From the Right
/Politics
Pennsylvania Farm Leaders Applaud Aggressive Action Against Avian Flu
HARRISBURG, Pennsylvania -- Gov. Josh Shapiro (D-Pa.) took the threat of avian flu head-on at a town hall at the 109th annual Pennsylvania Farm Show, saying that as highly pathogenic avian influenza spreads to dairy in other states, his administration would remain proactive and aggressive in establishing a nation-leading surveillance-testing ...Read more
US Steel Sale and Future in Limbo After Biden Block
BRADDOCK, Pennsylvania -- The fate of the Edgar Thomson Works, a massive steel plant that has hugged the same spot along the Monongahela River since 1875, became even more uncertain Friday morning when President Joe Biden announced he would block the sale of United States Steel to Nippon Steel as one of his last acts as president.
Biden said ...Read more
How McCormick Won Pennsylvania's Senate Race
It is just after 9 p.m. on election night in an oversized suite on the 24th floor of downtown Pittsburgh's Fairmont Hotel. All the couches and cushioned chairs have been placed along the wall and replaced by around a half dozen campaign staffers working at desks, or makeshift desks, watching data start to pour in from across Pennsylvania. In ...Read more
The Greatest Gift
PITTSBURGH -- For as long as I can remember, my father had a model train set on a platform in our home. From the middle of our living room floor in our old house on Colby Street to the game room of the house he designed and built on Chapin Street in 1972, a modest model train set was always part of our lives.
For my father -- as with most ...Read more
'Feast of the Seven Fishes' Tradition Still Popular for American Italian Households
HOMEWOOD, Pa. -- From time to time, Frank Tropiano will drive past the tiny structure he called home after he and his parents, three sisters and his grandparents arrived in this country in 1966, a structure that was attached to the rear of the house on 7311 Susquehanna St.
"Our address was literally 7311 Susquehanna Rear," he explained. The ...Read more
Whiskey Resurgence in the Heart of the Rebellion
LATROBE, Pennsylvania -- The making of whiskey in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, has often been fraught with a fair amount of drama. Whether it was those trying to make it or those trying to drink it, the government has sought to tax and sometimes even ban both activities.
Two hundred thirty years ago, William Findley, a Revolutionary War hero, ...Read more
The American Tradition of the Gingerbread House Comes Alive in Bedford
BEDFORD, Pennsylvania -- On any given day, walking into the main entrance of the Omni Bedford Springs, the grande dame of American historic hotels, is always a welcoming and breathtaking embrace of the past. Walking in during the Christmas season is even more extraordinary, as you are immediately dazzled by the nostalgic and warm scent of ...Read more
The Family-Run Businesses That Make Thanksgiving Possible
LEECHBURG, Pennsylvania -- Tom McIlwain is sitting just outside the double doors leading to the country store at Pounds Farm, shaking off the chill and warming up with a cup of hot coffee. The 91-year-old has just finished herding the last batch of live turkeys, gathering them onto a large trailer to go to the processing center for this year's...Read more
Biden Was the Fluke in 2020, Not Trump in 2016
President-elect Donald Trump's win two weeks ago in Pennsylvania was always right in front of you if you were objectively listening to the concerns of the people and the data showing the most important, misread trend of all: The Republican Party had now become the party of work.
In interview after interview, waitresses, welders, rank-and-file...Read more
Cultural Curators Face Reckoning for Mocking Middle America
PITTSBURGH -- Walking out of the Allegheny County Republican election night event at a local luxury hotel, the young men waiting to valet my car got into a discussion with me about the just-announced election results.
All four men were in their 30s. Two were white, one was Black and the other Hispanic. As I traditionally do, I asked them how ...Read more
Trump Has Reason in Pennsylvania to Feel Better Than Harris
LATROBE, Pennsylvania -- "If we win Pennsylvania, we win the whole damn thing."
Two weeks ago, former President Donald Trump announced these words to rallygoers in this Westmoreland County town at a packed event, which included several former Pittsburgh Steelers and steelworkers taking the stage to endorse him; the steelworkers even got the ...Read more
In a Struggling Town, Musk Discusses 'Purpose'
McKEES ROCKS, Pennsylvania -- At the freshly renovated Roxian Theatre along Chartiers Avenue in a struggling river town, Loren Stephenson said she and her fiance, Alex Ames, had been standing at the front of the line since 8 a.m. to hear billionaire Elon Musk speak at 2 p.m.
Stephenson, a Duquesne University professor, said she came to see ...Read more
Unseen Middle-Class Black Voters Move Right
Barbara Clark is the perfect example of a voter, whether Black, white, Hispanic or from any other ethnic group, who defies stereotypes. This defiance often leads to voters such as her being overlooked as people who could change not just the presidential election but also the majority in the Senate.
Clark is a Black female who has been a ...Read more