NEW RESTAURANT BEING BROUGHT TO GOLDEN STRIP NEXT YEAR
The land where the former Ruby Tuesday’s was located in Loyalsock TownShip is expected to be the new location for a soon to be built Texas Roadhouse Restaurant.  At this time, according to the Sun Gazette, the township supervisors have yet to review and approve the land development plan, which will start the process of working with the landlord to get the proper permits to demolish the existing building on East Third St.  A Texas Roadhouse Restaurant spokesman said the opening date will be sometime in 2022.

VIDEO SCOREBOARD COMING FOR BOWMAN FIELD
Bids were officially opened this week as City officials seek to install a future video scoreboard at Bowman Field.  According to the Sun Gazette, city engineer, Jon Sander opened the bids in a virtual meeting that was originally delayed due to technical issues, but included offers from TSI, Lundy Construction, Daktronics and Samsung which will now be reviewed by the Larson Design Group.  The $1.2 million state Redevelopment Assistance Capital Project grant will pay for the video scoreboard project and was obtained through application to the Office of Budget of Gov. Tom Wolf by the former city administration.

COVID PUBLIC HEALTH CAMPAIGN
The First Community Foundation Partnership of Pennsylvania (FCFP), a collaboration of UPMC, The Evangelical Community Hospital and Geisinger Medical Center has joined together to launch a public health campaign aimed at stopping the spread of COVID-19 with the theme, “FCFP brought us together. To keep you apart.”  They say individual behaviors – not healthcare organizations – will determine how long this pandemic continues to impact our region. The campaign will appear on billboards and video ads through social media and YouTube.

MLK, JR DAY TODAY
It’s Martin Luther King Jr Day today and members of who he called the Beloved Community will be working together this week during “Dream Week” in Williamsport.  Local Churches and groups organized an effort last year to bring awareness to racial injustice as well as reminding all that they are are equally loved and valued.  The theme for Dream Week in Williamsport in 2021 is “Better Together” and events for the week at Penn College can be found at https://pctoday.pct.edu/  planned in co-operation with STEP AmeriCorps, Penn College, Lycoming College and the Beloved Community Council

LOCAL COVID UPDATE
Lycoming County has 63 new cases of the coronavirus reported by the PA Department of Health.  Northumberland County has 47 new cases, Union has 34 new cases, Montour has 23 new cases, and Snyder has 18 new cases.. Statewide, 7,166 new cases have been confirmed and 231 new deaths were reported   Statewide hospitalizations have decreased a third straight day, down to over 4,700 now being reported– of those patients, just under 600 are on ventilators.

STATE TROOPERS TO COLLECT PROFILE DATA
If you’re stopped by a Pennsylvania State Troopers this year they will be collecting data to include your age, gender, race and ethnicity in a new program meant to identify potential patterns of racial bias in policing.  Troopers will also record how long the traffic stop lasted, if your car was searched, as well as the results of that search.  Once the year of data is collected it will be send to the University of Cincinnati to be analyzed.  A similar data reporting program quietly ended after 2011 and state lawmakers have been working to reinstate it.

SCAMMERS CALLING ABOUT AMAZON OR FED EX
The Montoursville Police Department is advising the public that there are fraudulent calls coming from someone saying they are from Amazon or Fed Ex reported in our area.  The criminals are claiming that there is a problem with the victim’s account in the Amazon case and the Fed Ex scam claims they need a signature for a package but police say they are investigating when victims will and won’t be home.  Police say not to return the call, engage in a conversation, or give any personal information to strangers who call you.

GEISINGER HAS VACCINATED 20 THOUSAND PEOPLE SO FAR
Sources at the Geisinger Medical Center report a health care milestone of 20,000 vaccinations has been reached. Of the 20,000 doses of vaccines provided so far, more than 16,000 were first doses, 14,000 of which were for employees.  They said about 60% of the health system’s employees are vaccinated. Geisinger says they complied with the mandate that at least 10% of its first doses go to non-Geisinger healthcare personnel in the state’s Phase 1A groups.  Second dose vaccinations for employees began January 6 and nearly 4,000 employees are now fully vaccinated.

SPORTS
NFL
This weekend’s NFL Divisional Playoffs in the NFC – Packers beat the Rams 30 to 18 and Buccaneers beat the Saints last night 30 to 20, Bills beat the Ravens 17 -3 in the AFC and the Chiefs beat the Browns 20 to 17
The Conference Championship is next Sunday at 3:05 between the Buccaneers and the Packers, the Bills play the Chiefs at 6:40 PM
NBA
Knicks beat the Celtics 105 to 75, the Bulls beat the Mavericks 117 to 101, Jazz beat the Nuggets 109 to 105, Pelicans beat the Kings 128 to 123, Clippers beat the Pacers 129 to 96, Cavaliers and Wizards, and 76ers and Thunder were postponed.
College basketball Sunday
Men’s
Purdue beat Penn State 80 to 75,
Women’s
Bucknell beat Lehigh 80 to 66, and #22 Northwestern defeated Penn State 67-50

HS Boys BBall Saturday: St John Neumann over Millville 76-42, Williamsport 57 beat McCaskey 44, Loyalsock over Tyrone 78-71, Muncy over CMVT 73-38, Montoursville over Benton 56-34, South over Northwest  52-29, Mount Carmel over Hughesville 65-54, Mifflinburg over Montoursville 68-63, Danville defeats Lewisburg 61-25, NPL over CV 70-38 Warrior Run defeated Midd-West 69-50

HS Girls BBall Saturday Athens over Wellsboro 28-22, Towanda over NPL 59-26 Troy defeated Williamson 27-22, Canton over NPM 44-26

Today HS Basketball
HS boys basketball
Wellsboro at Canton at 6 PM in North Penn Mansfield at Wyalusing@6, Central Mountain at Milton, Lewisburg at Central Columbia, Montoursville at St Joseph’s, and Loyalsock at Williamsport @ 7:30
HS Girls Muncy at Lewisburg, Williamson at Cowanesque Valley, Jersey Shore at Williamsport @ 7:30
HS Wrestling Bloomsburg comes to Southside @7