IN BRIEF
Kate Malongowski is a new reporter for the Butler Eagle.
She will cover educational issues and other assignments for the newspaper.
The Hampton High School graduate earned a degree in journalism and Digital Media Arts at Duquesne University.
She recently worked at The Lima News in Lima, Ohio.
During college, she worked as a news assistant with NPR affiliate station WDUQ, now WESA. She also interned with Pittsburgh Magazine and YES! Magazine, and was a freelance contributor to The Allegheny Front radio show out of Pittsburgh.
After graduating from college, she served a year of AmeriCorps, mentoring youth at the Hill House Association in Pittsburgh through KEYS Service Corps.
She replaces Sandy Pontius, who has left the newspaper.
The Western Pennsylvania Optometric Society has named Dr. Michael McGrath as Western Pennsylvania's Young Optometrist of the Year.McGrath has worked at Butler Eye Care on Evans City Road for two and a half years.The optometric society, which serves more than 250 doctors in southwestern Pennsylvania, gives out the award each year.Candidates are nominated by their peers. To qualify for the award, candidates need to be in the optometry field for fewer than 10 years, show leadership in their field and be involved with the public.McGrath, who originally was in school for nursing, switched to optometry after completing a rotation in the field.“I like the patients that I get to meet,” he said.
WARRENDALE — Guardian Protection Services has hired Joseph Lininger in the newly created position of senior vice president of marketing.An alumnus of West Virginia University, Lininger brings more than 20 years of professional experience to Guardian, specializing in national marketing and leadership, digital marketing, graphic design, Web development and social media strategy.He comes to Guardian from Technosystems Service, where he was the director of marketing. Before Technosystems, Lininger founded an Internet startup that assisted companies with online branding, website development and social media strategies.Guardian Protection Services is a security companies and one of the Armstrong Group of Companies.
WASHINGTON — The number of people applying for U.S. unemployment benefits rose 16,000 last week to a seasonally adjusted 360,000, although the level remains consistent with steady hiring.The Labor Department said Thursday that the less volatile four-week average increased 6,000 to 351,750.The weekly applications data can be volatile in July because some automakers briefly shut down their factories to prepare for new models and many schools close. Those factors can create a temporary spike in layoffs.
Prudential Preferred Realty Agent Chuck Swidzinski has been named one of REAL Trends' Best Real Estate Agents in America.REAL Trends ranks more than 6,000 real estate agents. To qualify, each agent is required to close 50 transactions or $20 million in sales volume in the past year. Swidzinski and other agents make up less than 1 percent of real estate practitioners in the country.
