Local News

Pennsylvania state Sen. John Blake (D) resigned on March 8 to take a position on U.S. Rep. Matt Cartwright’s (D) staff. Cartwright represents Pennsylvania’s 8th Congressional District in Congress. Blake represented District 22 in the state Senate, which includes Lackawanna County and parts of Luzerne and Monroe Counties.

(via Rosemary Brown)

Restaurants and other hospitality-related businesses in our region will soon be able to apply for financial assistance through the COVID-19 Hospitality Industry Recovery Program.

Established under Act 1 of 2021, the program allocates $145 million in funding assistance statewide to hospitality industry businesses adversely affected by the pandemic. Businesses can find more information and an application by clicking their respective county below.

(via Rosemary Brown)

Department of Human Services

On Wednesday, we met with officials from the Department of Human Services for a two-part budget hearing focused on health and human services programs as well as budget cost requests. During our exchange, the secretary made a concerning statement – that in order to receive federal dollars, we must keep Pennsylvanians on state government programs. I expressed my strong concerns about this statement in the video below.

(via Rosemary Brown)

House Majority Leader Kerry Benninghoff (R-Centre/Mifflin) has announced plans to have the House Government Oversight Committee investigate the Wolf administration’s handling of nursing homes and other senior and long-term care facilities during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, roughly half of all COVID-19 deaths in Pennsylvania are attributable to nursing homes. Questions remain about data reporting related to nursing homes and especially about a March 18 order from the Department of Health requiring nursing home readmissions from hospitals of COVID-19-positive patients, among other things. This order was even stronger than the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidance regarding this issue.

There is no doubt this year is full of people going above and beyond to lend a helping hand during the pandemic. If you know an outstanding Barrett Township citizen who's going that extra mile, now is the time to recognize them.

Last year, Shawn and Jeanne Wescott were honored as citizens of the year by the Rotary Club of the Pocono Mountains. It happened during the Reverse Halloween Parade on October 25th. You can nominate who you think the best candidate is by visiting the township's [Rotary] website. Nominations will be accepted through June 5th.