Friday, October 30, 2026

Good Morning! On this day in 2012, utility crews across Pennsylvania began the massive job of restoring power to nearly 1.3 million customers after Superstorm Sandy, warning that repairs could take a week or longer.

Philadelphia’s Portal, the live-video installation that connects the city with places thousands of miles away, got a last-minute reprieve to stay at City Hall. Find out more in Et Cetera. If you could open a portal to anywhere in the world, where would it lead? Hit reply and tell us.

Does your car insurance renew automatically? Convenient, sure. But you could be overpaying. Today’s sponsor, Money.com, makes it easy to compare rates, switch, and save. Check your new rate now.

Wegmans Headed to Mt. Lebanon

Wegmans will anchor a redevelopment of the Galleria of Mt. Lebanon, a former Kaufmann’s department store, with a roughly 110,000-square-foot supermarket, Wegmans and developer Roadside Development announced yesterday. Renovations are expected to begin in 2028.

Roadside, a Washington, D.C.-based firm, bought the mall for $15.2 million, a deal one Mt. Lebanon official called “a massive win” for the community.

Its first one, under construction in Cranberry Township, is expected to create about 450 jobs and bring the chain’s Pennsylvania total to 20 stores.

The region’s grocery scene is shifting fast. Meijer is also planning a Cranberry store, and Kroger announced plans in July to buy Giant Eagle for $1.65 billion.

Hollidaysburg Teacher Strike Looms

The Hollidaysburg Area School District and its teachers union failed again Wednesday to reach a contract deal, leaving one more scheduled negotiation before a planned strike.

Teachers voted overwhelmingly earlier this month to authorize the strike, while both sides said they planned to keep negotiating.

The union, which represents about 230 professional staff, is seeking about a 5% raise ahead of the Nov. 23 strike date. The district says it spent about $650,000 more on teacher healthcare this year, while teachers’ monthly contributions stayed the same.

The union said it presented a proposal Sept. 1 but hadn’t received a counterproposal from the district by mid-October.

Turkey Season Opens on Halloween

Pennsylvania’s fall turkey season kicks off tomorrow across most of the state, which WJAC called “some scary news for turkeys” this Halloween.

Hunters may find more or larger flocks this fall. The state’s turkey reproduction index rose to 2.83 poults per hen from 2.67 last year, though that’s still below the five-year average.

That’s a brighter outlook than last fall, when officials warned hunters could face challenging conditions after below-average poult recruitment.

Season lengths vary by region, with hunters in McKean, Potter, Cameron, and Elk counties facing different closing dates depending on where they hunt.

A Note from Cole, CEO of The Flyover

Dear Reader,

Every year, auditors count how many copies America’s biggest newspapers actually put in people’s hands. The new numbers are brutal.

Of the 25 largest papers in the country, 24 shrank last year. Average decline: 12.5%. Nearly a quarter-million daily papers, gone in a single year. The Denver Post now prints about 24,000 copies a day. The Arizona Republic, 33,000. The Houston Chronicle, 35,000. The Dallas Morning News, under 40,000. These are metros of millions. And the steepest collapse in the country belonged to The Washington Post: down 21% in a single year to fewer than 88,000 print copies.

The industry will tell you it’s the internet. It’s a convenient story, because it means none of this is their fault.

Here’s the story they won’t tell: Americans didn’t stop caring about the news. They stopped trusting the people delivering it. Somewhere along the way, the papers stopped reporting what happened and started campaigning for what they wanted to happen—and their readers noticed. Trust in the media now sits at the lowest level ever recorded.

So no, that’s not an audience drifting away. That’s a jury coming back with a verdict.

And here’s the part the industry really doesn’t want to talk about: those readers didn’t give up on news. They went looking for someone who would just tell them the truth. Millions of them found their way to The Flyover—a morning news publication built on one simple deal:

We call things what they are.

We keep the spin out and trust you with the facts.

And The Pennsylvania Flyover stays free.

It turns out that when you just give people the facts and trust them to think for themselves, people respond.

So today I’m asking: will you help us continue? If news that plays it straight is something you want to see thrive, will you stand behind us?

Chip in and support the news that gives it to you straight—and free, every morning.

Will you make a generous donation to support The Pennsylvania Flyover?

While the biased legacy media is failing, will you join our movement to keep the bias out of the news, free to your inbox every morning?

I’d be grateful if you did.

Make a generous donation to support The Pennsylvania Flyover.

Give $25
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Our promise: we answer to you. Help us keep it.

– Cole
CEO, The Flyover

Flying together with our sponsor

Auto-renewing your car insurance? Read this first.

Automatic renewal makes life easier. No paperwork, no phone calls, no worrying about a lapse in coverage. But that convenience could be costing you money.

Car insurance rates change all the time, and the company that offered you the best deal six months or a year ago might not be the most competitive today. Yet many drivers simply let their policies renew without checking what else is available.

With car insurance premiums averaging more than $2,200 a year, even a modest difference in rates could mean hundreds of dollars in annual savings.

The good news? Shopping around doesn’t have to be a hassle. Money’s free car insurance comparison tool lets you compare rates from providers in your area in just minutes. And if you find a better deal, you can switch insurers without waiting for your current policy to expire.

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➤ Statewide: Pennsylvania’s 125 free state parks returned about $16 in economic value for every $1 invested last year, a new Penn State study found, as visitors spent $1.2 billion on trips. (See Details)

➤ Harrisburg: Capital Region Water says a file with customers’ names, addresses, email addresses, account and parcel numbers, and amounts due was mistakenly attached to billing emails sent Wednesday. (Read More)

➤ Lebanon: A person with measles visited the Target on Quentin Road on Oct. 23 between 5 and 8 p.m., possibly exposing other shoppers, health officials say. Symptoms can appear 7 to 21 days after exposure. (See Details)

➤ Philadelphia: Thieves stole about $10,000 worth of beef from a tractor-trailer in Northeast Philly. It’s the city’s latest cargo heist, after 3,000 pounds of crab legs were taken from a semi on Tuesday. (Read More)

➤ Cheltenham: Destino Jean Louis, a 23-year-old Haitian national and former Walmart employee, was charged with murder in the Oct. 21 shooting of Latosha Ann Cooper, his former romantic partner, outside the store. (Read More)

➤ West Chester: Crowds lined Market and Gay streets Wednesday night for the borough’s annual Halloween parade. (See Photos)

➤ The Philadelphia Union clinched their 10th MLS playoff berth Wednesday after a scoreless draw at Nashville SC, with help from former Union star Dániel Gazdag, whose late winner for the New England Revolution beat the New York Red Bulls. (More)

➤ Penn State, like every Big Ten school, now faces a conference cap of about $49 million per school on institutional involvement in athletes’ NIL deals, including direct payments. (More)

➤ Kobe Bryant’s game-worn Lower Merion High School jersey sold for $2.2 million, the most ever paid for a high school jersey. (More)

Flying together with our sponsor

➤ Skip the oven and grill for this genius microwave hack. Rocket Chef delivers crispy, juicy meals in minutes! Turn your microwave into a searing hot grill for burgers, grilled cheese, pizza, leftovers and more. Learn More

➤ A fiberglass production line idle since 2012 is coming back to life at Huntingdon County’s Superior Huntingdon Composites, thanks to a $4.4 million expansion backed by more than $1.8 million in state funding. It’ll create 26 jobs. (See Details)

➤ A family-owned fixture of downtown Pittsburgh, Larrimor’s designer clothing store, is going out of business after 87 years. It opened in 1939 in the Union Trust Building and will close by the end of December. (Read More)

➤ Pennsylvania job seekers face one of the nation’s toughest markets, as a WalletHub study ranks the state third-worst for jobs in 2026, weighing unemployment, job growth, and work-related stress. (See Ranking)

Flying together with our sponsor

➤ Got ten minutes? The Penny Hoarder rounded up simple ways to earn extra cash and save on everyday expenses. From paid surveys to cash back on gas, these quick moves could give your budget some breathing room. Explore the list and find an opportunity that fits your routine.

Flying together with our sponsor

Still Paying the Same Car Insurance Rate?

The average U.S. driver now pays about $194 a month for car insurance. If you’ve been with the same insurer for years, it may be worth checking whether you’re still getting a competitive rate.

Shopping around can uncover lower-priced options, and comparing quotes only takes a few minutes.

Money’s car insurance comparison tool can help you see rates from providers in your area and find out whether switching could put more money back in your pocket.

COMPARE CAR INSURANCE RATES

➤ Philly’s Portal is staying at City Hall for now, after a last-minute intervention saved the live-video art installation just as it was set to be removed Thursday. (Read More)

➤ Trick-or-treaters in the Lehigh Valley should get dry skies and temperatures in the 50s during prime candy-collecting hours. Clocks also fall back an hour overnight Saturday. (See Forecast)

➤ A Philadelphia man rushed down three flights of stairs and broke down a burning back door to help his godson and the godson’s mother escape a Tioga house fire early Thursday. He suffered burns to his back. (Read More)

Flying together with our sponsor

➤ Your next favorite wine is waiting. Firstleaf matches award-winning wines to your tastes and delivers them to your door. Through October 31, get an extra bottle with your introductory order: seven bottles starting at just $44.95. Take the wine quiz to discover wines matched to your palate, and claim your bonus bottle before this offer ends. (Find Your Perfect Pour)

The following stories are featured exclusively on The Flyover Podcast—a daily show that gives you the most important headlines in under 15 minutes.

➤ Protesters clashed with riot police in Madrid, demanding the prime minister’s resignation after Wednesday’s train crash killed nearly seventy people. (Hear Details)

➤ Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang reportedly grew close to a suspected Chinese spy whom U.S. intelligence spent a year tracking. (Hear Story)

➤ A popular WNBA star said the FBI is monitoring roughly 20 people tied to stalking and threats against her. (Listen Now)