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by Paul Ricci Before I profiled the 100 least healthy and the 100 most healthy zip codes in Pennsylvania. However, there is more to the Alleghenies than just Pennsylvania. It covers the southwestern tier counties of New York state, the western counties of Maryland, almost the whole state of West Virginia and the bordering western […]

By Paul Ricci Much has been made of the clash between Gov. Josh Shapiro and HHS secretary Robert Kennedy Jr with Kennedy disputing the 2 measles deaths in the state. The state maintains a dashboard showing the measles outbreak numbers in the Pennsylvania. I will now look at what these numbers are saying. The image […]

by Paul Ricci On Saturday August 22, the 2026 Johnstown LGBTQ Pride Fest was held at the Cambria County War Memorial. It is also known as the 1st Summit Arena. It was organized once again by John DeBartola. It was indoors and in August because Central Park was still under renovation. DeBartola has criticized this […]

Right after completing the previous post on the HRSA data set I came across this article in the Guardian titled Trump 2.0 has deleted or altered nearly 400 US datasets, endangering public health, education and more. As someone who relies on these releases to find meaningful social, environmental, political and economic trends for the Alleghenies, […]

On July 24 & 25, I went to two events: one in Pittsburgh and one in Bellwood, PA. The former was a One Payer States panel on strategies to push for Medicare for All at the state level. The other group was a vigil in honor of the two men killed by ICE in Maine […]

On Saturday, July 18, I went to the second annual Justice Jam at the Oakhurst Homes in Johnstown. The event was run by Put People First PA. They cooked hamburgers and hot dogs. There was also music and speakers who spoke on their struggles with poverty and healthcare. The video above shows the speakers and […]

Recently, the Southern Poverty Law Center has published its new hate map for 2025. Last year they tracked 1,263 groups nationwide. The year before they tracked 1,371 groups and 1,430 in 2023. There was a 12% decrease between 2023 and 2025 in the raw number of groups. When adjusting for population there were 3.81 groups […]

Hear ye hear ye, ’tis one week ’til the Allegheny Independent Media 501(c)3 launch party at Studio 404 on July 8 at 7pm at 404 Messenger St in the Hornerstown section in Johnstown. Full details can be seen here. We will have a DJ, hors d’ourves, a presentation, and unveil our new website. Consequently, what […]

On June 23 I went to a Pharmacy Town Hall Meeting held by Martella’s Pharmacy in Boswell, Pa. There was a panel discussing how the Pharmacy Benefit Management (PBM) corporations like Express Scripts refuse to include local pharmacies like Martella’s Pharmacy in their networks. This is a major loss of revenue for these pharmacies. There […]

The last day of the Netroots Nation Conference in Philadelphia was a whirlwind of activity. In the morning I filmed this panel with state legislators from Michigan, New York and Pennsylvania on pursuing Medicare for All healthcare systems in their states. Later, I interviewed U.S. reps Summer Lee (D-PA) and Jaime Raskin on their views […]