ArcaMax

FRIEDENS, Pennsylvania -- Imagine if you had a job. A good job, one that required skill and critical thinking and had a broad impact in the community where you lived. A job you didn't just show up to do. It was a job you were good at, and because of it, you were able to provide a roof over your family's head, put your children through college or...Read more

Alanna Smith's dedication to her sport is profound. Just listening to the elite high school track star explain her training schedule is exhausting. Yet no matter how hard she trains, if she has to compete against biological males, she stands no chance of winning.

"There is simply a biological advantage that males have over females," explained ...Read more

CUMBERLAND, Maryland -- Had it not been for the kindness of strangers, Henry McCain would have died the way he led much of his adult life: cold, alone and without a blanket to cover his feet at night.

Instead, McCain left this world not a nameless drifter but with dignity, a sense of belonging and a last sip of his beloved ice-cold Coca-Cola.

...Read more

PITTSBURGH -- One year ago, Lena Carson was pulling straight A's at the city's Creative and Performing Arts Magnet school, located across the river from her parents' home. She also swam at the local YMCA every day in preparation for the annual state competition and enjoyed the everyday social life of a teenager.

Today, she is sitting at home. ...Read more

RANSON, West Virginia -- Drive along U.S. 11 in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and here in West Virginia and you are pretty much roaming through the more conservative enclaves of the region.

The road, one of the first north-south routes in the country, takes the traveler through places such as Chambersburg, Shippensburg, and Carlisle, Hagerstown and ...Read more

WASHINGTON -- Walk toward Anderson House on Massachusetts Avenue, just off Dupont Circle, and the first thing you see is a remarkable bronze of George Washington guarding the entryway.

Walk inside and your breath will be nearly taken away by the opulent beauty and all the splendor of the Gilded Age.

This was once the winter home of American ...Read more

MANNS CHOICE, Penn. -- There is a little burst of wonder that road travelers experience when they head west out of Bedford, climb Tulls Hill and are welcomed by the Lincoln Motor Court at the crest. It's a burst of wonder up for sale.

The motor court is a concept that is both familiar and foreign to the modern eye: part motel, part cabin, ...Read more

As one of 10 children growing up in extreme poverty in Greensboro, North Carolina, Mark Robinson has defied a lot of odds in life: an alcoholic and abusive father, foster care stints and an overwhelmed single mother.

After joining the Army Reserves right out of high school, he married and had two children while drifting through various jobs ...Read more

PITTSBURGH -- Years ago, there was an urban arcade called The Bank located here within a series of five old buildings that once housed financial offices in the Gilded Age. Connected internally by a savvy developer, 145,000 square feet of abandoned former grandeur was turned into a series of high-end shops, bars, a bookstore located in a former ...Read more

COOK FOREST, Pennsylvania -- It has just finished snowing here, and the forest looks magical, draped in white. It takes on a silvery blue shine under the blue sky that emerged after the storm finished leaving its mark. The silence is soon broken by the crunching of snowshoes off in the distance.

Southwest of here, a handful of anglers fishing ...Read more

ROSS TOWNSHIP, Pennsylvania -- Seven years ago, combat veteran Jack Mook was a hard-nosed Pittsburgh detective who stumbled upon two young brothers who showed up intermittently at the boxing gym where he volunteered. The boys were living on the edge of despair: Their birth parents had failed them; their foster parents had failed them; and the ...Read more

Elections are often a study of something in between getting the election results we deserve and politicians misreading why their side won a big race, especially if it is a narrow win.

In times of turmoil, voters often choose with their hearts and not their heads. And in case you haven't noticed, for the past two decades, we have been in a ...Read more

NEW ALEXANDRIA, Pennsylvania -- If you're not paying close attention, you can easily miss the dirt road that leads to the Flemings Christmas tree farm just off U.S. Route 22 in western Pennsylvania. The sign for the turnoff from the two-lane highway is covered in fresh snow, and within just a few feet along the narrow road, you enter a winter ...Read more