State/County - Bensalem Township

PennDOT Highlights Winter Preparedness, Employment Opportunities Across Philadelphia Region

Published

2 years ago

November 14, 2023

staff

The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) today held a briefing at the Montgomery County maintenance facility in Norristown, Montgomery County, to highlight its winter preparations and employment opportunities across the five-county Philadelphia region.

“Whatever the weather brings this winter to the Philadelphia region, PennDOT will be ready.” said District 6’s Senior Assistant District Executive of Maintenance Din Abazi, P.E. “We have been planning for this winter since last winter ended and our crews are prepared to deliver the best possible service under the worst conditions.”

District 6 is responsible for over 11,000 snow-lane miles on state highways in Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, and Philadelphia counties. When winter weather hits, PennDOT’s primary focus is on interstates, expressways, and higher-traffic roads and will continue to keep all routes passable. During larger storms, lower-traffic roadways may take longer to address but PennDOT will continue to plow roads until the storm ends and roads are cleared.

With $21 million budgeted for this winter’s operations in the region, the District 6 fleet consists of 182 state-owned snow trucks and 263 private contractor trucks and has over 131,000 tons of salt on hand. The number of contractor trucks and materials used for each event is determined by the severity of each storm.

“Our equipment operators have an enormous amount of responsibility during a storm as they plow snow; monitor computers that control the flow of salt; track pavement temperatures; and watch for traffic and possible roadside obstacles,” Abazi added. “We are actively recruiting statewide and in the Philadelphia region for winter employees to join our team and take on this challenging and rewarding work.”

PennDOT is seeking temporary equipment operators for the winter season to supplement the department’s full-time staff. Temporary positions many times lead to longer-term employment opportunities. Details on minimum requirements, such as possession of a CDL, application information, and listing of temporary and full-time positions are available at www.employment.pa.gov.

Assisting PennDOT this winter in the Philadelphia region are 92 municipalities that entered into winter maintenance agreements covering more than 3,000 snow lane miles, whereby local crews salt and plow specified state roads in each municipality.

Safety is PennDOT’s top priority as it continues to ask for the public’s help in keeping themselves and snowplow drivers safe by slowing down, increasing their following distance, avoiding distractions, and staying off the road during winter storms.

Last winter, statewide in Pennsylvania, preliminary data shows there were 135 crashes resulting in one fatality and 61 injuries on winter-weather roadways where aggressive-driving behaviors such as speeding or making careless lane changes were factors.

If motorists encounter a snowplow on the roadway, they should slow down and drive at least six car lengths behind the plow to ensure safety for everyone. Motorists should never pass a snowplow because plow blades are wider than the truck.

PennDOT recommends that motorists prepare for potential bad weather by carrying an emergency kit in their vehicles. The kit should include non-perishable food, water, first-aid supplies, small shovel, cell phone charger and any other items necessary for families to have, such as baby or pet supplies, and medications. For more information on winter guidelines, operations, and safety visit PennDOT.pa.gov/winter.

Motorists can check winter conditions on more than 40,000 roadway miles by visiting www.511PA.com or downloading the 511PA application for iPhone and Android devices. 511PA, which is free and available 24 hours a day, provides traffic delay warnings, weather forecasts, snowplow tracking, traffic speed information, and access to

Human Interest - Bensalem Township

Fmr Bucks County Resident, Trump Voter Convicted of Voter Fraud

Published

34 minutes ago

March 12, 2026

Jeff Bohen

Earlier this month federal prosecutors announced a Bethlehem man was convicted of election fraud by a federal jury for voting twice in the 2020 presidential election

United States Attorney David Metcalf announced Matthew Laiss, 32, of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, was convicted at trial on March 3 of election fraud offenses in connection with the 2020 presidential election.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, Laiss was charged by indictment in September of last year with one count of voting more than once in a federal election and one count of voter fraud and was convicted on both charges.

According to court filings, from at least October 2012 until about August 2020, Laiss resided in, and was lawfully registered to vote in, Ottsville, Pennsylvania, a municipality located in Bucks County. In or around August 2020, Laiss moved his primary residence from Ottsville, to Frostproof, Florida. The same month, he applied for and obtained a Florida driver’s license and registered to vote in Florida.

In or about October 2020, the Bucks County Board of Elections mailed a ballot for the November 2020 general election to the Laiss’ former address in Ottsville, Pennsylvania, where his parents continued to reside.

As proven at trial, on or about October 31, 2020, Laiss filled out and returned the Pennsylvania mail-in ballot, casting a vote for the offices of President and Vice President of the United States of America, prosecutors say.

Then, according to investigators, on or about November 3, 2020, Laiss went to a polling location in or around Frostproof, Florida, and voted in the 2020 general election, casting a vote for the offices of President and Vice President of the United States of America.

According to a Penn Capital-Star report, the double voting was uncovered with the help of a multistate voter roll maintenance program called ERIC, which was the target of conservative attacks in the years after the 2020 election.

Numerous conservative-run states left ERIC between the 2020 and 2024 election, including Florida, where Laiss was double-registered, the report says

Pennsylvania remains an ERIC member state, even though legislation has been authored by Republicans at the state level to withdraw from the program, according to state records.

This “…conviction reinforces a simple principle: our elections must be fair, secure, and lawful, ” said U.S. Attorney Metcalf. “Casting a ballot in more than one jurisdiction undermines public trust and dilutes the votes of others. Our office will continue to protect the integrity of federal elections and hold accountable those who violate the law.”

Laiss is scheduled to be sentenced June 10, 2026, and faces a maximum possible sentence of five years’ imprisonment, three years of supervised release, and a $10,000 to $250,000 fine, for each of the charges on which he was convicted.

This case was investigated by the FBI, with assistance from the Pennsylvania Department of State, and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Mark Dubnoff.

Editor’s Note: Mr Laiss in myriad of media reports publicly declared his support and votes for President Trump in the 2020 Elections

Human Interest - Bensalem Township

Construction Planned for Thurs.-Fri. Nights on I-95N in NE Philadelphia

Published

4 hours ago

March 12, 2026

staff

PennDOT announced that construction activities will occur at night Thursday on northbound I-95 in Northeast Philadelphia.

Motorists are advised of the following travel restriction:

Thursday, March 12 and Friday, March 13, from 7:00 PM to 5:00 AM the following morning, a lane closure will be in place on northbound I-95 between the Castor Avenue and Betsy Ross Bridge interchanges for sheet pile installation.

All scheduled activities are weather permitting. Motorists are advised to allow extra time for traveling on northbound I-95 because backups and delays will occur.

The sheet piles will help support the embankment during northbound reconstruction of I-95 between Wheatsheaf Lane and Margaret Street as part of PennDOT’s $355.3 million I-95/BR3 project.

Cops, Courts & Fire -Bensalem Township

Bensalem Police Officers Recognized at Council Meeting

Published

2 days ago

March 10, 2026

Jeff Bohen

Two Bensalem Police officers were recognized for their extraordinary service and life-saving actions at Monday night’s Council meeting.

Officer Mark Wildsmith was honored as the 2025 Bensalem Township Police Department officer of the Year.

Over the past year, Wildsmith demonstrated exceptional dedication to the community. His accomplishments include successfully handling a life-threatening critical incident, saving a man’s life by performing the Heimlich maneuver, assisting a suicidal veteran as part of the Bucks County Veterans Response Team, and arresting a suspect during a traffic stop who was in possession of a Glock handgun equipped with a “switch,” making it fully automatic, said officials.

Wildsmith also helped develop the department’s Jiu-Jitsu defensive tactics training program. He previously served as a Philadelphia Police Officer and is a proud United States Army veteran.

The second officer honored was Kristopher Harley who was recognized for his heroic actions during a call to a local hotel. When alerted that a child had drowned in the pool, Harley, officials said, immediately located the unresponsive child and began CPR. Through his quick and decisive actions, the child regained consciousness and began breathing on his own.

The child has since made a full recovery, officials said.

It was especially meaningful to have the two survivors in attendance at the meeting to personally thank the officers who saved their lives, officials noted.