Bradford Youth Network Sponsors Battle of the Bands

Members of Light the Shadow perform for the audience during Saturday's BYN Battle of the Bands. The event was hosted by the Bradford Youth Network and had over 60 students in attendance.
Photo courtesy of Youth for Christ
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Northern Alleghenies Officials Working On New Training Center

RIDGWAY, Pa. -- Six counties in the northern Alleghenies are coming together to work on a new training center.
Those counties are all part of the Northcentral Pennsylvania Regional Planning and Development Commission.
The counties include Elk, Cameron, McKean, Clearfield, Potter and Jefferson.
Officials are working on bringing a Precision Manufacturing Institute, or PMI, to the region.
Elk County officials said the center ......MORE
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Elk Visitor Center Under Construction

Construction has started at the Pennsylvania Wilds Elk Country Visitor Center, a public-private partnership between the state and the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation.DCNR has a 30-year partnership agreement with the foundation for construction and operation of an 8,400-square-foot green building that will include interpretive exhibits, wildlife trails, viewing blinds and parking for cars and buses. Pennsylvania's wild elk herd, the largest in the Northeast, attracts more than 75,000 visitors to the Pennsylvania Wilds each fall. For more on this story, go HERE.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tourism cuts will make Pennsylvanians suffer, says official

Thousands of jobs and small businesses in Pennsylvania will be lost if the Senate Republican’s proposed budget cut to tourism is passed, said a tourism official on Tuesday.
Senate Bill 850 proposes to cut tourism funding by up to 73 percent, an industry which employed over 600,000 Pennsylvanians in 2008.
Mickey Rowley, Department of Community and Economic Development Deputy Secretary of Tourism, said that if the Bill is enacted, ......MORE
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Wildlife in Emporium

Sometimes you don't have to travel far to see the wildlife of Cameron County! This bear (I guess about 200 pounds) entertained the residents of Emporium for awhile tonight. He was foraging for some tasty garbage and had quite a few town residents following him around. He finally exited the borough, last seen heading north above 7th street.

photos by Randy Frey

Here is the bruin strolling down main street

....and meandering across 5th and Vine

....neighborhood kids in hot pursuit

...and here he surprised us when he suddenly leapt in front of my car!

This, and more of Nelson's work, can be seen in full resolution HERE

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Ex-Emporium Woman Gets 30 Years For Exploiting 2-Year-Old

A former Emporium woman has been sentenced to 30 years in federal prison for sex crimes against her children that a judge said were so vile that he had to close his courtroom to the public during testimony.Angela Larkin, also known as Angela McCullen, pleaded guilty in 2005 to sexually exploiting children, admitting she sold sexually graphic images of her 2-year-old daughter on the Internet.U.S. Middle District Judge John E. Jones III called the case the ugliest of his legal career. For more on this story, go to the Williamsport Sun Gazette.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------