(WTAJ) — Happy Friday and welcome back to another week of in case you missed. We will get to the stories you missed in Blair and Cambria Counties, but first, we’ll take a look at the stories from Centre County.
Centre County
Penn State University President Eric Barron addressed staff and students Thursday with news he didn’t want to deliver.
The University will be cutting salaries of some of their employees, which mainly impacts employees in auxiliary units, like the Bryce Jordan Center, hotels, and conference centers, as well the office of Physical Plant.
Salaries for roughly 2,000 employees will be cut by 50 percent starting May 4th though June 30th.
President Barron says most employees will be eligible for unemployment and stimulus support.
In other news, a Blair county native is in critical condition in Florida, after a shooting.
Twenty-eight year old Richard Bonsell, currently living in Lewistown, Mifflin County, was listed as a missing person in Pennsylvania one week ago.
The St. John’s County Sheriff’s Office in Florida says a deputy found Bonsell in a shopping center parking lot in a truck.
Wednesday afternoon, a deputy approached the truck when bonsell jumped out of the vehicle and began firing a shotgun at him.
The deputy fired back, then waited for backup.
Bonsell was injured and a SWAT team was called in to take over.
Cambria County
Morgainz fitness has four gyms in our area and they say they need to reopen to survive.
Kelly and Dave Morgan are the owners of Morgainz Fitness in Johnstown, Ebensburg and Somerset.
They’ve been closed since last month because of Governor Wolf’s non-essential business shutdown.
They say they are not against the government but will open by june first to stay a float.
“Out of necessity to survive and for our business to survive the nine years that we have blood, sweat and tears into this whole thing then yes, we’re not going to let it go without a fight…let’s just put it that way,” says Kelly Morgan.
On Thursday we talked to the Richland Police Department who created a page on the website crime watch, a platform that helps keep residents connected with their police departments.
Folks can view and file police reports, read township ordinances and find outside resources like child and animal abuse hotlines.
“They can put their report online, they can add pictures, forms or whatever they need to do and upload it to us. It comes here and gets assigned to an officer who will follow up on it and make contact with the people,” says Chief Mike Burgan.
Blair County
COVID-19 continues to impact Blair and surrounding counties this week as the community continues to react to the pandemic.
On Tuesday, the VA Medical Center in Altoona distributed around 700 free masks to veterans in the area.
The masks were made by the center’s healthcare workers, adding up to around 2,000 in total to give to local vets.
It’s a huge success. It keeps them safe, keeps their families safe, our veterans are excited to be our here,” said Shaun Shenk, Chief of Stakeholder Relations.
And Thursday, Evoke Bistro in Bedford announced that the restaurant is closing its doors for good due to COVID-19 restrictions.
The co-owner spoke about his experience opening the business, and keeping positive about having to shut it down.
“When youre a small business that just opened in a small town like this its kinda tough for them to be like “oh ok well make our money back,” said Corey Black, co-owner of the Bistro.
“For us it was a tough decision but, I think it was the right one”
The Salvation Army is giving out food to people in the community.
Every Thursday, starting at 10 a.m., they give out nearly 700 breakfasts and frozen dinners from Operation BBQ Relief to families in need.
