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The letter: A Christmas gift from 1943

"Here it is Christmas Day," my future father-in-law wrote his family in Uniontown in the middle of World War II. Corporal Bob Reynolds was stationed "Somewhere in India" with the 25th Field Hospital, U.S. Army. "In a couple of hours," Bob wrote, "it will all be over: My first Christmas ...

Departing senators decry rabid party bias

It's tradition that U.S. senators mark the end of their tenures with "farewell" speeches, traditionally delivered standing at their desks on the Senate floor. Released from the demands of politics, senators are more apt to be candid in this setting than they might otherwise be, or so one ...

RFK Jr.: Weighing the bad with the good

The intrigue posed by Donald Trump's selection of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to head the Department of Health and Human Services is growing acute. Kennedy, the namesake of a famous dad and the nephew of President John F. Kennedy, began 2024 as a Democratic candidate for president. Denied a chance ...

The long-lost village that refuses to die

The columnist's initial reaction to viewing the drought at Yough Lake, east of Uniontown on Route 40, was to think of the recent NASA snapshots of the Mars surface: Like Mars, this tiny slice of Somerset County is, for the moment at least, flat, rocky, and reddish. Then there is the old arched ...

Teens share words of thanks

Since my first year of writing Ask Mary Jo, IÎÞëÊÓƵ™ve dedicated the Thanksgiving column to teensÎÞëÊÓƵ™ words. These expressions of gratitude are from teens at our Common Ground Teen Center. I wish everyone a happy and healthy holiday! Aujalae 17: I am thankful for many things, but one thing mostly ...

OP-ED: The Trump way of scene-stealing

If there is one thing Donald Trump understands, it's that government, like a good movie, demands quick takes. In Trump-world, no scene runs longer than two minutes. Were it otherwise, the patrons ÎÞëÊÓƵ“ in this case, that means all of us ÎÞëÊÓƵ“ would look elsewhere for entertainment. The buzz ...