Around Town

• Billy's Downtown Diner not coming to Easton any time soon

  EXPRESS-TIMES FILE PHOTOBilly Kounoupis has been serving up dishes in Bethlehem for eight years. Plans for another place in Easton have hit a big snag. Say it ain't so. In the eight years he's been slinging dishes, I've never eaten... ' [...]
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  Posted: July 13, 2008, 10:42pm EDT
  by Jim Deegan

• Centre Square in Easton: A hazard waiting to happen

  EXPRESS-TIMES PHOTO | JOE GILLNear-collisions. Obscene gestures. Pedestrians scampering to the sidewalk. Easton's Centre Square produces it all. As if the Easton Police Department doesn't have enough on its plate. They've busted up drug rings. They've fought gang warfare. They've... ' [...]
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  Posted: July 10, 2008, 1:01pm EDT
  by Jim Deegan

• UPDATE: Pa. Sen. Lisa Boscola's chief of staff, Bernie Kieklak, confirms his resignation

  Bernie Kieklak, state Sen. Lisa Boscola's departing chief of staff, isn't saying much. But he released a statement today in an e-mail confirming his resignation and answering The Express-Times' requests for comment yesterday. Rumor has it he's already cleaned out... [...]
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  Posted: June 20, 2008, 11:22am EDT
  by Jim Deegan

• Bernie Kieklak parting ways with his boss, Pa. Sen. Lisa Boscola

  Bernie Kieklak's days are numbered working as state Sen. Lisa Boscola's chief of staff. The Democratic senator told me today that Kieklak, who dumped himself in boiling hot water last year after posting vulgarities on Bernie O'Hare's Lehigh Valley Ramblings... [...]
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  Posted: June 19, 2008, 5:38pm EDT
  by Jim Deegan

• Easton playground ban takes 'clean and safe' to extreme

  Easton Mayor Sal Panto has an ingenious idea for fighting crime: barring the public from public parks. Effective today, courtesy of a 30-day executive order issued by Hizzoner, anyone 14 or older can be chased from Centennial Park and Vandevere... [...]
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  Posted: June 12, 2008, 12:43am EDT
  by Jim Deegan

• Scheldon Smith doesn't let facts get in the way of his lawsuit against Easton

  EXPRESS-TIMES FILE PHOTOFormer Easton police Capt. Scheldon Smith in September 2005. Either Scheldon Smith has a short memory, or not a very good one. The retired Easton police captain is suing the city, alleging he was forced to resign after... [...]
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  Posted: May 11, 2008, 11:20pm EDT
  by Jim Deegan

• Easton Farmers' Market returns Saturday

  EXPRESS-TIMES PHOTO | KEN WHITEA view of the Easton Farmers' Market last year in Centre Square. It's that time of year. The dogwoods and cherry blossoms are in full bloom. The shad are streaming up the Delaware. And the Easton... [...]
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  Posted: April 28, 2008, 7:17pm EDT
  by Jim Deegan

• A place where public records aren't public at all

  Something stinks in Freemansburg, and it's not just the nearby Bethlehem sewage treatment plant. It's the small-town secrets held by officials more concerned with covering dirty laundry than upholding Pennsylvania law. A standard request to inspect a police incident... [...]
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  Posted: April 12, 2008, 3:30pm EDT
  by Jim Deegan

• Hillary's headed our way

  EXPRESS-TIMES FILE PHOTOBethlehem boy T.J. Rooney, chairman of the Pennsylvania Democrats, has been splashed across a TV screen near you in the runup to the April 22 primary. Expect to see Hillary Clinton in the Lehigh Valley next week. That's... ' [...]
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  Posted: April 10, 2008, 4:28pm EDT
  by Jim Deegan

• Administrative fee or strong-arm shakedown?

  EXPRESS-TIMES PHOTO | COLIN MCEVOYAll that trash has to go somewhere. But at least one Downtown merchant wonders what she's paying for. When I met Randi Kaplan DellaVechia a couple of years ago, she wasn't sure what might become of... [...]
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  Posted: April 08, 2008, 6:50pm EDT
  by Jim Deegan

• So, you think you have talent?

  EXPRESS-TIMES PHOTO | KELBY ANDERKOMattie Cyphers and dad Matt perform "With a Smile" during a student variety show at Palmer Elementary School. Congratulations to Mary Vincent and Judy Paukovitch, co-chairs of the 7th annual Palmer Elementary School Variety Show sponsored... [...]
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  Posted: March 28, 2008, 7:14pm EDT
  by Jim Deegan

• About the IronPigs' ban on outside food/drink ...

  EXPRESS-TIMES FILE PHOTO Don't know about you, but I can't get too worked up about the Lehigh Valley IronPigs' decision to ban fans from bringing outside food or drink into new Coca-Cola Park. (Perhaps a real outlaw will try to... ' [...]
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  Posted: March 25, 2008, 9:18am EDT
  by Jim Deegan

• Joe Paterno never liked me

  AP PHOTOPenn State icon Joe Paterno at an Alamo Bowl news conference in December 2007. I can't specifically recall why. But Joe Paterno never liked me. I was a college senior covering what by 1988 was the worst Penn State... ' [...]
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  Posted: March 20, 2008, 7:23pm EDT
  by Jim Deegan

• The Polish prince

  EXPRESS-TIMES PHOTO | JIM DEEGANSports writer Paul Sokoloski, left, had a knack for telling stories -- and being in the middle of them. EXPRESS-TIMES PHOTO | JIM DEEGANHe's Polish, not Italian, but Paul likes to talk with his hands. Sometimes... ' [...]
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  Posted: March 17, 2008, 7:42pm EDT
  by Jim Deegan

• Sound bytes from city hall

  EXPRESS-TIMES PHOTO | BILL ADAMSU.S. Attorney Pat Meehan, at podium, addresses a news conference Thursday at Easton City Hall. So much to see and say. So little space. Today's print edition has a full report on the drug sweep that... ' [...]
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  Posted: March 13, 2008, 7:21pm EDT
  by Jim Deegan

• EXCLUSIVE: Racy new photos of Client No. 9 call girl

  Ha! Made you look. Now get back to work.... [...]
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  Posted: March 13, 2008, 10:31am EDT
  by Jim Deegan

• The Lehigh Valley's worst-kept secret

  Imagine new neighbors move in next door and ask for a spare set of keys to your place. Then imagine the newbies refuse to tell you who they are. Would you turn over the keys? That's what happened this week... ' [...]
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  Posted: March 12, 2008, 10:48am EDT
  by Jim Deegan

• At Easter, don't buy a real rabbit. Buy chocolate.

  EXPRESS-TIMES WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHER JOE GILLRabbits can make great pets, if you know how to care for them. I've never been much of a pet guy. I trace it to my early years, when my father mistakenly (I think) left our... ' [...]
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  Posted: March 05, 2008, 5:37pm EST
  by Jim Deegan

• Newspaper under new ownership; editor carries loaded gun

  EXPRESS-TIMES FILE PHOTOVincenzo Bruneo on the day he started the Downtown walking beat last June. When Easton merchants campaigned city council to spare police officer Vincenzo Bruneo from being fired, they were doing more than supporting a popular Downtown beat... [...]
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  Posted: March 02, 2008, 9:45pm EST
  by Jim Deegan

• Pretzel place opens in Palmer

  EXPRESS-TIMES PHOTOS | JIM DEEGANThis box of pretzels -- a box of 50 -- cost $13. The place sells bite-size pieces, called rivets, at $3 for a box of 20. That includes a cup of cheese for dipping. I've discovered... ' [...]
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  Posted: February 25, 2008, 3:51pm EST
  by Jim Deegan