Columns
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Postcards from a Drive Across America
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Our one mistake so far: A sign on Highway 20 pointed the way toward The World’s Largest Popcorn Ball in Sac City, Iowa. Alas, with an 11-hour drive to Denver ahead of us, we pressed on. Other than that lapse in judgment, our road trip across America has been one delightful surprise after another. In…
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The American Idea Is Still Worth Fighting For
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“We shall nobly save, or meanly lose, the last best hope of earth.” – Abraham Lincoln December 1, 1862 Oh well, I took the bait. I fell for it hook, line and sinker. I admit it. Why? Because if the vast majority of Americans who still love this country, flaws and all, stay silent about…
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Supply Chain Woes and the Return of Inflation
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Inflation is the rise in prices over time and lessens the buying power of currencies. For decades, economic textbooks had predicted that when the money supply grows more rapidly than the economic output of a country, inflation is the result. Inflation defied expectations and was benign due to globalization and advancing technologies. The ability for…
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Crafting the Happy Valley Experience for First-Timers
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My wife and I drove down to Washington, D.C. on Friday afternoon for a long scheduled fun weekend with our daughter. On Saturday evening, we had a rooftop cookout at our daughter’s apartment building for her and a few of her friends. Yes, it’s come to that – the old boomer parents regaling their millennial…
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Title IX at 50: How Did Sandy Barbour Do at Penn State and Where Does PSU Rank in the Big Ten?
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Last Thursday marked the 50th anniversary of the enactment of Title IX, the federal civil rights law that prohibits sex discrimination in any education program or activity — i.e., college sports — receiving federal financial assistance. This coming Thursday marks the end of Sandy Barbour’s nearly eight-year tenure as Penn State’s athletic director — her first day was…
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Let’s Talk About Risk
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Risk is inherent in investing, and it comes in an array of forms. Since risk and reward go hand in hand, understanding each major type of risk you face, especially in your retirement years, is crucial to your success as an investor. Perhaps most important is managing your risk appropriately, which is an ongoing process…
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January 6 Hearings Shine a Light on the ‘Vast Carelessness’ of Powerful People
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“They were careless people, Tom and Daisy—they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made.” – From F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby” In the novel “The Great…
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To My Friendly Neighborhood Gas Station
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Forget the summery weather. According to the calendar it’s January 1940 and if you need your car serviced you can dial 3893. The calendar hangs on the wall in College Heights Exxon, known in 1940 as the College Heights Service Station. Owner Gary Green stumbled on the relic in a thrift store. Of course, he…
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I’m Going Home. Really?
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Hey, what’s up State College? This is Barkley Battista. You may have heard of me previously in one of Joe Battista’s columns. I get to walk Big Daddy Joe around our Stonebridge neighborhood 3-4 times a day and even let him come sit on a bench when I hang out with my friends at Tudek…
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Patrick Kraft’s No. 1 Task: Stop Penn State’s Freefall to No. 42 in the Learfield Cup Rankings
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Patrick Kraft takes over as Penn State’s new athletic director at 12:01 a.m., next Friday, July 1. Though he has not officially started yet – he’s already on campus, meeting with dozens of ICA employees and Penn State stakeholders – the job continues to get tougher. Take last week. Please. In the penultimate Learfield Directors’…