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The Times Leader timesleader.com
WILKES-BARRE, PA
U.N. to dispel nuclear anxiety
SATURDAY, MARCH 19, 2011
STERLING HOTEL
MARCH MADNESS
Developer blamed for neglect
Officials say there are no hazards to health outside of the vicinity.
Architect said he urged CityVest to preserve the historic building so it wouldn’t deteriorate.
By GEORGE JAHN Associated Press
VIENNA — Diplomats and U.N. officials sought Friday to dispel fears of a wider danger from radioactivity spewing from Japan’s crippled nuclear reactors, saying there were no hazards to health outside of the immediate vicinity. As emergency efforts “The rates to reduce the dangers of inin Tokyo creased radiand other ation from cities ... the crippled plant went inremain far to their from levels eighth day, which re- the U.N. nuclear agency quire acdescribed the situation for tion, in the second other day in a row words they as worrying but stable. are not Driven by dangerous winds over Pacific to human the Ocean, the health.’’ radioactive plume reGraham Andrew leased last International from Atomic Energy week Agency the Fukushima Dai-ichi reached Southern California Friday, heightening concerns that Japan’s nuclear disaster was assuming international proportions. But in Vienna, diplomats and officials familiar with the situation asserted that there was litSee JAPAN, Page 14A
INSIDE A NEWS: Local 3A Nation & World 5A Obituaries 2A, 8A Editorial 13A B SPORTS: Scoreboard 2B Baseball 6B Business 8B C AT HOME: Birthdays 4C Funnies 10C D CLASSIFIED
WEATHER Olivia Astolfi Partly sunny, colder. High 46. Low 34 Details, Page 10B
By JENNIFER LEARN-ANDES jandes@timesleader.com
S. JOHN WILKIN / THE TIMES LEADER
Lucky’s Sporthouse bartenders, Greg Yestrumskas, left, Amanda Rother and Audriana Lippnik, hear no evil, see no evil, and speak no evil as basketball fans play hooky from work and take in March Madness on a Friday afternoon.
Bagging the hoops
By fair means or foul, local basketball fans are living out their annual rite of spring, the NCAA college basketball tournament By ANDREW M. SEDER aseder@timesleader.com
Though there’s plenty of action on the basketball courts this weekend in the opening rounds of the NCAA basketball tournament, there’s less action taking place in offices across the country. According to Chicagobased workplace consulting “I’m at jury firm Challenger, Gray & duty baby!” Christmas Inc., total online viewership of the games durMask on ing work hours is likely to reanonymous person ach at least 8.4 million hours at Lucky’s during this year’s tournaSporthouse, a ment, which began Tuesday reference to an excuse for missing and runs off and on through work the championship April 4. Multiply that figure by the average hourly earnings of $22.87 among private-sector workers, and the financial impact exceeds $192 million. That does not even include those watching the games on office televisions or those watching games at home or at a bar because they’ve taken the day off from work. In the old days, offices with televisions would
WILKES-BARRE – WilkesBarre architect Carl Handman said he urged CityVest to mothball, or seal up, the Hotel Sterling To see additional when he worked on the project in photos, 2003 so the historic structure video visit wouldn’t continue to deteriorate www.times while the site was marketed to leader.com developers. “If you know something’s bad and you don’t do anything, and you let it go through eight more winters of freezes, thaws and water infiltration, the structure gets a heck of a lot worse,” Handman said Friday. See STERLING, Page 14A
See BASKETBALL, Page 10A
AIMEE DILGER/THE TIMES LEADER
Carl Handman draws a sketch of the Hotel Sterling building.
Lucky’s Sporthouse handed out paper bag masks to basketball fans.
Gadhafi uses cease-fire tactic
By HADEEL AL-SHALCHI and RYAN LUCAS Associated Press
new screen portraying an e-mail inbox that looks innocuous enough that Thanks to the NCAA and CBSsport- it wouldn’t raise any questions, unless s.com, watching tournament basketsomeone were to actually take a close ball games on your desktop is easier look at the e-mail itself. and a bit safer. The content is updated daily and The “Boss Button” allows viewers Friday’s included this snippet: of game action on ncaa.com or “Congrats on making it through cbssportsline.com to watch the game Thursday. But, you’re not out of the of their choice. If someone is coming, woods yet. In fact, you need to start a quick click of the button brings up a getting crafty because by now everyBy ANDREW M. SEDER aseder@timesleader.com
one is starting to get suspicious. I mean honestly, how long has it been since you were at your desk ALL DAY?!” The e-mail ends with these words of wisdom: “Remember it’s not slacking if you don’t get caught!” In addition, if for some reason you were actually watching the game
TRIPOLI, Libya — Trying to outmaneuver Western military intervention, Moammar Gadhafi’s government declared a cease-fire on Friday against the rebel uprising faltering against his artillery, tanks and warplanes. The opposition said shells rained down well after the announcement and accused the Libyan leader of lying. Wary of the cease-fire, Britain and France took the lead in plans to enforce a no-fly zone, sending British warplanes to the Mediterranean and announcing a crisis summit in Paris with the U.N. and Arab allies. In Washington, President Barack ObamaruledouttheuseofAmericangroundtroopsbut warned that the U.S., which has an array of na-
See ‘BUTTON’ , Page 10A
See CEASE-FIRE, Page 14A
For ESL students, word is ‘graduated’ By BILL O’BOYLE boboyle@timesleader.com
09815 10011
typically have workers gathering around the screen a few times a day to check scores and watch a few minutes of game action. Then the Internet came and sites like ESPN.com offered live scoring updates for all games with the click of the mouse. This dropped production even more. But now there’s wider access to game coverage: Smart phones, iPads, live streaming video on the desktop, just to name a few. The impact seems extraordinarily high, but Challenger, Gray & Christmas Chief Executive Officer John A. Challenger put the 8.4 million hours of lost productivity in per-
‘Boss Button’ helps defend against calls for slacking
A Hazleton-area program trains people to get jobs in the warehouse industry.
6
50¢
jobs in the warehouse industry, is a comprehensive, 285-hour course that covers many topics specific to warehouse employment and teaches English communication skills. On Friday, the first graduates of the program earned their completion certificates. “This program was established as part of our goal to assist local companies to find qualified employees and to help local residents find jobs,” said Elaine Stalfa, site administrator for the CareerLink center in Hazleton. “We
HAZLETON – Thirteen students graduated Friday with a new tool that they say gives them confidence and will make it easier for them to seek employment Their new tool is the English language. The English as a Second Language Warehouse program, which prepares participants for See ENGLISH, Page 10A
ESL WAREHOUSE PROGRAM G R A D U AT E S Jesus Munoz Corporino Pena Perez Jacqulin C. Lopez Jennyiffer Diez Edwin J. Otero Amarilis Baez Marlen Amadis Santa T. Tejada Irene M. Urena Margarita Nicasio Marie E. Clairisme Maximino Velez Rosa Molina
BILL TARUTIS/FOR THE TIMES LEADER
From left are ESL director Peg Rood, graduate Santa Tejada of Hazleton and instructor Eileen Kane.