Local News

The death of a 2-month-old baby in a Poconos, PA apartment has been ruled a homicide, authorities said.

The infant girl, Ryann Bacchus, was found with trauma to her head resulting in multiple skull fractures in a Barrett Township apartment on March 19, the Monroe County District Attorney's Office said.

County Coroner Thomas Yanac Jr. ruled the baby's death a homicide.

As of last Friday, three people were charged with child endangerment in relation to the child’s death, while homicide charges had not yet been filed, officials said.

Brian Myszkowski
Pocono Record

The death of a two-month-old girl in Barrett Township has been ruled a homicide, the Monroe County Office of the District Attorney announced Friday.

BARRETT TOWNSHIP, Pa. -- Police are investigating after discovering an infant dead inside of an apartment in Monroe County.

Authorities were called Friday just after 3:30 p.m. to an apartment building in Barrett Township, located in the 5000 block of Route 447, where they found the body of the 2-month-old.

Inside the home at the time were the child's mother, identified as 29-year-old Amanda Green of New Castle, Delaware, and the tenant, identified by police as 29-year-old Tony Kristiansen.

Pennsylvania state Sen. John Blake (D) resigned on March 8 to take a position on U.S. Rep. Matt Cartwright’s (D) staff. Cartwright represents Pennsylvania’s 8th Congressional District in Congress. Blake represented District 22 in the state Senate, which includes Lackawanna County and parts of Luzerne and Monroe Counties.

(via Rosemary Brown)

Restaurants and other hospitality-related businesses in our region will soon be able to apply for financial assistance through the COVID-19 Hospitality Industry Recovery Program.

Established under Act 1 of 2021, the program allocates $145 million in funding assistance statewide to hospitality industry businesses adversely affected by the pandemic. Businesses can find more information and an application by clicking their respective county below.

(via Rosemary Brown)

Department of Human Services

On Wednesday, we met with officials from the Department of Human Services for a two-part budget hearing focused on health and human services programs as well as budget cost requests. During our exchange, the secretary made a concerning statement – that in order to receive federal dollars, we must keep Pennsylvanians on state government programs. I expressed my strong concerns about this statement in the video below.

(via Rosemary Brown)

House Majority Leader Kerry Benninghoff (R-Centre/Mifflin) has announced plans to have the House Government Oversight Committee investigate the Wolf administration’s handling of nursing homes and other senior and long-term care facilities during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, roughly half of all COVID-19 deaths in Pennsylvania are attributable to nursing homes. Questions remain about data reporting related to nursing homes and especially about a March 18 order from the Department of Health requiring nursing home readmissions from hospitals of COVID-19-positive patients, among other things. This order was even stronger than the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidance regarding this issue.

There is no doubt this year is full of people going above and beyond to lend a helping hand during the pandemic. If you know an outstanding Barrett Township citizen who's going that extra mile, now is the time to recognize them.

Last year, Shawn and Jeanne Wescott were honored as citizens of the year by the Rotary Club of the Pocono Mountains. It happened during the Reverse Halloween Parade on October 25th. You can nominate who you think the best candidate is by visiting the township's [Rotary] website. Nominations will be accepted through June 5th.