Gazette The Centre County
www.CentreCountyGazette.com
Here comes the bride
Do you have a wedding in the works? Well, you are in luck as the 2015 Central PA Bridal Expo takes place at the Penn Stater Conference Center and Hotel on Sunday, Jan. 18. Get the details in this week’s Centre Spread./Pages 16, 17
January 15-21, 2015
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Volume 7, Issue 2
Commissioners at odds over idea of fee hike By BRITTANY SVOBODA bsvoboda@centrecountygazette.com
BELLEFONTE — The Centre County board of commissioners are at odds over whether to pursue a new funding option that would generate money for future county transportation projects to local municipalities. At the board’s Jan. 13 meeting, Commissioner Michael Pipe presented the funding option, a $5 vehicle registration fee increase. Two of the three commissioners would have to approve the ordinance for it to take effect.
In 2011, Pipe said, Gov. Tom Corbett put together a bipartisan committee to do a study on funding for Pennsylvania’s transportation system. Centre County, he said, was represented on that committee by Hugh Mose, former general manager of the Centre Area Transportation Authority. It was found, Pipe said, that in 2010 the state had $3.5 billion in unmet transportation funding needs. Unmet needs would grow to $7.2 billion in 2020. As a result, Corbett signed Act 89 of 2013 into law to generate at least $2.3 billion in transportation funding. Additional funds are collected through several means,
the most notable being an increase in state fuel tax. Counties were also given the option to increase registration fees starting this year. According to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, it currently costs $36 to register a car, $18 to register a motorcycle and $60 to register a truck. Pipe said that PennDOT estimated 116,515 non-exempt vehicles were registered in Centre County as of Oct. 19, 2014. If an additional $5 was charged to register a vehicle, the county could generate $582,575 annually for transportation projects, he said.
The county currently receives liquid fuels funding from the state to “support municipalities’ construction, reconstruction, maintenance and repair of transportation infrastructure,” according to Pipe. In 2015, the county received $1,118,893.75 in liquid fuels requests, but was only able to give out $182,387 to six municipalities for projects. “The needs are out there for transportation projects,” Pipe said. If the county adopts the registration fee increase this year, there will be four times the amount of Commissioners, Page 4
Nittany Mall to lose JC Penney location By MICHAEL MARTIN GARRETT StateCollege.com
Gazette file photo
FOCUS ON THE FUTURE: Rep. Glenn “GT” Thompson was recently sworn in for his fourth term in Congress. He has several new responsibilities as the term begins.
Thompson rolls up sleeves as new term in Congress begins By BRITTANY SVOBODA bsvoboda@centrecountygazette.com
Earlier this month, U.S. Rep. Glenn “GT” Thompson, R-Howard, was sworn into his fourth term with the 114th Congress. As a representative of Pennsylvania’s 5th District, Thompson will continue to serve on several committees and caucuses while taking on new responsibilities and enacting new legislation. “I sit back and look where I’ve come from, and it’s just a little over six years where I started out as the least senior member of congress at 433,” he said. “And today, I’m a senior member on all of my committees. My seniority now officially is 214, and it has risen dramatically during that period of time.” And Thompson will bring that seniority to the
Natural Resources Committee, Agriculture Committee and Education and the Workforce Committee. Serving on the Agriculture Committee, Thompson said, is important because agriculture is the No. 1 industry in Pennsylvania. “More jobs come from being directly or indirectly related to agriculture than almost anything else we do in the state. I will be serving my third term as the chairman on the House Agriculture Subcommittee on Conservation and Forestry. I take in any type of environmental issues related to that.” And with the Natural Resources Committee, Thompson said he will continue to promote affordable, reliable energy. Thompson, Page 3
STATE COLLEGE — JC Penney commercials claim that when it fits, you feel it — but State College customers don’t have long to try the store on for size. A manager with the JC Penney store at the Nittany Mall confirms they will close in April. It’s not clear how many employees will lose their jobs. Polly Welch, the mall’s general manager, says the store’s contract was expired and up for renewal. As of Jan. 8, the corporate office of the national chain opted not to renew the contract and close the location. “It’s a decision made on the national level. They need to close several stores, and ours happens to be one,” Welch says. “It’s unfortunate. We never want to see any of our stores close.” JC Penney media relations manager Kate Coultas says in an email that the Texas-based chain will be closing approximately 40 stores across the country. Three other stores in Pennsylvania will close, including stores in the towns of Chambersburg, Media and Hummels Wharf. Coultas says most locations will close on or around Saturday, April 4, but Welch says the Nittany Mall location will close closer to the end of the month. JC Penney, Page 5
STEVE BAUER/StateCollege.com
CLOSING TIME: The JC Penney store at the Nittany Mall will close its doors for good in April. Mall management expect another store to take over the site.
Primanti Bros. preps for opening By CHRIS MORELLI
editor@centrecountygazette.com
CHRIS MORELLI/The Gazette
COMING SOON: Signs are up at the new Primanti Bros., located in downtown State College at the site of the former Gingerbread Man. Police Briefs ....................... 2 Opinion ............................. 7
Health & Wellness .......... 8, 9 Education ................... 10, 11
STATE COLLEGE — On a frigid afternoon, workers inside the new Primanti Bros. in downtown State College hustled as they put finishing touches on the restaurant, which is scheduled to open later this month. Signage was being hung, the bar was being set up and the final pieces of kitchen equipment were being put in place. For fans of the popular Pittsburgh-based restaurant, it won’t be long. “We got some great news (recently) — sign off on our health permit, sign off on our liquor license,” said Mike Mitcham, operations director for Primanti Bros. “We’ve just got to bring the people in and train them how to serve Primanti sandwiches.” Training is a critical part of the process, Mitcham
Community ................ 12-15 Centre Spread ............ 16, 17
Sports .......................... 18-24 Arts & Entertainment .25, 26
said. Primanti Bros. holds itself to a high standard, so everyone has to be on the same page before the doors can open. Primanti Bros. is located at 130 Heister St. in downtown State College. It’s at the former site of The Gingerbread Man. According to Mitcham, using an already existing structure has both positives and negatives. “With it being an existing building, you always run into construction issues. We ran into that at the beginning, but everything seemed to go pretty smoothly after that. There were some sewer lines that we needed to reconstruct and there were some drain lines from the roof that we needed to fix, which we did. Everything was fine after that,” Mitcham said. Mitcham said that everyone at Primanti Bros. is Primanti, Page 6 What’s Happening ..... 26, 27 Puzzles ............................. 28
Business ...................... 29, 30 Classified ......................... 31