Having a holiday gathering? The CDC wants you to weigh these 7 factors

125714063_web1_osterhout.book.sale

Friends of the Osterhout Free Library plan sidewalk sale

HUNLOCK CREEK &mdash; Not even a global pandemic could put a halt to the Young Professionals Awards, but it did make things look a little bit different.
				Instead of crowding into an indoor event space, a Luzerne County who&rsquo;s-who gathered at the Garden Drive In on Wednesday night to watch the Greater Wilkes-Barre Chamber of Commerce and Coal Creative team up to present a dozen awards to what the group described as some of the area&rsquo;s &ldquo;rising stars.&rdquo;
				And if you take the fact that applause had to be swapped out for blaring car horns, the event certainly felt like one of the most, well, normal things to happen in our area this year.
				Lindsay Griffin, chief operating officer and vice president of the Chamber, began the evening by remarking on just how many people came out to support the &ldquo;area&rsquo;s best and brightest,&rdquo; as she put it.
				&ldquo;We are incredibly happy with the turn-out, all of the amazing nominees we got tonight &#8230; I want a big round of applause tonight,&rdquo; she said to blaring car horns.
				One of the night&rsquo;s biggest winners was Chris Bohinski, co-host of WBRE&rsquo;s PA Live, who won the 2020 Young Professional Inspiration Award &mdash; something which came as a total surprise to him.
				During his acceptance speech &mdash; the only one of the night &mdash; Bohinski said he was shocked to win.
				&ldquo;I would say that the reason I won this award &#8230; I think you can boil it down to treating everyone with basic human kindness,&rdquo; Bohinski said. &ldquo;I think it&rsquo;s something we should all do, and something we all can do.&rdquo;
				The Times Leader Media Group, media sponsor of the night, had one of its own win an award, with Mike McGinley, major accounts executive and digital manager, winning the Influencer of the Year award.
				A complete list of winners appears as follows:
				&#8226; Educator of the Year &mdash; Jonathan Kadjeski, Equus Workforce Solutions at the PA CareerLink Luzerne County at Wilkes-Barre
				&#8226; Entrepreneur of the Year &mdash; Ashlee Martinelli, Every Little Thing LLC and The Grand Bank
				&#8226; Cultural Ambassador of the Year &mdash; Samuel O&rsquo;Connell, Coal Creative
				&#8226; Intern of the Year &mdash; Desiree Scott, PCC Aerostructures
				&#8226; Influencer of the Year &mdash; Mike McGinley, Times Leader Media Group
				&#8226; Small Business Owner of the Year &mdash; Tyler Rice, AxelRad Screen Printing
				&#8226; STEAM Professional of the Year &mdash; Danny Lykens and Mike Grobinski, Krypton Design
				&#8226; Voluntary Leader of the Year &mdash; Harlan Tabron Jr., Mt. Zion Baptist Church
				&#8226; Young Professional Development Award Winner &mdash; Community Bank
				&#8226; Young Professional Counsel Award Leadership Recipients &mdash; Amy Feldman and Remington Sweeney
				&#8226; Young Professional Inspiration Award &mdash; Chris Bohinski, WBRE.

125718335_web1_2020-Young-Professionals-6

Their time to Shine: WB Chamber ceremony celebrates area’s ‘rising stars’