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CELEBRATING THE WOMEN’S RIGHT TO VOTE, SHE Leads Road Rally Makes Stop in Scranton

SCRANTON, PA — On October 16, 2020, at approximately 10:30am, at the Scranton High School parking lot, the Women’s Whistle Stop will host a pit-stop for about 20 cars participating in the Vision 2020, Women 100, SHE Leads Road Rally. The rally is being held as a tribute to the suffragists and in an effort to highlight the importance of voting this election year.

The women race car drivers of the Road Rally will make a historic round-trip drive from Philadelphia to Seneca Falls, NY, retracing the journey of the suffragists as they traveled from the birthplace of the U.S. Constitution to the first Women’s Rights Convention in 1848. The Road Rally is hosted by Vision 2020, a national non-partisan women’s equality coalition based at Drexel University’s Institute for Women’s Health and Leadership. Women 100 is a year-long commemoration of the centennial of the 19th Amendment.

During the Scranton stop, brief remarks will be made by Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti, Lackawanna County Commissioner, Debi Dominick, Founder and President of Vision 2020, Lynn Yeakel, and David Thornburgh, CEO of the Philadelphia-based Committee of Seventy, a nonprofit, nonpartisan civic leadership organization dedicated to better government, voter participation and similar causes. Former Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. Bill Scranton will be in attendance. Additionally, U.S. Senator Bob Casey and U.S. Senator Pat Toomey are invited.

This event is a mere three days before the deadline of the voter registration period in Pennsylvania. Women’s Whistle Stop is a non-partisan effort that encourages voter registration and has been promoting Votes411 from the League of Women Voters. WWS is also offering Voter Business Cards, for free, to all area nonprofits interested in encouraging voter registration.

Sponsors for the event include Geisinger, PNC, Sheetz, Sweda Advertising, Munley Law, and Universal Printing Company. For further information, please contact Samantha Maloney at (570) 575-1081 or [email protected].

Fossil Boulders Now on Display at McDade Park

Statement On Fossil Boulders Donation

Waste Management’s Alliance Landfill has donated two large pieces of the region’s distant history to the Lackawanna County Coal Mine Tour in McDade Park.

Landfill Manager Glenn Kempa said the boulders, each with vivid fossilized images of ferns and tree branches that shaded Taylor and Ransom Twp. 300 million years ago, were discovered during earthwork work at the landfill.

“The team working on our site spotted these fossils during excavation. We decided to see if we could make these available for the public to see.” Mr. Kempa said.

Mr. Kempa said Lackawanna County Parks and Recreation Manager Bob Noone was contacted and the fossils were offered for display in McDade Park. Latona Trucking & Excavation of Pittston, a site contractor, agreed to donate transportation of the fossils to the park.

“We are very grateful for the donation of the two large boulders from Waste Management’s Alliance Landfill. The Coal Mine at McDade Park is the perfect location for these two pieces. The embedded fossil imprints on these boulders will certainly something of interest for everyone to see for years to come,” said Lackawanna County Commissioner Chris Chermak.

Alliance Consulting Engineer and Project Manager Rob Sochvoka of ARM Group LLC said the fossils are from the Llewellyn formation, a layer of shale and sandstone found between the region’s coal seams. He said Pennsylvania is one of the few places where highly detailed, and sometimes appearing white or yellow, fossilized plants can be found in contrasting black shale.

“These fossils were formed in the Paleozoic Era of the Carboniferous Period,” Mr. Sochovka said. “During this period, the earth’s climate was much warmer and humid, allowing large trees and ferns to grow. The abundant amount of plant life increased oxygen levels higher than they are today. When the huge trees and ferns died, they fell into waters with little to no bacteria to help them decompose.

“The accumulation of dead plant life formed large peat bogs,” Mr. Sochovka said. “Eventually, with the repeated depositions of sand, silts and clay over these peat bogs and the weight and pressure of these deposits, the peat bogs turned into coal.”

The boulders each weigh about two tons.

Pictured from left to right, Bob Noone, Lackawanna County Recreation Manager, McDade Park; Rob Sochovka, Geologist/CQA Manager, ARM Group LLC; Commissioner Chris Chermak, Lackawanna County; Mark DeStefano, CFO Latona Trucking & Excavating; Jason Lab, Project Manager, ARM Group; Tom Murray, Sr. Project Manager, ARM Group; and Glenn Kempa, District Manager, Alliance Landfill.

COLTS Returns to Regular Service with 11 Route Changes Effective Monday, Oct. 5

Scranton, Pa. – The County of Lackawanna Transit System (COLTS) will return to normal service with changes to 11 of its routes on Monday, Oct. 5. 2020. The changes will make these routes more efficient and provide more service for COLTS’ passengers. The routes affected are: #14 Drinker/Chestnut, #18 Petersburg, #21 Lake Scranton/Oakmont, #26 Mohegan Sun/Wilkes -Barre VA Medical Center, #31 Old Forge/Stauffer, #36 Keyser Valley/Lafayette, #42 Olive/ Providence, #43/45 Viewmont Bangor/Viewmont Express, #52 Carbondale/North Main Ave., #53 Marywood/U of S, and #54 Green Ridge/Dickson City.
“We took time during the pandemic to resize our bus system and reconfigure routes so that they best meet demand for service,” said Bob Fiume, COLTS Executive Director. “We are constantly looking to improve our system for our riders.”
Changes include service to the Wilkes-Barre VA Medical Center, the renaming of some routes due to rerouting, combination of some routes on one paper schedule, and minor changes to routes and timetables. The #48 Dalton/Waverly/Clarks Summit and the #99 Minooka/Montage will be cancelled due to low ridership. The #48 route will be served through Demand Response Service, and employees of EDM Americas who take the #99 route will be served on the #42 Olive/Providence.
The list of changes is attached to the email with this press release, and the new schedules will be posted on coltsbus.com.
Some bay assignments, or the bays that the buses pull into and out of, will also change. The bay assignment changes will be posted on the COLTS web site at coltsbus.com.

Arts & Culture Creative Grants Available

Arts & Culture Creative Grants Available

The Lackawanna County Arts and Culture Department is offering individual artists, non-profit organizations and municipalities the opportunity to apply for a Lackawanna County Arts and Culture COVID-19 Creative Community Grant for a variety of projects that provide the community with positive arts experiences.

The activities can fall into the following categories: virtual projects, “real world” projects that follow CDC, State and County health guidelines, beautification/public art projects, or projects that promote health and safety in a creative way (signage, barriers, stickers, etc.).

Non-profits or municipalities may apply for a collaborative grant with a minimum of three partners. Churches may apply for public and non-religious activities only.

Applicants may apply for a grant in the following grant amounts: individual artists may apply for funding up to $5,000; projects with two collaborative partners the level is up to $10,000; and projects with three or more collaborative partners have a ceiling of $20,000.

The online application portal will open on August 20 on the Lackawanna County website and deadline for submission is September 15.

For more information contact, Maureen McGuigan, Deputy Director of Arts and Culture, at 570.963.6590, ext. 102 or email [email protected].

Apply here

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CELEBRATING THE WOMEN’S RIGHT TO VOTE, SHE Leads Road Rally Makes Stop in Scranton

Fossil Boulders Now on Display at McDade Park

COLTS Returns to Regular Service with 11 Route Changes Effective Monday, Oct. 5

Arts & Culture Creative Grants Available

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