by Paul Ricci Watching Dr. Anthony Fauci get grilled by the U.S. Senate Homeland Security Committee brought back a lot of memories of the struggles of the pandemic. The committee is chaired by Senator Rand Paul (R-Kentucky). He is a trained ophthalmologist. Senator Paul is now pursuing contempt of Congress charges against Fauci after he […]

Last week I went to two different political events in Cambria County. The first was the biweekly county commissioners meeting on February 26. On Sunday March 1, the Cambria County Democratic Party held their campaign kickoff meeting for the upcoming midterm elections. This post profiles the Cambria County Commissioners and the Cambria Democrats. Cambria Commissioners […]

Much is made of the recent property tax increase that the Cambria County commissioners passed — a 6.75 mill increase. This means that for every $1,000 in property value, the owner must pay an additional $6.75 in property tax. This post will take a look specifically at the impact of property tax hikes for Cambria […]

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 […]

Today I interviewed Shannon Burch Errett. She is a GJSD school board candidate. Burch Errett is running as a write in candidate. GJSD stands for Greater Johnstown School District. We spoke for 17 minutes. In the most recent estimates from the Census Bureau, GJSD had the 5th highest poverty rate in Pennsylvania in 2023 at […]

Sometimes we go into rooms that feel foreign—not to judge, but to listen. To document. To hold truth gently in the tension. On October 14, 2025, I was observing the Charlie Kirk Vigil in Johnstown at the Pasquerilla Center. The room held about 80 people — many dressed in red “Freedom” T-shirts as statements of […]

On Saturday Reverend Sylvia King held a Johnstown Democratic Candidate forum at her church in Kernville. On the panel were herself who is running for mayor and city council candidates Jasmine LaRue, Lorraine Taylor and Taylor Clark. Below is the video I took of the panel. This year both Democrats and Republicans are running a […]

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, Flood City Fables, and Craftwork Studios. The video above is the footage I took at […]

Last Saturday I went to the Rage Against the Regime protest in downtown Johnstown. I interviewed some of the participants in the video above. Groups like Indivisible organized the rally. Previously I posted on the unmet need score (UNS) for 708 zip codes in the Alleghenies. These zip codes are seen in the map below. […]

As a follow-up to my post on pharmacy deserts in Pennsylvania, Lyrical Capo has written a post on the local pharmacy desert in Johnstown. “When the pharmacy closes, the community suffers.” Emphatically, this harsh reality has hit home in Johnstown, PA, where Rite Aid has abandoned numerous locations, leaving residents struggling to access essential healthcare […]