The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders, the Triple-A affiliate of the New York Yankees, have set their game times for the upcoming 2021 season. Major League Baseball has delayed the start of the Triple-A season and the RailRiders will now play a 120-game schedule, including sixty games at PNC Field in Moosic, beginning on the road May 4 with a home opener one week later.

In May and early June, weeknight home games will begin at 6:35 P.M. and Saturday games will start at 4:05. Beginning on Tuesday, June 15, weeknight home games will start at 7:05 and Saturday games will have a 6:05 first pitch. All Sunday home games will start at 1:05 P.M. throughout the course of the 2021 season.

Gates will open one hour prior to first pitch for Season Ticket Members. At this time, the RailRiders are planning on a reduced capacity at PNC Field due to CDC and state guidelines. No single-game tickets are available at this time.

Health and safety protocols will be announced closer to Opening Day. Capacity restrictions and additional ticket availability are subject to change throughout the course of the year.

Full, Half and Partial Season Ticket Memberships are on sale now. The RailRiders front office is open on a limited basis and by appointment only. For more information on the upcoming 2021 season, please visit swbrailriders.com or contact the club by calling (570) 969-2255 and leave a voicemail. Calls will be returned at the earliest possible opportunity.

The Pennsylvania Department of Transportations (PennDOT) reminds Pennsylvanians that expiration dates for commercial driver licenses and commercial learner’s permits will end after the current extension expires for Pennsylvania residents in response to statewide COVID-19 mitigation efforts. There are no plans to implement additional extensions at this time.

The final extension is currently in place for the following products’ expiration dates, and no further extensions will be given on these products:

• The expiration date for commercial driver licenses scheduled to expire from March 16, 2020, through March 31, 2021, is extended through March 31, 2021.
• The expiration date for a commercial learner’s permit scheduled to expire from March 16, 2020, through March 31, 2021, is extended through March 31, 2021.

Customers with commercial products that are covered by the extension but have not yet been renewed are encouraged to renew their CDL products as soon as possible by March 31, 2021. 

Additionally, expiration extension deadlines on non-commercial driver license, photo identification cards, learner’s permits and camera cards ended on August 31, 2020.

For a list of open driver license and photo license centers and the services provided, as well as their hours of operation, please visit www.dmv.pa.gov.

Customers may continue to complete various transactions and access multiple resources online at www.dmv.pa.gov. Driver and vehicle online services are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week and include driver’s license, photo ID and vehicle registration renewals; driver-history services; changes of address; driver license and vehicle registration restoration letters; ability to pay driver license or vehicle insurance restoration fee; driver license and photo ID duplicates; and schedule a driver’s exam. There are no additional fees for using online services.

PennDOT will continue to evaluate these processes and will communicate any changes with the public.

Additional COVID-19 information is available at www.health.pa.gov. For more information, visit www.dmv.pa.gov or www.PennDOT.gov.

The University of Scranton will host a Virtual Preview Day for high school students accepted to its Class of 2025 and their families on Saturday, Mar. 27. The virtual event, which will begin at 10 a.m., will include live, interactive sessions with faculty, students and staff members, as well as informational videos and panel discussions. The event will include virtual tours of campus and labs and allow for personal appointments with staff from the Financial Aid Office.

The virtual event will include residence hall tours and live Q and A sessions with current students; sessions on more than 35 academic programs, pre-law, honors programs and pre-health professions; live sessions on student life, study abroad, and career development; mission and ministries and more.

The virtual event will provide an opportunity for accepted students to take a closer look at the Jesuit university before making their final college decision. The last sessions will begin at 1 p.m.

For additional information or to register for Virtual Preview Day, visit the Virtual Preview Day webpage or contact The University of Scranton Admissions Office at 1-888-SCRANTON.

Mayor Paige Gebhardt Cognetti has announced that Lackawanna College has been awarded a $150,000 CARES Technology Assistance Grant to support an initiative that will create e-commerce solutions for struggling Scranton restaurants.

Grant funding will be used to support 36 restaurants in the Lackawanna College Rally for Restaurants: E-commerce Edition presented by the Venture Lab. Participants in the program will be able to launch websites, create online ordering systems and receive training on how to use digital media to boost sales. The goal of the initiative is to ensure that restaurants have the tools they need to continue operations during the pandemic and afterward.

“Local restaurants are a foundation of our community,” said Mayor Cognetti. “We have worked hard to help provide resources the restaurants need to survive during the pandemic. This partnership with Lackawanna College and the $800,000 in small business grants are strategic investments of the city’s COVID Cares Act funding in our local businesses community.”

“Lackawanna College’s Rally for Restaurants has infused much-needed revenue into our local restaurants. With this grant, we can now equip them to respond to the trends predicted in a post-COVID world,” said Stephanie Decker, Lackawanna College AVP of Social and Economic Impact. “Experts warn that restaurants will need to provide online ordering and have a web presence to meet consumer demands post-pandemic. For most of our restaurants, that added expense is unrealistic. With this grant, we can bridge that gap and see more social and economic impact in the city of Scranton.”

Participants who complete the program will receive one year of ongoing and cost-free tech support through the Lackawanna College Venture Lab for marketing, online ordering, social media, and the restaurant’s website.

“We are pleased to be able to assist the small business community during this challenging time,” said the Office of Community Development Director Eileen Cipriani. “These businesses are the heart and soul of our community and we are focused on seeing them succeed.”

These funds are awarded to the city through the Federal Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Program from the Housing and Urban Development Administration (HUD).

The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) today announced that a team of students from the Dallas School District in Luzerne County has been selected as the PennDOT District 04 winner for its fourth Innovations Challenge.

Mentored by, Elizabeth Redington, team members include: Colin Marshall and Evan Plank.

Since last fall, students have been working hard to solve this year’s challenge that asked students to develop an innovative and implementable solution that helps address Pennsylvania’s transportation revenue shortfall by identifying potential new funding streams, aside from additional gas taxes, tolls, or mileage-based user fees, to help ensure adequate transportation funding for the future.

“With vehicles becoming more fuel efficient and electric vehicles becoming more affordable, gasoline-based revenues can no longer generate the funds needed,” said PennDOT Secretary Yassmin Gramian. “To meet the needs of our aging infrastructure, Pennsylvania needs to establish a funding stream that will inject an additional $5 billion per year into our transportation system.”

The winning regional team’s innovation was a development of app that would promote safe driving and reward those safe drivers, as well as discipline drivers that enlist in the app. The app would be based around a monthly fee, for a lowly cost of $4.99. The app would generate extra income and improve the roadways of Pennsylvania.  

Now in its fourth year, the PennDOT Innovations Challenge invites high school students in grades 9-12 to use their problem-solving, creative and strategic-thinking abilities to solve real-world transportation challenges. The Innovations Challenge aims to not only help students explore actual transportation challenges that PennDOT is facing, but also open their minds to the very real possibility of working for PennDOT after graduation.

Regional winners will now move on to compete virtually in Harrisburg for the state championship.

The Transportation Policy and Education Foundation, an educational arm of the Associated Pennsylvania Constructors (APC), the American Council of Engineering Companies of PA (ACEC/PA) and the Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Traffic Safety Services Association (ATSSA) are providing a combined total award of $5,500 to be divided among the first, second and third place statewide winning teams. Follow PennDOT on Twitter at www.twitter.com/PennDOTNews and like the department on Facebook at www.facebook.com/PennsylvaniaDepartmentofTransportation and Instagram at www.instagram.com/pennsylvaniadot.

The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education recently welcomed four new community members with diverse backgrounds in education, public service and business to its Board of Directors. 

As the largest Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education Consortium in the country, The Wright Center offers comprehensive, community-focused residency programs in Northeast Pennsylvania and across the United States. In NEPA alone, close to 250 physician learners gain hands-on experience serving a diverse population in physician-lead, fully accredited Internal Medicine, Family Medicine and Psychiatry residencies, as well as Cardiovascular Disease, Gastroenterology and Geriatrics fellowships.

Board members provide oversight of academic excellence and programming efforts to support The Wright Center’s mission of training caring primary care physicians who connect with and plant roots in the communities they serve.

Teri Ooms is the Executive Director of The Institute, an applied social science research and economic  consulting organizations formed through a collaborative of higher education and business. Based in NEPA, The Institute produces community-based research and client solutions that provide strategies for growing organizational impact and sustainability. Ooms earned her master’s degree in finance and her bachelor’s degree in public administration from the University of Scranton.

Attorney Gertrude C. McGowan is the Chief Executive Officer of Family Service Association of Northeastern Pennsylvania, a nonprofit agency that provides professional counseling, guardianship and operational services and programs to vulnerable populations in Luzerne, Lackawanna, Monroe and Wyoming counties. McGowan is a graduate of Villanova University School of Law and earned her bachelor’s degree in business administration and English from King’s College, Wilkes-Barre.

Debra Youngfelt is the Executive Director of the East Central and Northeast Pennsylvania Area Health Education Centers, a nonprofit agency that aims to enhance access to healthcare and improve the distribution of healthcare professionals through academic and community partnerships, and offering programs that are designed to recruit, train and retain a diverse healthcare workforce. Youngfelt earned her bachelor’s degree in health and safety education from Indiana University School of Health, Bloomington, Indiana.

Ronald Bukowski is a retired math and engineering educator, having taught high school and college for 40 years. He currently serves on the school boards for Mid Valley School District and Career Technology Center of Lackawanna County. Bukowski earned bachelor’s degrees in engineering/physics from The Pennsylvania State University and education/mathematics and psychology from the College of William and Mary, and Old Dominion University. 

On Saturday, March 20, 2021, Dr. Katie Leonard, President & CEO of Johnson College, congratulated students from The Career Technology Center of Lackawanna County for receiving certification for completing Johnson College Continuing Education’s Forklift Operator Training Course. 

The forklift operator training is designed to familiarize students with OSHA Powered Industrial Truck Operator Training Requirements (29CFR Standard 1910.178 and ASME B56.1), provide current training requirements under the newly adopted standards, and assist participants in becoming an authorized operator of forklifts through theory and tactile testing. Instructional topic include pre-operational inspection, picking up, traveling, and placing loads, parking procedures, refueling, and practical operation.

For additional information on Johnson College’s Continuing Education Program, please call 570-702-8979, email continuinged@johnson.edu, or visit Johnson.edu/continuingeducation.