Scranton To Host ‘The Office’ Wrap Party

English: Logo of the fictitious Dunder Mifflin paper company. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The paper-pushers of Dunder Mifflin will make one last stop in Scranton before closing their doors next month.

“The Office” Wrap Party will celebrate the upcoming conclusion of the Scranton-set television show with several activities throughout the city on Saturday, May 4.  The event was announced between the seventh and eight innings of Thursday’s Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders game.

A group of cast and crew members from the show – which ends its nine-year run on NBC on Thursday, May 16 – are expected to attend.  An official announcement about who will participate will come next Thursday, said Timothy L. Holmes, regional director of marketing & events for Times-Shamrock Communications.

“We do know there’s definitely a strong contingent of writers and cast members coming out,” he said.

Read more:  http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/scranton-to-host-the-office-wrap-party-1.1468059

Flower & Craft Warehouse In Blue Ball Closing

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

Flower & Craft Warehouse, which draws thousands of shoppers from across the region, is closing.

The sizable Blue Ball store, established in 1991, is seeking a license from East Earl Township to hold a going-out-of-business sale.

“They’re definitely closing,” said Connie Gross, the township’s secretary-treasurer and office manager. “Their verbiage to us was, ‘This is it.’ ”

According to Gross, the 196 Broad Street store first contacted the township for a license about two weeks ago.

Read more: http://lancasteronline.com/article/local/833836_Flower—Craft-Warehouse-in-Blue-Ball-closing.html#ixzz2PbPwKHff

Creating A Buzz For 14 Philadelphia Neighborhoods

English: Map of Philadelphia County highlighting West Philadelphia (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

To some, they are former diamonds in the rough, locales that a decade or so of change has polished into something now truly unique.

And many have made the cut as city neighborhoods that the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corp. will be showcasing in a new, two-year campaign.

The 14 areas, to be unveiled Friday as part of the campaign’s launch, are: Fairmount, Spring Garden, Graduate Hospital, Callowhill, Bella Vista, East Passyunk, Fishtown, Northern Liberties, Queen Village, Pennsport, Cedar Park, Spruce Hill, University City, and Powelton Village.

“Philly is a city of neighborhoods. What does that really mean?” GPTMC president and chief executive Meryl Levitz said of the impetus behind the campaign. “We want people to go one block farther. People haven’t felt this good about Philly as they do now.”

Read more: http://www.philly.com/philly/business/20130405_Philadelphia_s_gems__Its_neighborhoods__that_is.html#ixzz2PbMBcjXg 
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Philadelphia’s Homicide Tally Shows Dramatic Drop

English: This is my own work, Public Domain Photograph, not copyrighted Ed Yakovich http://www.flickr.com/photos/10396190@N04 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Editor’s note:  Great news!

PHILLY’S HOMICIDE rate is raising some eyebrows – but this time, it’s for all of the right reasons.

From the start of the year through Wednesday night, 54 homicides were recorded, a 39 percent drop from the same period a year ago, according to police statistics.

Shootings were down 20 percent, from 274 to 218, and overall violent crime fell 9 percent through March 31, the last date for which those figures were available.

For a city that has long been haunted by stubbornly high homicide tallies, the lower figures represent an encouraging sign of progress.

Whether that progress can be maintained through the notoriously violent spring and summer months is anyone’s guess.

Read more:  http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20130405_Philadelphia_s_homicide_tally_shows_dramatic_drop.html

Regional Recreation Coordinator Pitched To Pottstown Council

Editor’s note:  We are all for regional planning and cooperation.  This approach will help unite the Greater Pottstown area and that would be a good thing!

POTTSTOWN — Borough council may vote Monday on endorsing a proposal that could, at very little cost, provide support and technical services to regional recreation efforts and perhaps draw more financial support for large events like the Fourth of July and Volleyball Rumble.

The proposal has been discussed for several months by the Pottstown Metropolitan Area Regional Planning Committee and would be jointly funded by the Pottstown Area Health and Wellness Foundation and a grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.

The idea is to use the funding to hire what the state calls “a circuit rider” and what David Kraybill, executive director of the foundation, calls a “regional recreation coordinator” to help organize, provide technical and marketing support and write grants for the eight municipalities which comprise the regional planning area.

To benefit, each municipality would have to sign on and pay what the foundation’s Anna Brendle-Kennedy called “an escalating” fee which begins with several hundred dollars and ends, after five years at $5,000, so long as all municipalities participate.

Read more:  http://www.pottsmerc.com/article/20130404/NEWS01/130409610/regional-recreation-coordinator-pitched-to-pottstown-council#full_story

Pottstown Welcomes 2 New Businesses, 50 Jobs

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

Editor’s note:  Thumbs up to Steve Bamford!

POTTSTOWN — Following on the heels of the news that downtown Pottstown will lose as many as 75 jobs in the coming months, comes the news that the borough may be gaining as many as 58 jobs at two new businesses soon to be break ground.

The news came Wednesday night when borough council heard about two proposals for two new businesses that want to put up new buildings in the borough.

One, known as Patient First, is part of a chain of 43 urgent care medical centers that has been in business for 43 years and promises to bring 50 jobs into the borough.

“We’re looking to hire locally,” said Carl Wright, founder and president of  The Wright Group, which will construct the building at the site of the former Chinese food restaurant across the parking lot from Ollie’s Bargain Outlet and Just Cabinets.

Read more:

http://www.pottsmerc.com/article/20130404/NEWS01/130409614/pottstown-welcomes-2-new-businesses-50-jobs#full_story

State Adds Extra Money To Reading Hotel Project

The long-planned 220-room Doubletree Convention Center Hotel on Penn Street has received a $500,000 bolster from the state.

The developers, led by retailer Albert R. Boscov, had applied for an additional $2.5 million state grant.

“The governor came in with $3 million,” Boscov said Thursday.

He said the project earlier had been approved for $14 million in grants from the state’s Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program, but the developers applied for more.

Read more:  http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=466670