Job Announcement

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

Phoenixville Healthy Start Bilingual Family Health Advocate

The Bilingual (Spanish) Family Health Advocate supports Maternal and Child Health Consortium of Chester County (MCHC) Healthy Start Program, a nation-wide effort to ensure positive birth outcomes for women in high-risk communities.  Click here for the full job description.  To apply for this role, please send your resume, preferably in Microsoft Word format, to careers@ccmchc.org.

For more information about Healthy Start and Maternal & Child Health Consortium of Chester County,
please visit http://www.ccmchc.org/

Pottstown Regional Public Library Holiday Party

Fun for the whole family.

Saturday, December 8^th at 1 pm 

Musical performance, snacks, and fun activities recognizing Chanukah, Christmas, and Kwanzaa.

The event is FREE.  Please contact Leslie Stillings at 610-970-6551 for more details.

Pottstown Regional Public Library, 500 E. High St., Pottstown

Police Union, Pottsville City Council Share Ideas In Effort To Avoid Officer Layoffs

View of Pottsville, Pennsylvania. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Following a one-hour, closed-door meeting Thursday night, members of Pottsville Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 44 and the city council have come up with a few concepts that might save jobs, according to FOP President Brian Kotzmoyer.

“It was a very positive meeting,” Kotzmoyer said.

“Both sides realized we’re doing our best to try to avoid layoffs. The officers put forth some ideas about cost-savings initiatives and some things they can do to generate more revenue on our end,” said Councilman Mark Atkinson, who chairs the council’s public safety committee.

When asked for his thoughts after the meeting, Councilman Michael P. Halcovage, who chairs the finance committee, said: “We’re just throwing around ideas.  I can’t give you any specifics.”

Read more:  http://republicanherald.com/news/police-union-pottsville-council-share-ideas-in-effort-to-avoid-officer-layoffs-1.1413124

Sheetz Health Facility Opens

Sheetz located in Frostburg, Maryland (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Editor’s note:  I think this is pretty amazing that a convenience store chain would build a wellness center for their employees.

CLAYSBURG – Sheetz employees now have a greater opportunity to improve their health with Wednesday’s opening of the $4 million Sheetz Center for Shwellness beside the Sheetz Distribution Center in the Walter Business Park near here.

“This is a state-of-the-art health and wellness center.  This creates an environment for our employees to be actively involved and more responsible for their health and wellness,” said Bill Young, director of compensation, benefits and risk.

Sheetz, along with its partner Marathon Health, will use medical staff to provide individual health and wellness coaching to employees and their eligible dependents.  The Shwellness Center is intended to help Sheetz employees improve their overall health by creating awareness of their own health conditions, while allowing them to better manage their medical care costs.  All services are offered to eligible employees and dependents free of charge.

Read more:  http://www.altoonamirror.com/page/content.detail/id/566450/Sheetz-health-facility-opens.html?nav=725

Bellefonte’s Victorian Christmas

Counties constituting the Happy Valley Region of Pennsylvania (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Editor’s note:  This is a great example of taking your strengths and maximizing them!

BELLEFONTE – This weekend you will find Bellefonte full of activity everywhere you look; it is the 31st annual Victorian Christmas. There will be something for everyone. Just some of the highlights are a Breakfast With Santa, arts and crafts at three locations, carriage rides, the home tour, walking tours and wonderful concerts.

The event’s opening ceremony is Friday at the Bellefonte Elementary School at 6:30 p.m.. featuring the Bellefonte Community Band, the Nittany Knights, the Bellefonte Elementary School fourth and Fifth Grade Choir, middle school Women’s Chorale, St. John’s Elementary School Choir, and other special performances including a preview performance of “Dickens’ Holiday.”

Mayor Kent Addis will officially open the event.

This year the Bellefonte Historic and Cultural Association offers historic walking tours downtown on both Saturday and Sunday.  The tours meet at 2 p.m. at the courthouse both days.

Read more:   http://www.lockhaven.com/page/content.detail/id/542378/Bellefonte-s-Victorian-Christmas.html?nav=5164

PEL: Scranton Needs More Than 12% Tax Hike

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

Scranton‘s state-designated recovery coordinator, Pennsylvania Economy League, has told city officials they need to raise property taxes next year higher than the 12 percent that the city budget for 2013 proposes. Exactly how much higher was not stated.

In a letter received Thursday, PEL Executive Director Gerald Cross notes that the city has not dedicated a tax millage toward paying for the city’s second unfunded debt package approved by a court this year, of $9.75 million. In that case, Judge Peter O’Brien, a senior visiting judge from Monroe County, on Oct. 31 ordered that a tax millage be dedicated to paying back this unfunded debt.

It was the same arrangement the city sought and received in January, when a different judge, Senior Monroe County Judge Jerome Cheslock, approved the city’s first unfunded debt, of $9.85 million, and ordered that this amount be paid back with a dedicated tax millage over 10 years.

The first unfunded debt package translated into the 12 percent tax hike in the proposed budget for next year, city officials have said.

Read more:  http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/pel-scranton-needs-more-than-12-tax-hike-1.1413187

Lancaster County Nearly Has Balanced Budget

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

Lancaster County is only about $22,000 shy of balancing next year’s general fund budget, and officials expect to have that covered by Monday, when the entire $252.8 million spending plan is presented to the public.

The plan calls for departmental cuts of 2.75 percent, about $1.3 million in savings from a new high-deductible health insurance plan and a 9.3 percent tax increase — the first to be considered by the current board of commissioners.

The budget also includes raises of 2.75 percent for employees and doesn’t call for layoffs.

Maggie Weidinger, the county’s director of information technology and budget services, went over parts of the plan with the county commissioners on Thursday.

Read more: http://lancasteronline.com/article/local/790236_Lancaster-County-nearly-has-balanced-budget.html#ixzz2ENyYW43c

Daniel Boone School Board Proposes Cutting All Programs, Laying Off 40 To Balance Budget

Map of Berks County, Pennsylvania, United States Public School Districts (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

BIRDSBORO — For the first time in the recent history of the Daniel Boone School District, the following year’s budget is balanced in December.

District administration achieved that zero deficit with the maximum tax increase allowed with the use of two exceptions through Act 1 of 2006, eliminating kindergarten and all student activities including sports and band, and furloughing 40 professional staff.

The board hasn’t approved the budget, though, nor any of those revenue and expenditure measures.

Board President Andrew Basile said in a budget meeting last night that it won’t do that until next June unless concessions can be reached through its contractual partners, or unless there would be additional state revenue.

Read more:  http://www.pottsmerc.com/article/20121207/NEWS01/121209541/daniel-boone-board-proposes-cutting-all-programs-laying-off-40-to-balance-budget

U.S. Unemployment Rate Falls To 7.7 Percent

WASHINGTON — The U.S. economy added 146,000 jobs in November and the unemployment rate fell to 7.7 percent, the lowest since December 2008. The government said Superstorm Sandy had only a minimal effect on the figures.

The Labor Department‘s report today offered a mixed picture of the economy.

Hiring remained steady during the storm and in the face of looming tax increases. But the government said employers added 49,000 fewer jobs in October and September than it initially estimated.

And the unemployment rate fell to a four-year low in November from 7.9 percent in October mostly because more people stopped looking for work and weren’t counted as unemployed.

Read more:  http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=433757