𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫’𝐬 𝐓𝐚𝐦𝐚𝐪𝐮𝐚 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝐀𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐬! 🏆
This year’s recipients include:
• Businesspersons of the Year: Megan & Aaron Gimbel, Gimbel`s
• Business of the Year: The Tamaqua Public Library
• Joseph M. Plasko Citizenship Award Winner: Dan Evans
Thank you all for all you do for the Tamaqua area!
Please join me in wishing Virginia “Dolly” Snyder of Palmerton a very happy 100th birthday! She celebrated her birthday recently at The Palmerton Senior Living Community surrounded by her family and friends.
Brad Hurley from my Hazleton office was on hand to celebrate with her, along with Rep. Doyle Heffley and Rochelle Pasquariello from Congressman Ryan Mackenzie’s office.
I wish “Dolly” many more years of health and happiness!
𝐁𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐍𝐞𝐰 𝐋𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝟏𝟖 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐏𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐬𝐯𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞 🏘️
I was recently invited to attend a ribbon cutting celebrating the revitalization of 18 properties on Mauch Chunk Street in Pottsville, across the street from the name of hospital.
Developed by Matthew Pezon, the project represents more than $2.1 million in private investment, transforming an entire block of blighted and decaying properties into 12 revitalized single-family homes and eight apartments.
With new jobs continuing to come to our region, the demand for affordable, quality housing continues to grow. Investments like this are helping create much-needed new housing opportunities and breathe new life into Pottsville and our region.
I was also joined by Rep. Tim Twardzik and Schuylkill County Commissioners Larry Padora and Gary Hess. Congratulations to all!
Read more here: https://www.republicanherald.com/2026/09/08/2-1-million-affordable-housing-project-dedicated-in-pottsville
Rep. Tim Twardzik and I were recently invited to tour an ongoing reclamation project at long-abandoned mines in East Norwegian Township near Saint Clair, spearheaded by the Schuylkill Conservation District. This effort received a $220,000 state grant through the Nonpoint Source Management Program, which supports projects to restore impaired waterways statewide.
Growing up near abandoned coal pits in Tamaqua’s east end, and as a sponsor of PA’s “Growing Greener” funding law to help projects just like this, I’ve seen firsthand the damage left behind by long-gone mining operations—and the incredible progress we’ve made since. This project will help design a new mine drainage treatment for the abandoned Pine Forest Shaft and help clean the Upper Schuylkill River.
While existing mining companies are responsible to reclaim their properties, many other abandoned sites remain across PA. Projects like this help to restore our land and protect our natural resources for future generations, so that our grandchildren and their children will only see the accounts of devastated landscapes in their history books, rather than from the windows of their homes.
The Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General recently hosted a press conference on the work of the Organized Retail Crime Unit – which was created by legislation I introduced and guided into law.
Attorney General Dave Sunday outlined the severity of the problem, noting that “Organized retail crime is not some victimless crime. That’s very important. It victimizes not only the targeted business but also their employees and customers, who can be traumatized by that experience. We are all victimized by the higher prices that result in these brazen criminal activities at a time when affordability is on everyone’s mind. Our efforts to combat organized retail crime is one of law enforcement’s ways of making life more affordable.”
I was especially pleased to learn that my legislation, which also strengthened the criminal penalties against the worst of these thieves, has made a real impact. In the over 170 investigations carried out by this unit, over 100 arrests were made and millions of dollars in stolen goods were recovered. In one case, two people in Allegheny County allegedly purchased secondhand electronic benefits transfer, or EBT, cards at a discount and used them for over $178,000 in purchases at Sam’s Club and other stores, according to the attorney general’s office. They then resold the products at a deli and restaurant. The defendants are awaiting trial, scheduled for October, according to court documents.
Thank you to Attorney General Sunday and his team for carrying out this important work!
Last Sunday, Rufus Batman Argall enjoyed his first trip to Nuremberg for the Annual Nuremberg Celebration Car Show, where he was warmly welcomed.
The Nuremberg Celebration Committee is a volunteer-led organization that sponsors a two-day event every Labor Day to celebrate the local community. The group has also sponsored many improvements at the North Union Township Park, including a new gazebo and landscaping improvements.
Beth and I (and Rufus, of course) offered our congratulations to the organizers on a successful event!
Wednesday’s Senior Expo in Carbon County was a huge success! Thank you to the 1000+ who joined us AND the many volunteers who made the day possible.
When I became the state senator for Carbon County three years ago, I was asked to join Rep. Doyle Heffley in sponsoring this event that assists SO many local seniors year after year.
And this year, I even made a new four-legged friend, Ruby! 🐾
𝐀𝐫𝐠𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐑𝐞𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭: 𝐑𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐘𝐌𝐂𝐀 𝐢𝐧 𝐇𝐚𝐳𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐨𝐧
This month’s Argall Report highlights the reopening of the YMCA in Hazleton.
Congressman Rob Bresnahan, Rep. Dane Watro, Mayor Jeff Cusat, Hazleton Superintendent of Schools Dr. Brian Uplinger, and I were recently invited to attend the Grand Opening at the Mericle Family Center YMCA in Hazleton, which is now fully reopened after a six-year closure.
The facility features a gymnasium, exercise center, childcare center, an aquatics center, and more! This is the 𝐅𝐈𝐑𝐒𝐓 time in many years that there is water in the pool now that the renovations are complete.
In addition to the generosity of so many generous donors from across our region, large and small, Rep. Watro and I were pleased to secure several highly competitive state grants to help complete these important renovations—and now, after years of blight, it’s so important to the people of this area to see the lights on, once again, with SO much good happening on this property!!
