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A good sign

Area Life

Isabella Zavalanski of Image Signs Inc. applies elements on the Center City Church sign in front of the church along 12th Avenue on Tuesday morning. Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski

Yesteryear: In the news on July 14

Community

Local history 50 years ago: July 14, 1976 The Altoona Area Transportation Study Committee was to consider a device called a “People Mover” between the downtown and the new Station Mall over and across the railroad tracks. 25 years ago: July 14, 2001 Citizens opposed to a cellular phone tower being built near Cross Keys flooded the Allegheny Township supervisors meeting, most being concerned about health issues from radio waves, despite a Federal Communications Commission ruling that they caused no health concerns. 10 years ago: July 14, 2016 Cambria County Judge Tamara ...

Tofu vendor is on a mission

Community

TOKYO — Akiko Sugaya wheels a cart through the alley-like streets of eastern Tokyo selling tofu, the protein-rich staple favored in much of Asia. But delivering soybean curd in all shapes and textures is only a small slice of her mission. And it’s just that. A mission. More than simply a vendor of healthy food, she’s also a social conduit who checks on elderly customers as she guides her pink cart, wearing a straw hat and tooting a small brass bugle to signal her arrival. She knows the habits of many of her customers like family, and they know hers. She’s lost some ...

Doing the math: Counting calories doesn’t always add up

Community

BOSTON — When it comes to losing weight, it turns out the simple math of counting calories doesn’t always add up. Fad diets come and go, but the underlying message almost always follows a simple equation. If you consume fewer calories than you burn, the weight will melt away. In principle, it’s true. And counting calories can be a useful tool for managing weight. But it only works if you know what numbers you’re counting. And what’s been billed as basic math can sometimes look more like Einstein’s theory of relativity. That’s because a complex web of factors ...