The Wright Center to Host Trunk-N-Treat

The Wright Center for Community Health is hosting its annual “Trunk-N-Treat” celebration in multiple locations for all children and families of the region.

Saturday, Oct. 30 at 4 p.m. at its Hawley Practice, 103 Spruce St., Hawley.

Friday, Oct. 29 at 5:30 p.m. at its Mid Valley Practice, 5 S. Washington Ave., Jermyn.

The free safe trick-or-treating event enables children and their families to participate in the annual Halloween tradition in a safe and socially-distanced manner during the COVID-19 pandemic. COVID masking will be required for everyone who participates in the event. Physicians, administration, staff and board members will decorate their vehicles and distribute candy and healthy treats to children who participate in the annual program.

Participate in the Electric City Trolley Museum Trim-a-Tree Challenge

This holiday season the staff of The Electric City Trolley Museum is inviting a team of students of your choice plus an adult coordinator to participate in our 5th annual Electric City “Trim-a-Tree” Challenge.

Our Plan is to provide undecorated trees for your group to trim with your own decorations following a theme. This year’s theme is “Popular Board Games”. Clear light, 7-7.5 foot pre-lit trees will be available for trimming starting November 1st through November 24th. All participating students will receive a gift certificate for two for our 2022 season.

Cash prizes will be issued for 1st, 2nd, 3rd and honorable mention.
1st place: $275 gift card
2nd place: $225 gift card
3rd place: $175 gift card
Honorable Mention: $125 gift card

Winners will be determined by our visitors’ votes for their favorite tree. Participating school may collect money on their own at $1 per vote and/or encourage family, friends and school personnel etc. to come enjoy our museum plus all the trees at $2 admission and vote for their favorite tree. All participants and their families and friends are invited to a reception held in our museum on Thursday December 30th from 2 to 3 p.m. during which time all winners will be announced and gift certificates will be distributed.

Space for this event is limited so reservations are required. We will begin taking reservations on October 1st. If interested, please contact us with any questions and to reserve a tree. Reservations should be made no later than October 31st. Our museum is open 7 days a week from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Phone: 570-963-6590

Payroll Preparation Tax Calculator

The City of Scranton and Scranton School District have taken steps to eliminate the Business Privilege and Mercantile (BPM) taxes for 2022, in favor of a Payroll Preparation Tax (PPT).

While only select businesses are subject to the BPM taxes, the PPT will be applied more broadly to entities doing business in the City of Scranton.

By law, this transition must be revenue neutral – which means neither taxing body can generate more total revenue than what is collected under the BPM from the previous year. For some businesses this will result in a decrease in tax liability, while others will see an increase.

If fully approved, beginning in January 2022, the PPT will be imposed on a percentage of a business’s total payroll—at a rate of 0.002786775 by the City and 0.008064 by the School District. Likewise, all BPM liabilities will be eliminated.

Learn more about the details of this proposed action here.

To estimate your anticipated PPT liability, use the calculator below.*
PPT Tax Calculator

*Please note, calculator is for estimation purposes only.

Lackawanna County Visitors Bureau Local Business Alert

Two national championships will be held in Lackawanna County. The visitor’s bureau alerts local businesses of an increase in visitors to the area the weekend of September 11.  

The National Beard Championship will be held at Montage Mountain.

The Northeast Regional Ladies Ball will be held in Downtown Scranton.

Johnson College Receives Grant

Johnson College has been awarded a $30,000 grant from the Northeastern Pennsylvania Health Care Foundation. The grant will support the College’s “Widening the Pipeline for a Trained Healthcare Workforce” project designed to increase the pool of qualified, well-trained health care workers for our area. 

Johnson College will establish a mobile training laboratory to provide a hands-on experience for potential students to see and feel what it is like to work in the health care field. This positive and highly visible project will provide an interactive way to share career information. With a focus on engaging non-traditional students, Johnson College will show participants various paths to meet their educational training needs. Johnson College offers pathways to health care careers with associate degree programs such as physical therapist assistant, radiologic technology, and biomedical equipment technology as well as continuing education programs..

Regionally, there are several successful STEM-related pipeline programs serving middle and high school students. With this new program, Johnson College will widen that pipeline to include non-traditional students who represent diverse age, economic, educational, and cultural backgrounds. These potential students include displaced workers due to COVID-19, non-English speaking individuals, those who want/need to return to the workforce post-retirement or family, and those dissatisfied with their current career path.

“We are excited to offer this new experience and information to people from all around NEPA and beyond, and to bring it directly to them,” said Dr. Katie Leonard, President & CEO of Johnson College. “Our goal with the mobile lab is to show the region that a career in health care is attainable no matter who you are or what your current situation may be. We want to give people a taste of what hands-on education at Johnson College is like. We continuously strive to be the leaders in hands-on education and meet the workforce needs of NEPA.”

For additional information on Johnson College, please call 1-800-2-WE-WORK, email enroll@johnson.edu, or visit Johnson.edu.