Wyndcroft Breaking Ground For New School In Pottstown

Location of Pottstown in Montgomery County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

POTTSTOWN, PA — Despite a generally gray day and enough of a chill to keep jackets on their shoulders, the sun broke through enough to match the cheery spirits of those gathered at 443 Highland Road Sunday.

The Wyndcroft School officially broke ground for its new Early-Education Center. The new center is part of the school’s “Creating a Campus” expansion campaign in the Rosedale Street section of Pottstown.

“We’re just thrilled we can create this area,” said The Wyndcroft’s Head of School Gail Wolter.

The new section of the school housing its pre-kindergartern classes of 3- and 4-year-olds will actually be a renovated and expanded “manor” house built in the 1920s. Sitting across Rosedale Street, the building was the former home of several people who attended the ground-breaking. One was a woman who actually attended The Wyndcroft as a child.

Read more: http://www.pottsmerc.com/article/20120401/NEWS01/120409949/wyndcroft-breaking-ground-for-new-school-in-pottstown

Coatesville Applies For Velodrome Grant

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Chester County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

COATESVILLE, PA — City Council will once again file for county grant of up to $1 million for infrastructure including parking for the proposed Velodrome project.

Last year, the city filed for a similar grant, but did not receive it, because of the uncertainty surrounding the project at the time, City Manager Gary Rawlings said. He said now the project is closer to the beginning of construction and the feels more confident that the project will come to fruition.

In December of 2010, the Redevelopment Authority and the project developers at that time were reportedly closing in on a deal to sell the land at the corner of Lincoln Highway and Route 82 known as the Flats. Since then, the window for an agreement of sale has been extended numerous times and there have been no signs of an agreement.

However, in late 2011, new developers signed onto the project and the former developers left the group.

Read more: http://www.dailylocal.com/article/20120401/NEWS01/120409959/coatesville-applies-for-velodrome-grant&pager=full_story

Highmark Fires CEO After Extramarital Scandal Revealed

Highmark Place from PNC Park in Pittsburgh, taken 2008 showing the new Highmark branding atop. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Highmark today fired president and CEO Kenneth R. Melani in the wake of a scandal involving an extramarital affair and allegations that he assaulted the husband of his mistress.

The insurance giant’s board of directors announced the firing after a meeting this morning, in a statement that said his termination was “for cause.”

“The board has reviewed this situation thoroughly and has taken decisive action to address the matter,” said board chairman and acting CEO J. Robert Baum.

“For 75 years, Highmark has served this community with integrity and is committed to maintaining the highest standards. We have dedicated, hard-working employees and I know they take great pride in working for Highmark. Our mission of providing quality, affordable health care has never been more important, and I’m looking forward to working with our employees and senior management team in addressing the many challenges and opportunities that lie ahead,” he said.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/neighborhoods-city/highmark-fires-ceo-melani-629445/

Scranton Embroiled In Dispute Over Another Short-Term Loan

Facing yet another cash-flow crisis, Scranton is trying to borrow a $2.75 million tax-anticipation note to pay routine daily bills and payroll.

The city administration has been negotiating with Landmark Community Bank for the TAN, but city council has balked at the bank’s demand that, in exchange for a TAN, the city must back an unsecured $2.95 million loan that the bank gave to the Scranton Parking Authority last year, council members said at Thursday’s meeting.

TANs are fairly routine, short-term loans that municipalities borrow to cover cash-flow gaps until tax revenues come in. However, the TAN dust-up is another example of how little is routine when it comes to the city’s long-standing fiscal challenges and divisions between the administration and council.

City held hostage?

Read more: http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/scranton-embroiled-in-dispute-over-another-short-term-loan-1.1293590#ixzz1qqTjMwfK

PPL Eyes Hike Of 6.3% On Average

The last year has been pretty sweet for PPL Electric Utilities customers.

PPL has cut its rates five times because it’s been able to obtain power at ever-cheaper prices and pass those better deals onto its customers.

But while the cost of obtaining power accounts for about two-thirds of the total bill, there’s a smaller, yet significant chunk.

It’s the cost of delivering that power to your door.

And now PPL wants to charge extra for providing that service, enough to negate some of that recent relief.

Read more: http://lancasteronline.com/article/local/615869_PPL-eyes-hike-of-6-3–on-average.html#ixzz1qqSDdRen

Lancaster County Convention Center, Local Tourism Looks Stronger

In recent weeks, the Lancaster County Convention Center has played host to gun enthusiasts, fly fishermen and winemakers for the first time.

For the third straight year, it hosted thousands of quilters.

And, this spring, the downtown Lancaster center will be the backdrop for conservative commentator Glenn Beck, Republican presidential candidates Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair in three separate events.

Life is good at the convention center right now, Marketing Director Josh Nowak told Lancaster Convention Center Authority board members Thursday.

Read more: http://lancasteronline.com/article/local/615174_Convention-center–local-tourism-looks-stronger.html#ixzz1qqQe74o3

Lancaster Downtown Investment Group Looks To Future

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Lancaster County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Last fall, representatives of Lancaster city’s Downtown Investment District began asking what the organization should be doing to improve the city’s center over the next few years.

Among the recommendations were to consider expanding the district’s boundaries, seek more funding from nonprofit property owners and provide funding for downtown surveillance cameras.

Drafting a plan for those things will take more time than DID has before its charter expires at the end of this year, its officials say.

With that in mind, the organization is proposing a short-term charter renewal  that would keep current initiatives in place. New endeavors would wait until the next charter renewal period

Read more: http://lancasteronline.com/article/local/616728_Downtown-investment-group-looks-to-future.html

Pennsylvania State Police Ranks Thinning

If Pennsylvania State Police troopers started disappearing from the roads, would anyone really notice?

Last week, State Police Commissioner Frank Noonan told a joint House-Senate panel that there aren’t enough new cadets in training to fill the vacancies anticipated by veteran troopers retiring.

Noonan said that when the current class of cadets graduates from the State Police Academy in Hershey this summer, the ranks of the troopers will still be down by 10 percent of 4,500 capacity.

Each class of the academy can produce 115 new state troopers.

Read more: http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=377182