WVIA News

The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation and New Jersey Transit Authority are signing on to support the Pennsylvania Northeast Regional Railroad Authority’s application to fund the Lackawanna Cut-off train.

Local nonprofits are among individuals, businesses, colleges and universities and even state offices across PA and the country who are producing podcasts.

The City of Scranton was selected to host the 2023 Mayors Innovation Project summer meeting.The project is a national peer learning network for mayors.Around 100 mayors and city leaders attend the meeting annually. They focus on different city policy topics of interest related to community development, public works, governance, city finance, transportation, public safety and more.Scheduled for Aug. 9 to 11, this year’s meeting will highlight housing quality and electrifying city fleets. It will also focus on a city’s role in raising wages and benefits and ways to build community trust through government transparency.For more details, visit mayorsinnovation.org

The Pike County Commissioner’s 25th Annual Fishing Derby will be held on Saturday, April 15.Children 16 and under are welcome to participate in the derby at Lily Pond on Schocopee Road in Milford. They must be accompanied by an adult. The event is from 8 a.m. until noon.Prizes will be awarded to the largest trout caught among each age group. The pond will be stocked with 600 rainbow, brook and golden trout, ranging from 12 to 17 inches. Trout stocking begins that morning at 7 a.m. and volunteers are welcome. There is no fee to participate. Each child must have their own registration form completed and signed by a parent or guardian.PA fishing laws and regulations will apply, participants must provide their own tackle and bait and may only use one fishing pole.For more details or to register, visit pikepa.org/government/commissioners_office/fishing_derby/index.php. Registration may also be completed on the day of the derby.To sponsor the event, contact the Pike County Commissioners’ Office at 570-296-7613.

East Stroudsburg University is hosting an education career and internship expo.The expo from the university’s College of Education and Office of Career and Workforce Development will be held on Tuesday, March 28, from 1 to 3 p.m.Over 40 companies and school districts with immediate teaching, paraprofessional, substitute, coaching and administration positions available will be on campus.The expo will be held in room 336 of the university’s Innovation Center at 562 Independence Road in East Stroudsburg.The event is free and open to the public. Participants should bring their resume.

Employees with diverse abilities alongside trained baristas greeted a long line of customers on Monday, March 13, at Pittston's newest coffee shop.

The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission began filling the commonwealth's waters with trout last month.

The Wilkes-Barre City Health Department is partnering with a local university to help enhance the quality of life for seniors who live in area high rises.Misericordia University students enrolled in the doctorate degree physical therapy program will guide seniors through a 6-week physical activity and wellness program.The students will provide a supervised evaluation and exercise wellness class for residents at the Wilkes-Barre Housing Authority high rises.Free balance screenings, blood pressure checks, diabetic foot screenings and nutritional information as well as low impact physical therapy group sessions are part of the weekly one-hour program.The next Free and Fun Wellness & Physical Activity Check is on Monday, March 13, from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. at East End Towers Community Room on Scott Street in Wilkes-Barre.For more details, contact the city’s health department at 570-208-4287 or 570-208-4653.

With state and federal funding, the City of Scranton is leasing 10 electric vehicles and adding new charging stations.The 2023 Chevy Bolt EVs will be used by the city’s code enforcement officers, officials announced on Thursday, March 9.The city set aside over $270,000 dollars in American Rescue Plan Act Funds to support the electric vehicles and charging stations. Scranton also received more than $120,000 dollars from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) for the vehicles and stations.The 10 new charging stations will be installed in the parking garage at Linden Street and North Washington Avenue.Charging stations are already in place in the city’s Linden, Connell, Casey and Medallion parking garages.“Scranton gained its nickname, the Electric City, as the home of the first electric trolley lines,” said Mayor Paige G. Cognetti. “Today feels like the first step in transforming Scranton into the Electric Vehicle City. By making smart investments in environmentally friendly practices, we can address climate change issues right here in Northeast Pennsylvania.”DEP Acting Secretary Rich Negrin was also at the announcement.

An intensive 10-month-long workforce development program is now enrolling its third cohort of students. The program for Lackawanna and Luzerne County residents is free of charge.