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

Tastykake Looking Fresh At 100

As an independent company, Tasty Baking Co. didn’t quite make it to Tuesday’s 100th anniversary, selling out to Flowers Foods Inc. in 2011 for $141 million to avoid bankruptcy.

But nearly three years after the rescue, the Tastykake brand – which drips nostalgia in the Philadelphia region, but had failed to break through nationally – has renewed strength.

The Flowers bailout has given workers at Tasty’s bakery in South Philadelphia and delivery-route owners throughout the Mid-Atlantic the chance to celebrate the brand’s centennial.

“Couldn’t be better,” is how Dom Rosa, who has owned a Tastykake delivery route in South Jersey since 2000, described life under Flowers Foods.

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/business/20140225_Taskykake_looking_fresh_at_100.html#qDDZokmzwt3ebC40.99

Bolaris: Mother Nature To Take A Third Shot This Weekend

Snow-covered Mid-Atlantic region of the United States (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Don’t put away the snow shovels yet.

The latest computer guidance is strongly suggesting a major mid-Atlantic and Northeast storm will strike this weekend.

This one may be a more typical winter storm for this region, with heavy wet snows possible across sections of the northwest suburbs; snow, sleet and rain on the I-95 corridor, including Philly, Washington, D.C. and New York City; and the brunt of the storm aimed for parts of New York state and New England.

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/news/Bolaris_Mother_Nature_to_take_a_third_shot.html#LIVlwVdcX8dMMtzU.99

First Snow Of Season For Philly Area Tonight?

Some Philadelphia-area residents could wake up Tuesday to the first snowflakes of the season.

Forecasters are calling for rain showers this evening throughout the region. In some places, that rain may turn to snow, or a mix of rain and snow, overnight into Tuesday morning, as a cold front from Canada moves south. That front will affect much of the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, with the potential for snow from Boston to Washington, D.C.

“Accompanying this front will be very gusty winds and perhaps the first snowflakes of the season for some along the I-95 corridor,” according to AccuWeather meteorologist Anthony Sagliani.

Sagliani cautions that any precipitation overnight “is not going to be a major snow event,” but people should “not be surprised if you wake up on Tuesday morning and there are a few snowflakes in the air as you head out to your car.”

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/news/First_snow_of_season_for_Philly_area_tonight.html#erTFrwcSb0BRTVLE.99

Japanese Manufacturer Moving North American Headquarters To Wyomissing

Map of Berks County, Pennsylvania, United States with township and municipal boundaries (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A Japanese manufacturer is moving its North American headquarters to Wyomissing.

Seibu Giken Co. Ltd.’s North American operation, SG America Inc., Owatonna, Minn., is relocating to 220 N. Park Road and initially creating 15 to 20 skilled jobs in production, logistics, assembly and engineering.

The operations in Owatonna will close.

“Relocating to the greater Reading region from Owatonna was a strategic decision for SG America,” said Ray Suhocki, general manager, North American operations.  “The Mid-Atlantic location provides access to a larger labor pool and allows us to take advantage of greater Reading’s lower cost of doing business.”

Read more: http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=505234

Major Blizzard Possible Next Week — Or Not

Winter Storm December 2007 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Meteorologists are watching a low pressure system with the potential to bring a major winter storm with blizzard conditions next week to the mid-Atlantic, including the Lehigh Valley.

But don’t go altering travel plans just yet, because it also could just blow out to sea.

AccuWeather, a private forecasting company in State College, says there are indications the jet stream next week could form into an upward loop, similar to a an upside “U” or the Greek letter omega, and drop an “atmospheric bomb” on the mid-Atlantic.

AccuWeather.com’s expert senior meteorologist Alex Sosnowski says the system could bring “a foot or more of wind swept snow, travel mayhem, power outages and the whole nine yards with a storm hugging the coast.  Or, he says, it could just turn into “another non-event with the storm heading out to sea.”

Read more:  http://www.mcall.com/news/breaking/mc-allentown-lehigh-valley-major-blizzard-next-wee-20130228,0,5578245.story

First Snowfall Of Season In Forecast

Berks County could get a taste of snow this week.

Forecasters are expecting a slushy accumulation Tuesday. The snow, expected to amount to 1 to 2 inches, should start between midnight and 4 a.m. and end during the afternoon, said Mike Pigott of AccuWeather near State College.

But it’s not likely to stick around.

“A lot of it will actually melt on the roadways, but there could be a slushy coating,” Pigott said.

Read more:  http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=431275

A Stink Bug Solution Coming From The United States Department Of Agriculture!

Image via Wikipedia

Finally, a stink bug solution!!!!  The USDA has come up with a way to get rid of 80 percent of the stink bug population plaguing 33 states (the Mid-Atlantic States are ground zero).  A tiny wasp from Asia will be used to wipe out most of the stink bug population.  The wasp lays eggs in the skink bug and the babies eat their way out (yuck) killing the stink bug.  I am sure PETA will freak out over it but I say hip-hip hurrah!  They hope to release the wasps in 2013.  If the stink bugs are left unchecked they will decimate our food supply.  They are already impacting it!

 Read the entire article from the Baltimore Sun:

http://www.baltimoresun.com/features/bs-ae-stink-bug-defense-20110221,0,3958702,full.story

Early And Cold Winter Predicted For East Coast

Forecasters are predicting an early and cold winter for our neck of the woods, however, another “snowmageddon” or “snowpocalypse” can be ruled out (Thanks be to God).

Temperatures will be normal or below normal for November and December.  Most of our snow will be early in the season.  A January warm-up is also expected. 

La Nina winters are dry but COLD!  Philly is predicted to have an average amount of snowfall.  We appear to be on the border of normal to above normal for temps.