ArcaMax

HOLLIDAYSBURG, Pennsylvania -- If you were the president of a railroad 100 years ago, you were kind of a big deal. Yet when Alan Maples became president of the Everett Railroad Company in 1983, a purchase that made him the youngest person in the history of the industry to hold that title, the Alabama native knew full well he would not wield the ...Read more

NEW ALEXANDRIA, Pennsylvania -- The scent of funnel cakes, grilled hot dogs and an ever-so-faint whiff of diesel fuel fill the air. The odd combination somehow works, adding to the excitement and anticipation as thousands of families and gearheads fill the stands surrounding the track of the local Lions Club Demolition Derby here in Westmoreland...Read more

BOURBON COUNTY, Ky. -- About 250 years ago, farmers looking for a way to make their surplus corn crop profitable decided to distill it. Today, that leftover grain has become a billion-dollar industry and a symbol of the Bluegrass State's identity, economy and culture.

"How bourbon came about is (what) ... the American spirit looks like: ...Read more

OTTAWA, Ohio -- This is not a story about politics. Instead, it is a story about America and how sometimes, you can discover something new when you try to absorb the country's character one mile at a time and when you take in a place on its own terms and not simply the terms of wherever you came from.

A couple of weeks ago, a native Long ...Read more

BUCKSTOWN, Pa. -- The Duppstadt's Country Store, sitting high on a plateau along the Lincoln Highway between Stoystown and Reels Corner, has served Somerset County residents and weary travelers since 1903. When you open the heavy wooden door and hear it creak with age, you get the sense you have entered somewhere special.

Not because it has ...Read more

Whether your vacation is in your backyard, on a sandy beach, or camping in a majestic national park, the summer read is as essential a part of your getaway as your sunscreen, fishing rod or road atlas.

Americans crave tales of adventure, mystery, love and tragedy as a summer rite of passage. The more noble prefer to dive into highbrow ...Read more

What matters on Twitter ... often just stays on Twitter.

Those who use the platform to voice opinions on faith, politics, guns, culture, the military, the police and a whole host of other issues just aren't representative of popular opinion. They tend to hold positions not just to the left but to the far, far left.

Journalists, who are among ...Read more

John F. Kerry, the special presidential envoy for climate, said only months ago that those losing fossil fuel jobs in coal and hydraulic fracturing will find they have a better choice of jobs either in the solar industry or as wind turbine technicians.

That was then. Now, a wind blade manufacturing plant located in Aberdeen, South Dakota, has ...Read more

MURRYSVILLE, Pennsylvania -- Elaine Noll is standing in front of the cherry white and blue stand for Billy's Country Smokehouse at the local farmers market. Wrapped around her left arm is a canvas bag filled with local roots and vegetables she purchased. She is now listening as Shirley Stana explains to her the different fresh and smoked meats ...Read more

SCHOHARIE, New York -- The roots of faith, family, patriotism, dialect and work ethic are a prominent feature here. One of the first modern American presidents to recognize those characteristics here and in the swath of Appalachia that extends to the southwest was John F. Kennedy, who when speaking to his Cabinet in April of 1963 said that ...Read more

For Republicans to win back the majority in the House, Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said GOP candidates, whether they are incumbents or challengers, must spend time with voters in their communities and come up with solutions about their concerns.

The House minority leader said spending time focusing on the latest outrage on social media or ...Read more

HOT SPRINGS, Virginia -- Where the tidy brick sidewalks end at the edge of the business district, the carnage was jarring. Two cars had their roofs sheared off. Shattered glass was strewn everywhere. In the distance, an older van was upturned, on its roof, alongside two vehicles on their sides and another car in a ditch, completely upside down ...Read more

CANONSBURG, PA. -- Thirty years ago, Jason Capps was a young man with ambition, but when he looked around this town near Pittsburgh, where he grew up, all he saw were opportunities slipping away. The coal mines where his father worked were dying; the glass, steel and manufacturing industries were on their last legs.

In 1987, when Capps ...Read more

BRADDOCK, Pennsylvania -- Exactly two years ago, U.S. Steel Corporation announced that the company would turn its Mon Valley Works operations into a key source of lightweight steel for the automotive industry.

At the time, local leaders and company officials called the investment "transformational."

It involved a whopping $1.5 billion upgrade ...Read more