Locally we had a hotly contested race for mayor. This post will look at the influence of write-ins and the Johnstown mayoral election.

This post will present high need zip codes in the area to help you to Rage Against Unmet Needs in the Alleghenies.

With the assassination of Charlie Kirk still in the news I will take a look at his organization Turning Point USA in the Alleghenies.

by Jackie Allison The retail company I worked for came up with a ploy to motivate their employees. Instead of a decent raise or vacation pay, the company used slogans. I’m not talking cool words encouraging us to just go out and achieve our best. No, I’m talking slogans that made you retch up breakfast like Jingle This & My Yule ruling? These slogans, many times, came with props, especially the holiday versions. The year of “Jingle Some Bells” we received a pen, a necklace, and a bracelet with bells attached.

The last post on student homelessness in Cambria County School Districts got a huge response. The map above from the Center for Rural Pennsylvania shows that this issue is not just a Cambria phenomenon. This post will take a look at student homelessness in the Alleghenies outside Cambria County. Not all of the school districts in the state could be sampled for the 2024-2025 school year. The top 20 poorest school districts according to the Census Bureau from the year 2023 in Pennsylvania were sampled. The Johnstown and Ferndale school districts were excluded because they are located in Cambria County.

This holiday season (and every other season) it is important to remember those less fortunate. Accordingly, the Center for Rural Pennsylvania produced the map above. It shows all of the school districts in the state. The districts highlighted in green have rates of student homelessness that are higher than the state rate of 1.89% for the 2023-2024 school year. I spoke with the center and they directed me to the site Future Ready PA. You can look at your school district at their site. Comparatively, I looked at the districts in Cambria County and summarized them in the table below.

by Paul Ricci Allegheny Independent Media is now affiliated with Nonprofit Partners. It is a subsidiary of the Community Foundation for the Alleghenies. Thru the site you can donate to the website. It is essential to allow us to provide coverage to the critical issues facing the Alleghenies. You may donate to our site here. An artificial intelligence (AI) data center has been proposed for Homer City, PA. I attended a discussion of the proposal Dec. 3 at the First Unitarian UniversalistChurch in Indiana, PA. Jay Walker of the…

/ On November 21, 2025, Lyrical Capo and I went to Newsapalooza at Point Park University in Pittsburgh. The theme of Newsapalooza was Artificial Intelligence in the Newsroom. Above is a video of Newsie Nick and Pittsburgh Mayor Elect Corey O'Connor giving the keynote speeches. YouTube would not let me add the keynote address by Natalie Daher of Axios news. The second video I took at the event was a panel moderated by Erica Mokay of KDKA news. The title of the discussion was AI in the News: Friend or Foe…

the need for independent media is more dire than ever. This is an appeal for the Holidays and Public Media.

"If you make the truth unknowable, accountability becomes impossible." Trump's war on statistics matters for the area.

Locally we had a hotly contested race for mayor. This post will look at the influence of write-ins and the Johnstown mayoral election.

Imagine your fridge is empty, your mailbox is quiet. and the federal safety net you depend on is just… paused.

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish justice, insure domestic Tranquility

From October 17th to 19th, when the People Rise: Inside the 13th Annual Put People First PA Membership Assembly.

From homelessness to homeownership, the Cambria County Housing Summit. Magellan % Healthcare hosted the Cambria County Housing Summit.

Today I interviewed Shannon Burch Errett. She is a GJSD school board candidate. GJSD stands for Greater Johnstown School District.

On October 14, 2025, I was observing the Charlie Kirk Vigil at the Pasquerilla Center in Johnstown. Pennsylvania.

Yesterdays No Kings Rally Part 2 had an amazing turnout. Between 300 and 500 people turned out to voice their frustration with Trump.

Denise Miller wrote this poem titled No Kings in America on her Substack about the No Kings Rally on June 14 (reprinted here with permission)

On Saturday Mayoral candidate Reverend Sylvia King held a Johnstown Democratic Candidate forum at her church in Kernville.

They’re being sent here by a broken housing system — overflow from bigger cities Johnstown Isn’t the Problem - the system is.

With the assassination of Charlie Kirk still in the news I will take a look at his organization Turning Point USA in the Alleghenies.

The martyrdom of Marat and Charlie Kirk have some eerie parallels, even though some might see them on opposite sides of the political fence.

I recently attended 2 events locally and took some footage: Bardstock on August 23 and the Cambria Arts and Heritage Festival on September 13 and 14. Bardstock was a hastily organized literary festival by the group Poeming through the Dark. The video above is the footage I took at the event. Ronald Shawley organized The Cambria Arts and Heritage Festival.