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Property owners balk at PennDOT offers for land to complete thruway

SELINSGROVE — Jon Hummel knew construction of the $865 million Central Susquehanna Valley Transportation Project would impact farmland that has been in his family for seven generations. What he didn’t expect was how little the state would pay for about 20 acres they own in Selinsgrove and Winfield. “We knew it was coming but we didn’t expect such a low offer,” Hummel said. “It’s not even close to market value.” Construction of the highway has led the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation to purchase or work toward acquiring property from about 225 people who ...

In a hot market, companies compete with would-be homeowners

LOS ANGELES — Soaring home prices and rents are fueling real estate companies' appetite for houses, adding unwelcome competition for many would-be homebuyers. Residential real estate bought by companies or institutions hit an all-time high of 67,943 properties in the second quarter, according to Redfin, a Seattle-based online brokerage. That's more than a twofold increase from a year earlier, when the pandemic temporarily stymied the real estate market. It also represents 15.9% of all the properties sold in the April-June quarter, or just below the record high 16.1% share of ...

Woodlands Bank welcomes new assistant community office manager

Woodlands Bank recently welcomed Deb Bingaman to their Hughesville office team. She joins the organization as an assist and community office manager Bingaman brings over 16 years of financial service experience to her new role at Woodlands Bank. She began her banking journey as a teller and ...

Child care staffing shortage could make it harder for people to go back to work

Child care centers across the Lehigh Valley and beyond are facing an uphill battle to get their facilities staffed as parents return to working in offices and drop their children off for in-person classes. Staffing levels are critical for child care centers, which are required to have low ratios of children to adults. People in the industry say conditions both pandemic- and non-pandemic-related combined to create a crisis. “The child care staffing crisis is a problem that has been evolving for a long time, and this COVID and the economy have just collided now, and we’re in a ...

Hiring might have slowed in August in face of delta variant

WASHINGTON — A stretch of robust hiring over the past few months may have slowed in August at a time when the delta variant's spread has discouraged some Americans from flying, shopping and eating out. Economists have forecast that employers added 750,000 jobs in August, according to the data provider FactSet. That would represent a substantial gain, though below the roughly 940,000 jobs that were added in both June and July. Some analysts are more pessimistic, expecting job growth of 500,000 or less. But even many of those economists expect any hiring slowdown to be brief. ...