Glambert At Steamtown Mall in Scranton

The Glam Nation Tour kicked off at the Kirby Center in Wilkes-Barre on June 4th.

Harley-Davidson Whittles Away At Its Workforce

York based Harley-Davidson USA announced that it will eliminate another 200 full-time, permanent, union workers next week.  Workers were informed Friday or yesterday that their jobs were being eliminated.

Now this is the interesting part.  Casual workers have begun appearing at the York site to fill in for planned or unplanned absent workers.  HOWEVER, this has everything  nothing to do with staff reductions 😉 (pay no attention to the man behind the curtain).   Harley-Davidson is slashing their York based work force from 1,950 to between 700 – 800 full-time, union production workers.  200-300 casual employees are needed to augment the nearly 60% reduction in staff.  Casual workers are part-time workers with limited or no benefits, in many cases.

In the coming months, Harley-Davidson plans to cut non-union and salaried workers as well.

So who said the recession is over????

Plane Crashes Into House On Final Approach Into Lock Haven Airport

A small Cessna aircraft crashed on the final approach into William T. Piper Memorial Airport in Lock Haven on Monday.  The single engine plane clipped a telephone pole, stuck a house and three parked vehicles on East Church Street before bursting into flames and killing all three people on board. 

No one on the ground was injured although the couple who own the home were in the house when the plane hit.  This neighborhood is full of young children who were home at the time.

Witnesses say they heard the plane’s engine cut out as the aircraft passed over the Lock Haven McDonald’s.  The plane didn’t have the altitude to safely glide to the airport and crashed one block short of the runway.  The pilot radioed the airport asking if fuel was available a few minutes before the crash.

Ironically, the airport had just hosted its 25th annual Sentimental Journey Fly-In that weekend, safely attracting 400 planes and 4,000 people.  This crash was not associated with the Fly-In. 

The City of Lock Haven is the former home of Piper Aircraft Corporation and for 70 years Piper aircraft were manufactured there.  The Fly-In brings Piper owners back to Lock Haven each year.  On the grounds of the airport is the Piper Aviation Museum.

Another Neighbor To The North Slashes Teaching Positions

The Easton Area School District Board of Education has voted 5-3 to slash 72 teaching positions for the 2010-2011 school year.  27 high school teachers, 9.5 middle school teachers, 18 elementary teachers and all the computer technology coordinators will get pink slips. 

According to the board, negotiations with the teachers union failed to provide the necessary cuts to bridge the budget deficit.  Teachers agreed to cuts that would have saved $5 million dollars but the district still would have needed to move money from their reserves, even with the concessions.

The $131.5 million dollar 2010-2011 budget will include a 2.35% property tax increase.

The Easton Area School District has an enrollment of approximately 9,000 students, 9 schools and more than 530 teachers.