INTERNET OUTAGE
It was yesterday when valley residents were unable to access many websites. According to Reuters, websites were briefly down in an outage sparked by a glitch in Akamai Technologies Inc’s (AKAM.O) systems, the second major disruption linked to the cloud company in about a month.” The disruption lasted up to an hour and was caused by a bug in the domain name system (DNS) service, which allows web addresses to take users to their destinations, that was triggered during a software update, Akamai said. Services resumed after rolling back the update, Akamai added, and confirmed the disruption was not due to a cyber attack.
(Websites of Delta Air Lines (DAL.N), Costco Wholesale Corp (COST.O), American Express (AXP.N) and Home Depot (HD.N) were initially down, displaying domain name system (DNS) service errors. Both Oracle and Amazon said their services were operating normally shortly after.)
NEW PLAYER WELLNESS CENTER
The new Player Wellness Center, unveiled at the soggy ribbon cutting ceremony, will serve as the hub for all players, coaches, and managers during their stay at the Little League World Series each summer. “We are thrilled to open this remarkable new facility and look forward to the important care and expertise that the staff at UPMC will provide our World Series participants this August,” Little League President and CEO Stephen D. Keener said in a news release. According to northcentralpa.com, the new Player Wellness Center will replace the former Little League Infirmary to help accommodate the upcoming expansion to 20 teams.
PENN STATE FOOTBALL
Penn State Athletics announced general public single-game football tickets will go on sale Thurs., Aug. 5 at 10 a.m., according to a media outlet. The Nittany Lions will open the home slate on Sept. 11 for its 107K Family Reunion, followed by the nationally-recognized Penn State White Out against Auburn on Sept. 18. Future events include Penn State’s annual THON game, the Stripe Out game, homecoming and Penn State White Out Game. Variable pricing for single game tickets will be used again this year with single game tickets starting at just $35 per person. To purchase tickets, fans can call 1-800-NITTANY.
PAPERBACK BOOK DAY
Penguin Books published its first batch of paperback books on July 30, 1935. Because of this, each year, people celebrate the advent of affordable, lightweight books on July 30. The James V. Brown Library celebrates the paperback by recommending classics to visitors. The development of lighter books was partially due to the popularity of railroad travel, because of the size and weight, travel and paperback books went together well. Paperback Book Day honors and exalts this practice of comfort and leisurely days.
DECISION FOR LYCOMING COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
A complaint filed by Lycoming County Commissioners against the County Controller stemming from the reassignment of responsibilities from her department has been dismissed. Potter County Senior Judge John B. Leete recently handed down the order after hearing lawyers for both sides argue the case in court this spring. The Lycoming County Commissioners have provided a press release. The Lycoming County Board of Commissioners have reviewed the court’s decision in our suit against the Lycoming County Controller. We conclude that this decision does not invalidate any of the actions that this Board of Commissioners has taken. As we said when we initiated this process, we brought this suit solely to protect the integrity of the County’s financial operations. Commissioners said they have no no plans to appeal the decision.
DECISION FOR LYCOMING COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
A complaint filed by Lycoming County Commissioners against the County Controller stemming from the reassignment of responsibilities from her department has been dismissed. Potter County Senior Judge John B. Leete recently handed down the order after hearing lawyers for both sides argue the case in court this spring. The Lycoming County Commissioners have provided a press release. The suit allowed us to return essential fiscal functions to the County, where they had been effectively performed for decades. The Court’s ruling does not change any of that. Those functions will remain where they now are again, within the County Office of Budget and Finance. Payroll, accounts payable, and the general ledger will be handled by the county employees with the Controller continuing to retain her oversight functions, which was never challenged by the Commissioners. Commissioners said they have no no plans to appeal the decision.
TOWN HALL MEETING VIA TELEPHONE ON MONDAY
U.S. Rep. Fred Keller, R-Kreamer, will hold a telephone town hall meeting Monday, July 26, according to a media source. The event, set to begin at 7:30 p.m., will allow constituents to call the congressman with questions and learn updates on legislative issues. The public can livestream the event at https://keller.house.gov/live or call in at 866-641-6837.
LOYALSOCK TOWNSHIP SCHOOL DISTRICT SCHOOL BOARD HEALTH AND SAFETY PLAN
The Loyalsock Township School District School Board passed the 2021-22 Health and Safety Plan, which provides written guidance including no masks for students in class, no mandatory vaccinations and physical distancing close to pre-pandemic levels. According to northcentralpa.com, about a dozen parents were present Wednesday to support either not taking government funds associated with the plan or opposing children wearing masks. Districts which receive American Rescue Plan Elementary and Secondary School Relief funds must submit a health and safety plan to the State Department of Education by July 30. The district has received the first round of relief funds and is preparing to file for the second round.
LOYALSOCK TOWNSHIP SCHOOL DISTRICT SCHOOL BOARD APPROVES COMPETITION-SIZE GYM
Loyalsock Township School District’s school board next proposed building project is a new competition-size gym. The latest option adds another $1.6 million to the gym expansion, which brings the total for the gym and bleachers to about $4.9 million. According to northcentralpa.com, the overall cost of the multi-phased project is $11.9 million. Included in that are renovations and additional classrooms in the high school and middle school plus the addition of classrooms and kitchen reconfiguration at Schick Elementary. Robert Lack was hired to provide architectural services.
ADULT PROBATION OFFICERS RECOGNITION CEREMONY
The Lycoming County Courts hosted a recognition ceremony for Adult Probation Officers earlier this week.According to northcentralpa.com, Lycoming County Judge Marc Lovecchio commended the adult probation officers for hard work over the years. According to a media outlet, Lovecchio came to realize the last thing adult probation officers wanted was to send individuals on probation back to the system. That means keeping those on probation safe, keeping the community safe and eventually, reintegrating them into society at large. According to Lovecchio, who goes on to say of the adult probation department, “They are here to truly help people and rehabilitate them and get them back on track.”
EMERGENCY MEDICAL TECHNICIAN TRAINING FOR STUDENT
The Williamsport Area School Board passed several agenda items through an omnibus, including allowing high school students to take an Emergency Medical Technician course with the Pennsylvania College of Technology as an elective. The class will count as a 1.0 elective credit, and will weigh 1.4 credit points on a student’s transcript–meaning it will factor into the student’s grade-point average and class rank. According to a news outlet, the cost of taking the course will be fronted by families of students taking the course.
