Wilkes University

As college students return to campuses for the spring semester, leaders from schools across Northeast and Central Pennsylvania have scheduled additional training, reevaluated security and planned drills.

Follow along each day at WVIA.org as we publish '2025 Year in Review,' a week-long series recounting the top stories of the past year through New Year's Day. Today, check out the top news stories from some of the rural communities in our region.

Wilkes University President Greg Cant will retire next year, the school announced to campus today. The move comes as Wilkes deals with a budget deficit and as students demand accountability.

Christmas came early for students at Dr. David W. Kistler Elementary School in Wilkes-Barre on Thursday, thanks to athletes from Wilkes University.

Thom Welby, Lackawanna County’s newest commissioner, is sworn in and on the job. And The Woodlands, a hotel and resort in Luzerne County, is shut down by code enforcement.

Worried that Wilkes University may balance an $8 million budget deficit by raising tuition or cutting programs, students on Tuesday demanded greater transparency from school leaders. In a statement issued afterward, the university called its financial position “strong.”

All of the names framed in flickering candlelight at Wilkes University last week felt heavy for Alec Walker-Serrano, but a few especially weighed on him as he spoke at Transgender Day of Remembrance. Each November, Transgender Day of Remembrance honors the lives of transgender, nonbinary and gender-expansive people who died by violence in the United States in the past year.

Almost 700 international students studied at colleges in Northeast and Northcentral Pennsylvania last year. They bring an economic boost and a global perspective to campus — benefits that the schools hope won’t wane under policy changes from the Trump administration.

Kevin Gryboski's federal lawsuit alleges the Luzerne County university fired him because he reported a white player for making offensive racial comments toward a Black player.

The president of Commonwealth University is stepping down and we have an update on the arson attack at the Pennsylvania Governor’s residence.Plus, football players at Wilkes University rally their fellow students to join a bone marrow registry.