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Existing home sales rise in 2020 to highest in 14 years

WASHINGTON — Sales of existing homes rose 0.7% in December, pushing the entirety of 2020 to a pace not seen in 14 years and providing one of the few bright spots for a U.S. economy mired in a global pandemic. Rising sales in the final month of the year lifted activity to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.76 million units in December, the National Association of Realtors reported Friday. For all of 2020, sales rose to 6.48 million, the highest level since 2006 at the height of the housing boom. That represented a 5.6% gain from the 5.34 million previously owned homes sold ...

Brothers to keep furniture store open

LOCK HAVEN — Brothers Jim and Jeff Smith have a unique tradition to uphold. Their Smith Furniture store is Clinton County’s oldest furniture and reupholstery shop, opened by their late father during World War II in 1942. And they’re determined. Destroyed by a collapse caused by ...

FCFP announces new chief financial officer

The First Community Foundation Partnership of Pennsylvania (FCFP) recently appointed Jonathan A. Nichols as Chief Financial Officer. The vacancy was created by the retirement of Jack Willoughby who served in the role for more than a decade. Nichols joins FCFP after spending 14 years in the ...

Lycoming County unemployment shows slow but hopeful recovery

Lycoming County employment data is edging closer and closer to where it was a year ago, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry. According to a recent press release by the state, Lycoming County’s unemployment rate has continued a progressive recovery once more to ...

Racism targets Asian food, business during COVID-19 pandemic

As the coronavirus spread throughout the U.S., bigotry toward Asian Americans was not far behind, fueled by the news that COVID-19 first appeared in China. Some initial evidence suggested the virus began in bats, which infected another animal that may have spread it to people at one of ...

SEDA-COG hires new executive director

Kim Wheeler has been selected as the new executive director of SEDA-Council of Governments (SEDA-COG). The decision was the result of recommendations by the SEDA-COG Board of Directors’ Personnel Committee and is expected to be officially ratified by the board at their Jan. 27, 2021 public ...