Pirates might be selling at trade deadline

July 9, 2024

Notes and observations about Major League Baseball as the All-Star Game approaches: n It’s starting to look like the Pittsburgh Pirates could be sellers rather than buyers at the season’s July 30 trade deadline. Barring something like a 5-1 resurgence on their six-game road trip that starts Tuesday night in Milwaukee with a three-game series against the National League Central Division Brewers and winds up with a three-game weekend set against the woeful Chicago White Sox leading up to the All-Star break, the Pirates are substantially out of the running for the NL Central lead ...

Volunteers needed to report turkey sightings, count others

July 6, 2024

The Annual Pennsylvania Wild Turkey Sighting Survey is currently underway and runs through Aug. 31. This project is important for managing wild turkey populations throughout Pennsylvania, and the Pennsylvania Game Commission is looking for reports of turkey sightings this summer from the public. “The turkey survey enhances our agency’s internal survey, which serves as a long-term index of turkey reproduction and is used in our turkey population model,” Game Commission Turkey Biologist Mary Jo Casalena said. “Participants should report all turkeys seen, whether gobblers, hens ...

Caught off guard by presidential handicap banter

July 5, 2024

It sounds like the punchline for a joke — “I tuned in to watch a presidential debate last Thursday night, but a ‘golf handicap’ fight broke out!” Like many Americans, I tuned in to watch last week’s presidential debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump, hoping to gain some insights about each candidate’s views as the election campaign begins to ramp up. While many important topics were covered early on, the debate took an unusual turn toward the end of the evening. Answering a question about his fitness, Trump began talking about his golfing prowess, only to be ...

Dry trying not to ‘skip’ a beat

June 29, 2024

On Sunday, May 26, with his 46th season as director of the Lakemont (formerly Mansion) Park Summer Basketball League soon to begin, Skip Dry was being taken by ambulance to UPMC Altoona. “I didn’t want to go,” Dry said. “My wife (Diane) forced me.” He would remain there 19 days, ...

With future looking on, solid foundation built

June 15, 2024

UNIVERSITY PARK — Carson Kensinger couldn’t stand to watch the final moments of PIAA officials presenting Governor Mifflin with the state championship trophy Friday night after the Mustangs’ 2-1 win over Hollidaysburg in the Class 5A baseball final at the Penn State University’s Medlar ...

Rudel: Franklin needs to stay in his own lane

June 8, 2024

By Neil Rudel nrudel@altoonamirror.com Is this a make-or-break year for James Franklin? With a contract through 2031, and a team capable of winning double-digit games this fall, you wouldn’t think so. But last week’s verdict in a lawsuit that awarded a fired Penn State team doctor $5.25 million in damages may have dealt Franklin a blow that hangs over him. (Unless, of course, he beats Ohio State, and good luck with that.) Franklin and Penn State were dismissed as defendants in the suit in 2020 due to the statute of limitations, and Franklin was not called to testify. But his ...