Clarks Summit Festival Of Ice Kicks Off This Weekend

Clarks Summit will be a winter wonderland this weekend for the annual Festival of Ice.

“Frozen Fairy Tales” will mark the 11th year of the ice festival, with nearly 60 fairy-tale-themed ice sculptures around the borough’s downtown.

The sculptures, with themes like “Alice in Wonderland,” “The Brothers Grimm” and “Cinderella,” will all be done by Lakeville-based Sculpted Ice Works.

The large number of sculptures and free admission are the main draws for people from all over Northeast Pennsylvania, said Abington Business and Professional Association Executive Director Laura Ancherani. Depending on the weather, the festival averages about 25,000 to 30,000 people over the weekend.

Read more: http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/clarks-summit-festival-of-ice-kicks-off-this-weekend-1.1830500

Arby’s Closings Leave Employees Jobless

Locator map of the Scranton-Wilkes-Barre Metropolitan Statistical Area in the northeastern part of the of . (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Ashley Douglas was depending on her next paycheck from her job at Arby’s to catch up with her rent.

But the single mother of three children will have to find another way to pay her bills. Douglas, 29, of Wilkes-Barre, who worked at the Wyoming Valley Mall Arby’s, was among dozens of employees at six Arby’s restaurants in Northeastern and Central Pennsylvania who lost their jobs when the businesses closed on Friday.

That was the same day the franchise owner’s Chapter 7 liquidation was approved in federal court.

“That was the only job I was working at for right now,” said Douglas, who is separated and raising her children, ages 7, 4 and 3. “I’m depending on that. I’m trying to find something else. I still owe my landlord the rest of the rent for this month … If I don’t get something to pay for my rent, I don’t know what I’m going to do.”

Read more: http://timesleader.com/news/local-news/302844/Arbys-closings-leave-employees-jobless

PennDOT Plans $46 Million Route 6 Project To Start In July

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

A 7.8 mile stretch of Route 6 between Clarks Summit and the Wyoming County line is scheduled for a three-plus-year, $46 million overhaul starting this summer.

James May, a state Department of Transportation spokesman, said the work will be among the three largest ongoing transportation projects planned in PennDOT‘s six-county District 4 in 2014.

“It’s just a really old road, and a lot of the bridges along there are old or structurally deficient,” Mr. May said. “We’re going to go in and just do it all at once.”

Route 6, which is also Route 11 along that stretch, was constructed in the 1950s. Today, Mr. May estimated 7,000 vehicles travel in both directions every day along the deteriorating thoroughfare that PennDOT officials plan to restore.

Read more: http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/penndot-plans-46-million-route-6-project-to-start-in-july-1.1594377