 12. More than 65 residents attended a five-hour Palmyra Zoning Hearing Board meeting on...
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U.S. has tried to acquire Greenland for decades
President Donald Trump said he wants to acquire Greenland sooner rather than later, before Russia or China have the chance. The president has long said he wants to acquire Greenland for U.S. national security. Trump has raised the idea since his first...
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Protesters shout ‘ICE Out For Good’ in Annville
People driving through the town square of Annville Jan. 11 were greeted by signs that included “Keep the immigrants, deport the racists,” “The America I know welcomes immigrants & expels tyrants,” and “ICE Out for Good.” Palmyra area resident...
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100-year-old projections, predictions for 2026
AKRON, OH – We’ve waited a century for this. Nearly 100 years ago, a group of futurists dared to imagine what life would be like in 2026. Some of their prognostications turned out to be completely wrong while others proved to be eerily true. Let’s...
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AI frenzy driving supply chain crisis
An acute global shortage of memory chips is forcing artificial intelligence and consumer-electronics companies to fight for dwindling supplies, as prices soar for the unglamorous but essential components that allow devices to store data. Japanese...
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Java Journey begins on Jan. 15
The Java Journey, Visit Lebanon Valley’s annual coffee trail, is set to begin on Thursday, Jan. 15, according to officials. Running through March 28, the coffee trail will feature 14 coffee shops across the Lebanon Valley, including three new...
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Congress mulls larger role for HSAs
Created more than two decades ago, health savings accounts are a popular way for consumers to get tax breaks while saving for medical expenses. But could these accounts take on a larger role in how consumers pay for and get health care? Senate...
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Democrats face scrutiny over Israel-Gaza war
New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker recently visited New Hampshire, where he met with activists and spoke at a town hall meeting, sparking speculation about a potential 2028 presidential run. The trip also underscored a political reality confronting Booker...
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‘DEEP CONNECTION’
The places Indigenous peoples call home have intertwined with their ways of life for millennia. Their stories, foodways and cultures relate directly to their homelands. Lands, waters, plants and animals, the creatures that inhabit the waters below and...
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Arizona traffic stops lead to deportations
On a heavily patrolled stretch of Interstate 10 south of Phoenix, people pulled over for having a cracked windshield or an object dangling from their rear view mirror have ended up in deportation proceedings. The stated goal of the traffic stops is to...
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Trump announces Venezuela strikes
President Donald Trump bragged in recent days about the United States’ first reported land strike on Venezuela, letting slip a CIA-led operation in what retired intelligence experts branded an unusual move. The United States has made covert incursions...
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‘Help’s farther away’
In the 1960s, doctors believed heart muscle died instantly during a heart attack, like throwing a light switch, according to the American Heart Association. Dr. Eugene Braunwald’s research proposed a heart attack was more like a dimmer – the damage...
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Lebanon City’s 2025 New Year’s Eve Bologna Drop
Lebanon City’s New Year’s Eve Bologna Drop is just days away. Here’s what residents need to know about the Dec. 31 event: The New Year’s Eve Bologna Drop will be held on South 8th Street, between Chestnut and Cumberland Street, starting at 10 p.m....
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Three-alarm blaze involving several homes
Four residents were displaced and two animals killed after Lebanon fire crews were dispatched to the scene of a three-alarm fire in the 200 block of South 5th Street. Fire crews were dispatched to 229 South 5th St. at 3:09 p.m. for a reported...
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