[naviga:h3]Dairy giveaway set for N. Washington[/naviga:h3]

NORTH WASHINGTON — Harvest Community Church, in conjunction with Marburger Dairy, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration, local dairy producers and the Southern Baptist Disaster Relief, will be handing out boxes of free dairy products at 12:30 p.m. Tuesday at the North Washington Fire Hall, 739 Fairview Road.

One dairy unit will be provided per family and all distribution will be non-contact. Distribution will be on a first-come, first-served basis.

[naviga:h3]Turnpike to lay off 500 due to virus[/naviga:h3]

The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission announced Tuesday that the cashless, All-Electronic Tolling system that was instituted March 16 to minimize the spread of COVID-19 will be permanent. As a result, approximately 500 employees, primarily toll collectors and fare-collection personnel, will be laid off.

The layoffs were unanimously approved by the Turnpike commissioners Tuesday during a bimonthly public meeting.

“I deeply regret that we have reached this point, but the world has been irrevocably changed by the global pandemic, said Mark Compton, commission CEO. “This pandemic had a much greater impact than anyone could have foreseen. The PA Turnpike has not been spared from COVID-19.”

[naviga:h3]Jennings opens more facilities[/naviga:h3]

Jennings Environmental Education Center in Brady Township has announced its trails and picnic areas are open, and the pavilion is available on a first-come, first-served basis for groups of less than 25 people.

While the exhibit area and classroom remain closed, the park office and 3MJC Nature Shop are now open seven days a week from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., with a variety of COVID-19 related measures in place.

To minimize the need to visit the office in person or to reduce time spent indoors, call the office at 724-794-6011 or email jenningssp@pa.gov for inquiries. Staff members provide trail advice, wildflower updates and answer other general questions.

Up to two people will be allowed in the office/nature shop area at one time, and visitors must maintain social distancing.

Masks must be worn indoors. The staff also encourages mask wearing in populated outdoor areas.

In the office/nature shop, visitors are to stand behind the plexiglass when interacting with staff or volunteers.

Credit cards are requested for nature shop transactions, if possible.

Center restrooms will only be available during office hours, and will be accessed by the rear doors, rather than through the classroom.

Prairie-side composting toilet restroom facilities remain open.

Staff will be sanitizing surfaces and cleaning frequently.

[naviga:h3]Point Park offers free online camps[/naviga:h3]

Point Park University in Pittsburgh will offer free summer virtual camps from June 22 to July 31 in such categories as cinema arts, communications, dance, music and theater.

Participants will be able to learn to do everything from starting a podcast to writing a screenplay through the university’s summer education programming.

“We wanted to offer a broad array of classes to appeal to different age groups, passions and areas of professional development,” said Heidi Ward, director of community and summer education at the university.

The university will also offer an International Summer Dance program. All classes are free and there is no limit on the number of classes a participant can attend, although some webinars have a limit to the number of participants at one time.

All sessions will be delivered on Zoom. Participants are recommended to download the platform prior to the start of the webinar. To visit a full schedule of classes or to register, visit www.pointpark.edu/onlinewebinars.