by Eliot Stein BBC Ask most Americans and they’ll tell you that the United States started in Philadelphia on July 4, 1776 when the Founding Fathers signed the Declaration of Independence. But chances are, almost none of those coming realizes that the US’s political and ideological birthplace was once part of a little-known …
Category Archives: Pennsylvania
Pleasures And Benefits Of Soaking In The Rain
by Ally Hirschlag BBC It was the sixth straight day of the heat index topping 100F (38C) in New Milford, Connecticut, when the sky turned a sickening shade of puce. I was leading an outdoor theatre workshop, and noticed campers gawking at an ominous, miles-long shelf cloud advancing overhead. Then a thunderclap shook …
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A Smokin’ Hot Game Can Be A “Barn Burner”
by Kevin Burton The NCAA Final Four is Saturday. Those of us with no favorite teams playing, merely hope for close games. In honor of March Madness, Merriam-Webster has looked into the origin of the idiom “barn-burner.” I have mostly heard this refer to football, but it could apply to basketball as well. …
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You Never Forget Your First Hate (Dodgers)
by Kevin Burton My very first ecstatic sports moment came via a baseball wild pitch. The Cincinnati Reds won the 1972 pennant by scoring two runs in the ninth inning of game 5. First Johnny Bench hit a tying home run. Then with two outs, Pittsburgh pitcher Bob Moose uncorked a game-ending wild …
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“Door Dash For Good” Helps Feed The Hungry
By Kevin Burton The first of our two Good News Network stories today means food for the hungry in Pittsburgh and food for thought for the rest of us. I have often thought a country that produces food on the scale of the United States should have no hungry people. Yes it would …
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Regional Speech Patterns Travel With You
by Kevin Burton One fine morning in a restaurant we don’t often go to, in a small town where you better not speed or they’ll fine you for sure (Derby, Kansas), a waitress referred to my wife and I as “yins.” That is a contraction of “you ones” and it’s a regionalism from …
This Girl Had A Pocket Full Of Determination
by Kevin Burton It’s girl power times three on Page 7 today. The third story is about car repair, the first two about clothing, beginning with my favorite, a rare tale of a big company responding to consumers. All three are from the Good news Network: “A young English schoolgirl named Georgia …
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This Super Bowl Was Truly A Super Bore
by Kevin Burton How fitting that my story about Super Bowl LIX (59) begins with a tale of excessive sleeping. On the Saturday before Super Sunday I was supposed to go to a local butcher shop and get some ribs that would serve as the centerpiece of a super feast. Incredibly, I slept …
How Walla Walla, Other Cities Were Named
by Dictionary Scoop Sometimes, names reveal much about the history of the lands as native communities and original settlers knew them. Arguments, infestations, practical arrangements, mythology, and landscapes, all inspired the current denominations of these ten cities that are thriving today. 1-Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania Punxsutawney’s name might bring a certain charming groundhog to mind, but its …
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