Times Leader
First Posted:
WILKES-BARRE
Calendar signing set today
On Thursday Dr. Henry K. Smith of Allied Services will be at El Rincon, 69 N. Main St., to sign calendars showcasing his photography from 5 to 8 p.m. A $5 cover charge will includes the 2012 Allied Pediatric Calendar.
Allied Services Heinz Rehab and SALSA (Spanish American Leaders Serving All), in conjunction with El Rincon Bar and Restaurant are sponsoring the Celebrity Bartender Happy Hour and Calendar Signing to benefit pediatric programs of Allied Rehab and Heinz Rehab.
Smith also will be among nine celebrity bartenders at the fundraiser. For more information, call 262-3340 or 830-8935.
BEAR CREEK
Charter’s efforts honored
Bear Creek Community Charter School is one of three schools chosen statewide to have a Title I Distinguished Student, recognition of the school’s success in state science tests. The student will be invited to an awards luncheon in Hershey March 26.
Title I is a federal program that provides money to help economically disadvantaged students improve academically. School staff will recommend three to five students to interviewed by the state Department of Education, with one selected.
The chance to nominate a student comes because Bear Creek was one of four Luzerne County schools classified as “Title I distinguished schools” this year, thanks to improved results in state tests.
Bear Creek saw science results among economically disadvantaged students jump from 55 percent scoring proficient or better in 2010 to 88.6 percent in 2011.
Other local schools winning the “distinguished” title were Dallas School District’s Wycallis Elementary in math and reading results for all students and Wyoming Area’s Kennedy Elementary Center in reading for all students.
WILKES-BARRE
United Way raises $4M
The Wyoming Valley United Way stated in a release Tuesday that its campaign that closed out in December raised $4,030,120.
The organization also announced its incentive prize winners: Volkswagen Passat lease to Maureen Hornlein of RCN; Hearts on Fire Diamond Necklace to Linda Kohut of Area Agency on Aging; Apple iPad to Patrick Theurer, SallieMae; $400 gift certificate to Tom Chamberlain, retired; $400 in free P&G products to Neil Debo, InterMetro Industries; $499 in free gas to Heather Hagenbaugh, SallieMae; three-minute shopping spree at Wegmans to Mary Ann Whalen, of the Social Security Administration; suite for Penguins game to Thomas Cardillo.
WILKES-BARRE
City terminates contract
Wilkes-Barre has terminated its contract with Municipal Energy Managers Inc., which was the city’s streetlight maintenance contractor.
MEM did not fulfill all of the obligations of the maintenance contract and the city terminated the agreement on those grounds. According to city Administrative Coordinator Drew McLaughlin, MEM was paid an average of about $4,000 per month for the service.
Calls to MEM were not returned.
Since issues first arose in late 2011 with MEM, the city took the initiative to hire local electrical contractors to perform the maintenance work on streetlight outages. The city is preparing specifications for the streetlight maintenance contract and will issue requests for proposals soon.
