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‘Dean’ John Murtha and his deeds

I spent a recent afternoon at the University of Pittsburgh archives looking at the papers of John P. Murtha, the late congressman who at one time represented Fayette County on Capitol Hill.At his death in 2010, the Johnstown Democrat was the “dean” of the stateĢƵ congressional delegation. ...

The slippery slope to November 2024

Is this a slippery slope, or has the Fayette County Elections Board already tumbled into voter suppression and democracy denialism?Whatever the case may be, itĢƵ frightening – frightening in and of itself and frightening for what it could mean for the elections for governor and U.S. Senate ...

A week of questions, a week of wonder

The jig is up. I don’t know everything. To prove it, three stories from last week left me scratching my head. (At least three. There may have been more. In the age of social media and everyoneĢƵ-a-reporter, itĢƵ impossible to read everything.)The first involved of all people Josh Hawley, ...

Marking Roe in a Depression-era fight

July marks another anniversary for the coal strikes that roiled Western Pennsylvania and, most especially, Fayette County in the early months of Franklin RooseveltĢƵ fabled New Deal.The 1933 strikes by miners working for outfits like the rabidly anti-union H.C. Frick Coal and Coke Company ...

Test your Americanism for the Fourth

To become a naturalized American, an applicant must meet certain criteria. He or she must be at least 18 and to have lived in the country a minimum of five years as a permanent resident (three if married to an American).ThereĢƵ an application to be filled out and a fee to be paid. ThereĢƵ ...

Thank goodness for the GOP good guys

That a group of Michigan Republicans were told to hide out overnight in that stateĢƵ capitol to secretly select a false slate of presidential electors pledged to Donald Trump brings to mind a scene from “Seven Days in May.”The movie, which stars Burt Lancaster as treasonous Air Force Gen. ...