This week the St. Marys Rotary Club welcomed Gary Anderson from the Elk County Healthcare Authority. Gary gave a presentation to the club. He was the guest of Rotarian Jim Hackett, and is pictured with Jim and Club President Josh Hanes. The club extends many thanks to Gary for his visit.

Secretary of Agriculture Russell Redding opened the latest round of funding for Agricultural Product Promotion, Education, and Export Promotion Grants - making available up to $381,810 in competitive matching grants to support nonprofit organizations engaged in market research, education, promotion, and export development for agricultural products grown, raised, or produced in Pennsylvania. These grants work to strengthen domestic sales and expand export markets for Pennsylva

Twenty volunteers for wildlife showed up on Sunday, 3/1, at Tionesta Lake to do the hard work of cutting and piling alder to both renew the old alder and to create more brush piles for small wildlife. And the sun decided to make an appearance – what a nice day to create wildlife habitat after almost two months of cold, ice, and snow. Many of the volunteers were members of the Ruffed Grouse Society (RGS) and American Woodcock Society (AWS) in both Pennsylvania and New York.

While we may yet have some cold days ahead of us, we’ve survived until March. That means we’ve seen the end of meteorological winter, which begins Dec. 1 and continues through the end of February. Examining the state in three major zones, the cold stood out the most for central Pennsylvania. There was plenty of snow in the northwest, with the lake effect snow from Lake Erie. But that was unusual.

This week the St. Marys Rotary Club recognized Louie Nedzinski as the March Student of the Month from St. Marys Area High School. Louie is pictured with his parents Jason and Samantha Nedzinski, along with Rotarian Greg Snelick, and Club President Josh Hanes. Congratulations Louie!

To help struggling firefighters and emergency medical services (EMS) personnel, Rep. Brenda Pugh (R-Luzerne) has introduced bipartisan legislation, House Bill 2235, that would provide a financial incentive in the form of a tax credit to encourage individuals to join their local fire and EMS services. “There is a severe shortage of paid and volunteer firefighters as well as a severe shortage of emergency medical service personnel,” Pugh said. “I believe a tax credit would go a