Columns
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An Open Letter to the State College Area School District Board of Directors on Appointing a New Member
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Dear State College Area School Board members, You’ll soon be selecting and appointing a new board member to fill a vacancy. The person you choose will sit with you on the board for a little less than a year, before a duly-elected member takes over the seat. Because this temporary board member will be appointed…
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Now More Than Ever, College Football Players Need Collective Bargaining
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This column was started last weekend watching the physical toll the college football semifinal games were taking on players. That was before watching Buffalo Bills player Damar Hamlin collapse on the field Monday night. That put this column into even more perspective. NFL and major-college football players have become our modern-day gladiators. Football is often…
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There Are Liars, and Then There’s George Santos
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When we arrived at one of the First Night performances last Saturday, we were told there were no more seats – until the doorperson, remembering having turned us away from the previous performance, materialized two chairs from somewhere and invited us in. Happy as I was to get out of the rain and watch the…
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The Circle of Life: Hockey Style
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It’s Dec. 20, 2022, and I am walking on the main concourse of the Pittsburgh Penguins’ PPG Paints Arena as they are about to take on long-time rival the New York Rangers. Gathering directly in front of me are excited 7–8-year-old hockey players, their equally excited siblings and grandparents and their anxious parents wondering if…
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Local Historia: Tributes to Central Pa.’s Chief Logan
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Logan Branch, Logan Fire Company, Logan Street, Logan Avenue, Logan Valley. All across central Pennsylvania, the name Logan is almost as familiar a branding as the name of any U.S. Founding Father. Who was this mythical Logan, and what did he accomplish in his lifetime that impacted our area to such an extent that we…
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A Happy Valley Fix-It List for 2023
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The holiday season in Happy Valley is one of our annual downtimes – those weeks or months every year when the 45,000 Penn State students mostly leave the area and we find ourselves back to small-town, middle-of-nowhere status. Fall commencement was held on Saturday, Dec. 17 (Penn State graciously delayed the start that morning due…
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The Rose Bowl Is Jonathan Sutherland’s Last Game Wearing Jersey No. 0 for Penn State. Who is Next in Line?
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For Penn State, being a zero (on your jersey) is a good thing. A very good thing — and, for the past three seasons, a very good person. Sixth-year senior Jonathan Sutherland, who transitioned from safety to linebacker in 2022, was the first Penn State football player to wear jersey No. 0. He was accorded…
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Nature’s Ways: The Hearty Christmas Fern
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One of our most common fern species is the Christmas fern. While it never grows to the level of profusion of hay-scented fern, it does occur in all of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties. Christmas ferns (Polystichum acrostichoides) grow in fountain-like clumps of dark green fronds that stand from 1 to 2 feet tall. Their stocking-shaped leaflets…
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Integrity, Loyalty and Compassion Guided Franco Harris
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Every athlete dreams of a fateful moment of truth. They face fourth down and game, or a full count with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, or free throws with the game on the line. And for the fortunate few that do face that moment, even fewer come through to win the day…
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National Signing Day Takeaways from Penn State’s Top Recruiters: 3 to 7 Roster Additions, No Portal QB
in Columns, Local & Penn State Sports, Local News, Penn State Football, Penn State Recruiting, Penn State Sports—
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Penn State signed 22 members to its Class of 2023 on Wednesday, giving the Nittany Lions the No. 14-ranked recruiting class in college football, according to the consensus rankings of On3. Eleven high school football stars in that group will enroll at Penn State in time for the 2023 spring semester. Of the 22 signees,…