NEWS VOICES

Three restaurants in Lackawanna County now offer a special service - dementia friendly dining. WVIA Healthcare reporter Lydia McFarlane joins WVIA's Sarah Scinto in the podcast studio to explain what that means.

The Institute has released its latest Indicators Report. The annual report tracks economic, demographic and quality of life trends in Northeast Pennsylvania. This year’s report grapples with the regional impacts of some national issues, and WVIA’s Roger DuPuis joins WVIA's Sarah Scinto in the podcast studio to break it down.

The 2026 primary election is over and now the general election campaign season begins. It was an interesting primary here in Northeast Pennsylvania. WVIA politics reporter Borys Krawczeniuk joins Sarah Scinto in the WVIA podcast studio to break down the results and look ahead to November.

As the debate over immigration plays out nationally, it’s also happening in this part of Pennsylvania. In a three-day series of stories, WVIA’s Borys Krawczeniuk reports on the conflicting local views over President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown. He joins WVIA's Sarah Scinto in the podcast studio to discuss some of what he's found.

This week we’re talking about trains - but not the train from Scranton to New York City that we’ve talked about before. This time, WVIA’s Roger DuPuis joins WVIA's Sarah Scinto in the podcast studio with news about a different train making its way to the Steamtown National Historic Site for a special event.

A Catholic school in Williamsport will be the first in the region to start a four-day school week - starting this fall, students at St. John Neumann Jr. Sr. High School will only be in class Monday through Thursday.WVIA Education reporter Sarah Hofius Hall says this is all part of a national trend.

Pennsylvania received $193 million this year from the federal government’s Rural Health Transformation Program - but state health leaders worry that money won’t be enough to fill the financial gaps rural health systems already face. This week, WVIA's Sarah Scinto and healthcare reporter Lydia McFarlane discuss what leaders think Pennsylvania needs and what the state is doing with the money it’s getting.

The Diocese of Scranton welcomed more than 300 new Catholics this Easter into the church. Catholic churches all over the country are seeing more and more adults join the church. This week, WVIA’s Roger DuPuis joins host Sarah Scinto to talk about this trend.

This week, WVIA's Sarah Scinto and Sarah Hofius Hall discuss proposed legislation that would allow the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (PIAA) to establish separate playoff systems and championships for boundary and non-boundary schools.

This week, WVIA politics reporter Borys Krawczeniuk joins host Sarah Scinto for a preview of the upcoming 2026 primary election.

This week, WVIA's Sarah Scinto and healthcare reporter Lydia McFarlane talk about a recent study from the Center for Rural Pennsylvania which found 23 of the state's 67 counties do not have a hospital with a labor and delivery unit.

This week, WVIA's Sarah Scinto and Roger DuPuis discuss the popularity and impact of online gambling and sports betting. The rise of sports betting in the U.S. following a landmark 2018 Supreme Court ruling fueled significant increases in gambling addiction.

This week, WVIA's Sarah Scinto and Borys Krawczeniuk discuss the progress of plans to re-establish passenger rail service between Scranton and New York City.

This week, WVIA's Sarah Scinto and Sarah Hofius Hall discuss the Travel School Nurse Pilot Program, aiming to ease a shortage of school nurses in Lackawanna County schools.

This week, WVIA's Sarah Scinto and Haley O'Brien discuss the subject of the latest Plant People feature - a farm in Carbon County that has become the largest indoor producer of lettuce in the world.

This week, WVIA's Sarah Scinto and Borys Krawczeniuk wrap up the case of a Lackawanna County-based art and memorabilia theft ring now that Nicholas Dombek, the last of the ring's seven members, has been sentenced to 10 years in prison.