There are words to describe 2020 that you probably donât want to hear again:
unprecedented, trying, difficult (as, âin these unprecedented, trying, and difficult timesâ¦â). How about âpandemic,â mandate, and âsocial distancingâ a particularly irksome oxymoron, as one canât be physically social and distant at once.
But itâs true that the year was all of those things. Itâs impossible to look back over the year without finding COVID-19 s trespass everywhere.
This is an astonishing look back at how the virus invaded our community, our news feeds, our relationships, our habits, and our lives.
March 2020
The first time the coronavirus was mentioned in NorthcentralPa.com s local coverage was on March 9. Officials weigh in on preparedness in region for potential COVID-19 indicated that local public officials were mobilizing resources in preparation.
Dec 30, 2020
The popular Shop Vac brand of vacuums has been purchased by GreatStar Tools USA, giving new life to the global manufacturer headquartered in Williamsport.
GreatStar announced Monday it will take ownership of Shop Vac assets, re-open the Williamsport plant and rehire employees who lost their jobs when the factory let go most of its 430-plus work force in mid-September after a failed sale of the company by its private owners, the Miller family now living on the West Coast.
GreatStar’s bid to buy Shop Vac was settled on Christmas Eve but the identity of the buyer had not been released until Monday.
Subsidiary of large Chinese firm buys Shop-Vac, plans to restore production levels
Updated Dec 28, 2020;
Posted Dec 28, 2020
GreatStar, which is part Hangzhous GreatStar Industrial Co. headquartered in Hangzhous, China, announced Monday it has purchased most of the assets of Shop-Vac for an undisclosed price.
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WILLIAMSPORT – The new owner of Shop-Vac Corp. says it plans to restore production in Williamsport to its previous levels.
“We intend to hire as many people as is necessary to meet the demands of a growing new business,” Gary DuBoff, group president of GreatStar USA in New Jersey, said. “We do not have a firm estimate on hiring needs,” he said.
From Staff Reports
Getting Shop Vac Corp. employees to return to work is key to the new company owner’s plans to reinvigorate manufacturing of the brand’s famous canister vacuum.
Shop Vac, which terminated the bulk of its 400 employees in the Williamsport area in mid-September after a proposed sale of the global manufacturer fell through, is being bought by a publicly traded corporation that has operations in a number of countries.
The group specializes in the manufacturing of hand tools.
The acquisition, finalized the day before Christmas, complements what the new owner already produces as none of their facilities manufacture a container vacuum, according to Jason Fink, CEO of the Williamsport-Lycoming Chamber of Commerce.
Photo courtesy of Bald Eagle Brewing.
A $1 million state grant has been secured to help a Jersey Shore-area business become one of the state leaders in the nation’s craft beer industry, a state lawmaker and its co-founder said.
Bald Birds Brewing Co. is a recipient of the Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program (RACP) grant, according to state Sen. Gene Yaw, R-Loyalsock Township, who advocated for the grant from the state Office of Budget of Gov. Tom Wolf.
The funding will help the facility, located in Porter Township, transition to a 153,000-square-foot brewery and events center, Yaw said.
At the core of the project is a state-of-the-art manufacturing, product-packaging and shipping enterprise.