79.6% Of Susquehanna Shares Were Voted For BB&T Offer

Susquehanna Bancshares shareholders indeed voted by an “overwhelming” margin in favor of their firm being acquired by BB&T.

Lititz-based Susquehanna disclosed the tally from Friday’s shareholder vote in a federal filing on Monday.

Nearly 144.9 million of Susquehanna’s 182.1 million shares outstanding were cast in favor of the acquisition, or 79.6 percent.

Some 1.2 percent of shares, or 2.3 million, were cast against. Some 0.6 percent of shares, or 1.1 million, were cast as abstaining.

Read more:

http://lancasteronline.com/business/local_business/of-susquehanna-shares-were-voted-for-bb-t-offer/article_7f0f4692-cbf0-11e4-a635-9bdd204a385e.html

Pronounce This: Pennsylvania Names

16 Arrested – Mostly For Drugs – In Northwest Lancaster County Sweep

Sixteen people were arrested Wednesday in a sweep of northwest Lancaster County by a host of law enforcement agencies.

The arrests were the result of a year-long undercover operation, according to Elizabethtown Borough police.

Here’s who was arrested and their charges:

•Jeffrey Myers, 37, of Elizabethtown, charged with one felony count of delivery of a controlled substance by. Myers was arraigned before District Judge Jayne Duncan and was released on $50,000 unsecured bail.

Read more: http://lancasteronline.com/news/local/arrested—mostly-for-drugs—in-northwest/article_f3320066-8193-11e4-8184-9b9b354b3a04.html

5 Important Questions About BB&T’s Purchase Of Susquehanna Bancshares

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

As LancasterOnline reported Wednesday, Lititz-based Susquehanna Bancshares is being bought by North Carolina banking company BB&T.

So what does that mean if you’re a Susquehanna customer?

Here are five important questions and answers about the $2.5 billion deal.

Q: What happens to Susquehanna’s 245 banking offices in Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey and West Virginia, including the 30 offices in Lancaster County?

A: All Susquehanna branches will be retained, although they will be renamed BB&T. No branches are being closed because the Susquehanna and BB&T branch networks do not overlap.

Read more: http://lancasteronline.com/news/local/important-questions-about-bb-t-s-purchase-of-susquehanna-bancshares/article_cb08e0b2-6b3d-11e4-9d29-bff9821ae372.html

Lancaster, Lititz Pubs Vying For “Best In The Northeast”

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

Is it too much of an exaggeration to claim that Lancaster County is THE craft beer capital of the Northeast?

Maybe not.

Two county establishments — Bulls Head Public House in Lititz and The Fridge in Lancaster city — are among the 10 Northeast Region finalists in http://www.CraftBeer.com’s 2014 search for the nation’s Great American Beer Bars.

Read more: http://lancasteronline.com/lifestyle/lancaster-lititz-pubs-vying-for-best-in-the-northeast/article_76589ed8-294b-11e4-9ea9-0017a43b2370.html

Stars May Align With Rock Lititz

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Stargazing might be on the rise in Lititz after all.

The developers of Rock Lititz Studio made clear from the start that the mammoth rehearsal facility under construction in Warwick Township is designed for technical crews, not performers themselves.

But the company is acknowledging that performers might also pop in for a day or two at some point in the tour-preparation process.

Which means the likes of Bono, Madonna and others might someday walk the streets of Lititz — or at least whiz by in a limo.

Read more: http://lancasteronline.com/news/local/stars-may-align-with-rock-lititz/article_77540302-222c-11e4-ac6d-001a4bcf6878.html

Rock ‘n’ Roll’s Company Town (Lititz, PA)

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LITITZ, PA—This town of 9,400 people in Amish country tells the story of the modern concert industry.

In 1968, when Frankie Valli and his group rolled in for a show, two young brothers who did sound for local dances turned the Four Seasons into one of the first music acts to tour with its own speaker system. The brothers built a reputation on the road, but they never moved out of Lititz. Their company became an anchor for a cluster of businesses that now supply the sound and spectacle for many of the world’s biggest acts.

The effect that lets pop-star Katy Perry soar over her audience while clutching a bunch of balloons. The battalion of speakers blasting Paul McCartney’s voice in stadiums designed for sports, not music. The sliding catwalk that takes a singing, dancing Justin Timberlake from the stage to the rear of an arena. All this gear, currently crisscrossing America in tractor-trailers, was engineered and built in Lititz, along with the apparatus for blockbuster tours of the past by U2, the Rolling Stones, Madonna and Michael Jackson. The place has an air of secrecy: Because entertainers want a surprise when the curtain goes up, much of the work here is done in secret by companies that don’t put their names on their buildings.

Once wired with tinny speakers and harsh lights, the world of live entertainment is now powered by computer systems that control sophisticated video displays on sets worth tens of millions of dollars.

Read more: http://online.wsj.com/articles/rock-n-rolls-company-town-1407452570?tesla=y

Rock Lititz Gets Rolling: Tait Towers, Clair Global Begin Work On $100 Million Campus

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

This month, on a farm near Route 501, construction began of an innovative facility named Rock Lititz Studio.

The studio is being built to fill a need in the concert-tour industry for affordable, accessible and available production-rehearsal space.

Costing more than $7 million to develop, according to industry sources, Rock Lititz Studio is set for completion in August.

Rock Lititz Studio will start as a 52,000-square-foot building, or roughly the size of a supermarket, except with  a 100-foot-high roof.

Read more: http://lancasteronline.com/news/local/rock-lititz-gets-rolling-tait-towers-clair-global-begin-work/article_d8c3c464-b6b7-11e3-b66c-001a4bcf6878.html?mode=story

Rock Lititz Starts Push To Make Lititz Area An Entertainment Technology Hub

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

When The Rolling Stones or Maroon 5 hit the road, their production crews have spent months practicing, making sure the lighting’s just right, the special effects are perfect, along with the staging, video, pyro and all the theatrics that wow the audience.

Bands used to start tours in smaller towns to work out the kinks on the road.

Today, anyone can take a video and post it online, so that first show has to be perfect.

The question is how to do it. And a couple of Lancaster County music business powerhouses have a solution.

Read more: http://readingeagle.com/article/20140114/BUSINESSWEEKLY/301149999#.UtW9L_RDsxI

Man Shot To Death By Lititz Police Officer Is Identified As 2009 Warwick Grad

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The Lititz man fatally shot by police Saturday was a 2009 graduate of Warwick High School and attended Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology, where he was named to the dean’s list multiple times.

Officials on Sunday released the name of the shooting victim, David P. Giliberti, who was shot and killed by a Lititz police officer.

According to his Facebook profile, the 22-year-old originally was from Cassadaga, N.Y.

The shooting occurred after police responded to 101 Arrowhead Drive just after 3 a.m. Saturday after Giliberti’s grandmother called 911 and said she needed help.

Read more: http://lancasteronline.com/article/local/934769_Man-shot-to-death-by-Lititz-police-officer-is-identified-as-2009-Warwick-grad.html#ixzz2oKDbfChp

Shaub’s Opens In Lititz

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Shaub’s, the longtime retail staple of downtown Lancaster, has opened a new store in Lititz after buying Hess Clothing store at 11-15 Broad St.

The store opening comes about two weeks after Shaub’s closed its store at Shoppes at Landis Valley, where it moved after closing its store at 18 N. Queen St. in downtown Lancaster last summer. Shaub’s opened that store in 1880.

Read more: http://lancasteronline.com/article/local/906527_Shaub-s-opens-in-Lititz.html#ixzz2hpOvtj4n

Penn Cinema Partner Plans York Theater

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Cinema entrepreneur Penn Ketchum is heeding the advice of 19th century American newspaper editor Horace Greeley.

“Go west, young man.”

Ketchum, managing partner of Penn Cinema, intends to develop a small, luxury two-screen movie theater in York city.

But he said Friday that he has no intention of going south into Lancaster city and doing the same kind of project there.

Ketchum’s $750,000 venture in York was disclosed Thursday by York Mayor Kim Bracey in her State of the City address.

Read more: http://lancasteronline.com/article/local/848107_Penn-Cinema-partner-plans-York-theater.html#ixzz2T2FcRToY

Lititz: Pretzels, Chocolate And History Draw Hip Tourists

Editor’s note:  Awesome write up from the Pittsburgh Post Gazette about Lititz!

LITITZ, Lancaster County — “Why did we come here? To eat pretzels, of course!” said Sue Jones of Churchill, who, along with other members of a Pittsburgh bowling team, rolled into the 152-year-old Sturgis Pretzel Bakery and museum during Pretzel Fest 2013.

“I love pretzels — I’m addicted to them,” she laughed.

“But you’ve got to put yellow mustard on them,” added Doris Libell of East Pittsburgh, wearing a Penguins T-shirt.

This community of 9,000 people in northern Lancaster County — recently named Budget Travel’s 2013 Coolest Small Town in America — has a seven-block downtown area crammed with stone and woodbeam houses built in the late 1700s, a pre-Revolutionary War hotel built by Gen. Johann Sutter, a Moravian Protestant church built in 1749, plus several restaurants, taverns and quaint shops selling antiques, books, furniture and much more.

But Lititz is becoming popular with tourists mainly for two things — pretzels and chocolate candy.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/life/travel/lititz-pretzels-chocolate-and-history-draw-hip-tourists-686327/#ixzz2SWP99hOq

‘Coolest Small Town’ Label Bringing More Visitors To Lititz

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

So, are new faces showing up in Lititz these days, checking out the “Coolest Small Town in America?”

“I voted — that’s why you won,” laughed Rose Anne Manfredi of Long Island, N.Y., Sunday afternoon as she and her husband, Ron, both 62, strolled through Lititz Springs Park.

The couple was staying in Ephrata 25 years ago. Needing a place to eat, they thumbed through a phone book and thought the General Sutter Inn sounded interesting.

They fell in love with Lititz and have been making annual pilgrimages ever since.

Read more: http://lancasteronline.com/article/local/838088_-Coolest-Small-Town–label-bringing-more-visitors-to-Lititz-.html#ixzz2QYUFaizs

Lititz Wins Coolest Small Town In America Contest

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

“Free Moravian Sugar Cake and Wilbur Buds for Everyone???”  Sandy Hendricks Morris proposed on the Downtown Lititz Facebook page.

Lititz and those who love it were in a celebratory mood Saturday after learning it really is “America’s Coolest Small Town.”

The borough north of Lancaster, known for its chocolate, pretzels and Moravian heritage, won Budget Travel‘s online contest after nearly 100,000 votes were cast for 924 towns.

Self-described Lititz “cheerleader” Gaylord Poling said he learned of the honor Friday evening on the Budget Travel website.

Read more: http://lancasteronline.com/article/local/815782_Lititz-is-coolest.html#ixzz2L5GHlMVA

Lititz Leads In ‘Coolness’ In Online Contest Run By Budget Travel

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

Editor’s note:  We totally agree!!!

Brian Volpone walks a half-mile to work each day through the streets of Lititz.

He loves inhaling the warm chocolate smell emanating from Wilbur Chocolate.  He also enjoys looking at the town’s historic buildings and soaking in its family-friendly vibe.

Volpone, 46, thinks Lititz is “America’s Coolest Small Town.”  And so do a bunch of other folks, who are voting online in a national contest being hosted by Budget Travel on its website, budgettravel.com.

“It’s such a neat little place,” said the father of four, who works at Luthercare as a network administrator and is married to a Lititz native, Bev.

Read more: http://lancasteronline.com/article/local/806306_Lititz-leads-in–coolness–in-online-contest-run-by-Budget-Travel.html#ixzz2IkY0VcsM

’60 Minutes’ Report Critical Of Health Management Associates

A national health-care chain that operates two hospitals in Lancaster County has come under fire after an investigative TV news program aired allegations that profits — and not patient care — motivated many of the company’s decisions in the emergency room.

CBS correspondent Steve Kroft on “60 Minutes” Sunday charged Health Management Associates with running unnecessary tests and admitting patients without cause — all to drive up revenue.

Based in Naples, Fla., HMA is the nation’s fourth-largest for-profit hospital chain.  Locally, HMA operates Lancaster Regional Medical Center at 250 College Ave. and Heart of Lancaster Regional Medical Center in Lititz.

Danielle Gilmore, director of marketing for Lancaster Regional, declined to discuss the CBS report, instead sharing a statement issued by HMA’s corporate office in Naples.

Read more: http://lancasteronline.com/article/local/788776_-60-Minutes–report-critical-of-Health-Management-Associates.html#ixzz2E1Aur9Zx

Cupcakes: Small Treats Are Fueling A Big Business

Wikipedia cupcakes, an in-kind donation by Georgetown Cupcake before being devoured by Wikipedians. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Who would have thought that something as diminutive as a cupcake could be such a huge business trend?

All over Lancaster County, cupcake bakeries are popping up like spring flowers.

And some of their cupcakes are even decorated with flowers, as well as fruit and other accents.

Cupcakes have been around since the 19th century, when “cup” cake referred to the quantity of ingredients, such as a cup of butter, two cups of sugar and three cups of flour.

Read more: http://lancasteronline.com/article/local/631723_Cupcakes–Small-treats-are-fueling-a-big-business.html#ixzz1szcQnEtR

Historic Lititz Inn Gets A Remodel With Help From Local Music Industry Firms

Editor’s note:  What many people do not realize is that Lititz is the home of three companies that are legendary in the music business.  Clair Global, Atomic Design and Tait Towers.  These three companies are sound, scenery/lighting and staging giants.  This is a great example of a win-win collaboration for everyone involved and a project that provides continued economic development for downtown Lititz.

A beer, a brainstorm and a boost for downtown Lititz.

About nine months ago, local executive Soren West was having a beer at the Bulls Head pub in the General Sutter Inn with Paul Pendyck, a partner in the inn.

The conversation turned to Pendyck’s vision for the pub and inn, two valuable parts of downtown Lititz’s economy and social scene.

Pendyck said he wanted to renovate the inn’s 16 guest rooms, including its little-used top floor, except that the undertaking was too expensive.

Read more: http://lancasteronline.com/article/local/572604_Bedrock-decor.html#ixzz1kJBTBuUP

Lady Gaga House Shopping In Suburban Lancaster

Image via Wikipedia

Lady Gaga‘s new boyfriend, Taylor Kinney is a Lancaster County native who was raised in Neffsville, PA.  Taylor recently had a recurring role on the CW‘s hit series The Vampire Diaries and played Mason Lockwood (who was a werewolf before being killed off by one of the series stars).  Taylor also appears in Gaga’s You and I video.  You may have heard the Pennsylvania version of You and I, which gets considerable airplay.

It seems Gaga is looking at a home in Bent Creek, a gated community in Manheim Township off of Fruitville Pike.  The house is on the market for $1.7 million.  Gaga has been seen in the Lititz Giant and various places around Lancaster County for the last several months.  Here are some pictures of the home she is looking at http://www.radaronline.com/exclusives/2011/12/lady-gaga-pennsylvania-mansion-photos

The Bent Creek development is near Taylor’s parents house.  Location, location, location!