PPL bills to jump 4 percent in 2013
Customers of PPL Electric Utilities will see monthly bills increase by about 4 percent starting Jan. 1. The approval will increase the average bill for residential customers using 1,000 kilowatts of electricity monthly by about $4.77 to $116.37.
Group gets new mission, name
Workforce Wayne has gained the state community education council designation to offer education opportunities to rural areas lacking access to higher education institutions. It will now be known as the Northeast Innovation Alliance.
Law affecting TV ads begins
The Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation - or CALM - Act went into effect last week and local broadcasters, including WNEP-TV, WBRE-TV, WYOU-TV and WOLF-TV were ready with the equipment to comply.
Union protests
About 60 members of International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local Union 163 picketed outside Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs last week protesting the hiring of out-of-area contractors for its $50 million hotel and convention center project.
Power line foes seek stop
Environmental groups attempting to overturn federal approval of the Susquehanna-Roseland high-voltage power line project are seeking an order halting work on the project in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C.
Downtown W-B eatery closing
Euro Bistro, an Eastern European restaurant on Public Square, will close at the end of the month, about two years after it opened its doors. Jermyn resident Ivan Raynov, the owner, said "the majority of people in Wilkes-Barre are not looking for something healthy and made from scratch. They're looking for something quick and fried."
Construction debt weighs on colleges
A decade-long spending binge to build sometimes inordinately lavish facilities has left colleges and universities saddled with large amounts of debt. Often, students are stuck picking up the bill.
Overall debt levels more than doubled from 2000 to 2011 at the more than 500 institutions rated by Moody's, according to inflation-adjusted data.
Manufacturing growth stunted?
A growing chorus of economists, engineers and business leaders are warning that the evisceration of the manufacturing work force over the last 30 years might have dimmed the country's capacity to innovate and stunted the prospects for long-term growth.