IN BRIEF
Eagle staff writers honored in contest
HARRISBURG — Two staff members of the Butler Eagle were honored in the 2015 Keystone Press Awards contest.
Focus editor Eric Freehling won second place in business and consumer reporting for a story about how high beef prices affect the food served at hospitals and schools.
Staff writer Jared Stonesifer, who works in the Eagle's Cranberry Township office, received an honorable mention in the business and consumer reporting category for his story about governmental problems that held back the opening of the Harmony Inn restaurant under new owners.
They both were honored in the category of daily newspapers with circulation of 20,000 to 40,000 in the state.
The awards will be presented May 30 at the Pennsylvania Press Conference in Gettysburg.
The news contest is sponsored by the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association.
PITTSBURGH — The Advanced Vein Center has appointed Dr. Timothy Kavic as its new medical director.With 33 years of experience as a surgeon, Kavic will do office-based vein surgeries as well as overseeing the practices of the Advanced Vein Center and its partner, Body Beautiful Laser Medical Spa.Kavic began practicing in 1982 and has worked at hospitals in Pennsylvania and Minnesota, including his own practice in Pittsburgh for 21 years.For six years during the recent wars in the former Yugoslavia and Bosnia, he gave humanitarian aid to people there. Through his network of physicians and medical companies, he donated more than $40 million worth of medical supplies to sites in Serbia and Bosnia.During these six years, Kavic took three to four weeks each year to accompany those supplies to hospitals and church organizations.The vein center has a number of offices including in Cranberry Township and Butler.
BUTLER TWP — Planet Fitness will have the grand opening of its club at 152 Alameda Plaza at 2 p.m. April 20.Guests will be able to meet Danni Allen, season 14 winner of NBC's “The Biggest Loser.” She will talk about fitness tips, how she has kept the weight off and her experience on the show.The Butler Planet Fitness is about 25,000 square feet and will offer cardio machines and strength equipment, locker rooms with day lockers and showers, flat screen televisions, HydroMassage beds, massage chairs, tanning beds and Total Body Enhancement booths.The club will be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.Planet Fitness has more than 950 locations nationwide.
JEFFERSON TWP — Jamie Burke of Prospect has been named director of operations at Concordia's Good Samaritan Hospice.Burke has been a unit manager at the hospice since 2012 having served as a critical care nurse in the Butler Memorial Hospital ICU for 12 years. She is a graduate of the West Penn Hospital School of Nursing.A certified hospice and palliative nurse, she is also ACLS certified.She has three daughters.Good Samaritan Hospice provides care in three inpatient hospice units, in nursing homes, hospitals and private homes.
WASHINGTON — The U.S. economy's tepid performance last quarter — a 2.2 percent annual growth rate — was typical of the economic rebound that began in the summer of 2009.Yet the sluggish pace of the recovery has a silver lining: This growth spurt has proved to be one of the most durable since World War II.Will it last? It'll depend on a number of factors in the months ahead, including a potential rate hike by the Fed, the strong dollar, oil prices and consumer spending.
WASHINGTON — Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said Friday that continued improvement in the U.S. economy means an increase in the Fed's key interest rate could come later this year.
