From D-Day to Virginia, gun is one part of Army museum’s trove
A BRIEF ROUNDUP OF THE LOCAL NEWS OF THE WEEK
Pvt. Martin J. Teahan’s rifle sits in a display case, his name, “M. Teahan,” carved on one side of the wooden stock and the mysterious name “Kitty” carved on the other.
It’s a small artifact. A simple rifle carried by an American paratrooper who jumped into France on D-Day and was killed in action. But it is a link to the Army’s history, and one of the powerful artifacts in its new museum outside Washington.
The Army announced Tuesday that the $430 million National Museum of the U.S. Army will formally open on Veterans Day, after a five-month delay caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Built of stainless steel, aluminum and glass, the museum in Fort Belvoir, Va., is filled with more than 1,389 historic artifacts.
The museum has the dented helmet of Sgt. Alvin C. York, the World War I hero who earned the Medal of Honor for capturing 132 German soldiers. It has a sword belonging to Hermann Göring, one of Adolf Hitler’s key subordinates. It has the uniform cap of World War II and Korean War Gen. Douglas MacArthur.
There is a landing craft that ferried men to the beach on D-Day. (It was found on an island in the English Channel and is one of only six known to survive, the museum said.)
There is a piece of the landing gear of a plane that crashed into the World Trade Center. And there is a motorcycle that was used by a Taliban bomb courier in Afghanistan.
“These are artifacts, not props,” said museum spokeswoman Susan Smullen on Monday. “These are the real deal.”
The museum has also created a number of simulated battle scenes featuring lifelike soldiers made of plastic, urethane, foam and other materials. The figures are models of modern-day soldiers who posed for the sculptors. Accuracy was crucial. One scene depicts soldiers scrambling down a cargo net into a landing craft during the second wave ashore on D-Day, June 6, 1944.
“We went to great detail to be authentic as possible,” Ms. Smullen said. The soldiers’ rifles are wrapped in plastic to keep them dry. One man has a bazooka slung over his back.
Another figure is that of a chaplain carrying a Catholic Communion set in a black box. “Professional Equipment” the box says. “Chaplain.” An officer in the landing craft wears a wristwatch set to the time of the second wave: 7:55 a.m. He has a simulated carton of cigarettes tied to his pack.
“We have photographic proof that all these types of men made their way onto Normandy,” said museum artifact specialist Sara Bowen.
The Army, which owns and operates the facility, says it is its first “comprehensive and truly national museum.”
The museum is a joint effort of the Army and the Army Historical Foundation. The foundation headed a $200 million private campaign to construct the building. The Army provided the land (the museum is on an 84-acre, publicly accessible piece of Fort Belvoir property) and about $230 million toward the project.
Construction started in 2017, and the museum had been scheduled to open in June. But in April, because of the danger of the coronavirus to the public and the virus’s impact on construction, the opening was postponed, Ms. Smullen said.
Admission is free, and timed tickets can be received at TheNMUSA.org. There will be enhanced health and safety measures in place.
As for Pvt. Teahan, a member of the 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, he was 20 and came from New York City.
He had been captured by the Germans during the post-D-Day fighting and was shot by one of his jittery captors, according to a book by his nephew, Jim Farrell.
The meaning of the name “Kitty” remains a puzzle.
But she is now a part of the Army’s history.
In school, we learned what it meant to add A, B and C. (Thosewho couldn’t got a D.)
The State System of Higher Education is going to learn what happens when you add California, Clarion and Edinboro universities.
Staff writer Bill Schackner reported the state system’s governing board on Wednesday unanimously called for integrating the three universities into one entity with a shared budget, faculty and course inventory. The goal is to deal with enrollment losses and financial troubles compounded by the pandemic.
They’re also considering pooling resources among Lock Haven, Mansfield and Bloomsburg universities in Central-Pennsylvania.
Of course, such moves raise a lot of questions that will have to be answered before July’s vote to implement thec hanges. Will their names change? How will in-person classes be divided among the campuses — separated in the case of California and Edinboro by 150 miles? What happens to extracurricular activities duplicated on the campuses, including athletics? Would they be merged?
State System Chancellor Daniel Greenstein said those questions will be part of robust discussion as the implementation plans head to the board. “The hard work begins now,” he said.
“This is not just adding A, B and C ... but creating something new. This is an opportunity to think big and go big.”
And even more changes coming to universities
Edinboro University President Guiyou Huang, appointed to the job in May 2019, is one of six finalists in a presidential search at Western Illinois University, according to officials from the institution in Macomb, Ill.So he may be heading out.
Robert “Bob” Thorn will lead California University of Pennsylvania as interim president once its current leader retires. His appointment is effective Jan. 29, with the retirement of Geraldine Jones, officials announced as the State System of Higher Education board of governors met Thursday.
Mr. Thorn, who came to Cal U in 1993 as director of financial aid, served as assistant vice president and currently is the school’s vice president for administration and finance. His appointment as interim president will run at least through July 2021.
Carlow University President Suzanne Mellon is retiring at the end of the 2020-21 academic year, it was announced at the school’s board of trustees meeting Friday. Ms. Mellon, who came to Carlow in 2013 as its 10th president, oversaw the university’s first comprehensive campaign, which funded the development of the University Commons building and scholarships for students.
“The entire Carlow University Board of Trustees shares my deep gratitude to President Mellon for her strong leadership over the past eight years,” said Board Chair Dorothy Davis, a Carlow alumna. “Her presidency has been transformative for the university, particularly regarding her commitment to academic excellence and innovative approaches to regional partnerships.”
Indiana University of Pennsylvania announced a restructuring of its six colleges and a number of academic programs, given a 33% decline in enrollment since 2010.
“It’s no secret that IUP, like many colleges and universities in the nation, faces financial challenges — and in this region, critical demographic issues because of a continuing decline in high school graduates,” IUP President Michael Driscoll said. “Then, add in an international
“We had two choices: Allow the fates and other external forces to define our
future, or dig deep, make hard decisions and work together to create our own destiny,” he added. “We’ve chosen that second option, to reimagine IUP and become IUP NextGen, student-centered and forward-looking.”
The changes will take effect next fall.
Who knows where this map could lead
Then we have Carnegie Mellon University, which last week confirmed it will head up a new $10 million National Institutes of Health center to develop a roadmap of cell nuclei.
Staff writer Lauren Rosenblatt detailed this as a fiveyear project involving researchers eight other institutions.
Jian Ma, the lead principal investigator for the center and an associate professor in CMU’s computational biology department, said CMU’s role is to focus on developing machine-learning algorithms to create a visual tool to explain the structure and dynamics in cell nuclei.
“We’re going to generate data, tech, resources, computational tools,” he said.
OK, that’s all a little over our head. What else did he say?
“We want to understand howthe cell works.”
They’re still trying to get off the ground
The ups and downs continue at Pittsburgh International Airport, where staff writer Mark Belko reported therewas a 69.5% drop in passenger traffic in September.
And that was the good news.
Mark noted the decrease was the smallest passenger decline since this whole pandemic thing started.
Allegheny County Airport Authority officials also are encouraged by the upswing in traffic at the county airport in West Mifflin. General aviation traffic in the third quarter was down only 3.6% comparedto 40.6% in April.
“I guess we can look favorably on some things,” said authority board chairman David Minnotte.
Christina Cassotis, the authority’s CEO, said the modest rebounds in passenger traffic at Pittsburgh International have been largely driven by leisure travel. Business travel, on the other hand, continues to sputter.
“We certainly saw many business destinations reduce capacity,” she said. “Airlines are continuing to focus on leisure markets as the summer travel season extended into September.”
The buses are now cleaner than your car
Staff writer Ed Blazina checked on those taking Port Authority transportation and found ridership is slowly rebounding from painful lows in March and April.
Still, there’s always room formore. Usually.
So the Port Authority has come up with a marketing campaign to encourage ridership. It’s called “Ok to Go,” and will use its website, placards in its vehicles and Facebook ads to drive home the point that their vehicles are clean and safe.
Jim Ritchie, chief communications officer, said the campaign is “a form of reinforcing” with the public its efforts to sanitize every vehicle and every station every day.
“[Riders] want to know what we have been doing with our vehicles,” Mr. Ritchie told the authority board’s stakeholders committeemeeting Thursday.
The authority has hired more than 50 maintenance workers to help with sanitization, placed 40 dispensers with hand sanitizer throughout the system and is testing new cleaning technology it hopes to roll out in the near future.
The Port Authority also is looking at spending $130,000 on masks for its drivers. This as the agency faces a federal lawsuit for prohibiting union members from wearing masks that say “Black Lives Matter.”
When the masks started turning up on faces earlier this year, the agency began enforcing dress code restrictions banning social messaging.
Now, spokesman Adam Brandolph said, “[The policy] will say you must wear this mask as part of the uniform. They will be the only masks employees will be allowed to wear.”
The new masks will have four designs: plain black, plain navy, black with “Port Authority” printed on them, or black with “ATU” printed on them for the Amalgamated Transit Union.
Steve Palonis, president and business agent for ATU Local 85, said the hearing on the free speech issue is still scheduled for next month, but he sees the logic of the Port Authority’s latest step.
“As long as they provide the mask, I’m fine with [the policy],” he said. “They’ve got to be consistent. If they had done this from the beginning, there wouldn’t have been any problem.”
New tests arriving for care centers
You know how you look forward to that Amazon delivery of your new shoes? Well, imagine how happy the folks at Pennsylvania’s nursing homes and long-term care facilities are going to be when those new rapid COVID-19 tests arrive.
Staff writer Kris B. Mamula reported a quarter-million of the credit card-size antigen tests are on the way. The tests can detect the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19in 15 minutes.
The elderly and infirm are especially vulnerable to the virus.
“Priority will be given to counties with current outbreaks,” Michael Huff, testing and contact tracing director at the state Department of Health, said at a briefing Wednesday in Harrisburg.
The test cards, which cost $5 each, are being provided free to states by the federal government’s Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Rapid antigen tests are less accurate than the PCR test, which is considered the gold standard. But advocates say speed and low cost allow frequent testing to quickly identify an outbreak.
The weekly distribution of the tests will continue through Christmas.
To each according to their needs
Mayor Bill Peduto and the Urban Redevelopment Authority have launched an effort to revitalize business districts in some diverse city neighborhoods.
Staff writer Nick Trombola said the initiative, dubbed Avenues of Hope, aims to funnel investments to existing smallbusinesses and local residents in largely Black and other minority neighborhoods in order to support the continued growth of those communities.
“It is time to invest where the investment is needed,” Mr. Peduto said at a news conference Wednesday in Larimer. “And that investment needs to occur directly into neighborhoods, not through contractors or third parties.”
Avenues of Hope will focus on seven main streets — Homewood, Larimer, Centre, Perrysville, Chartiers and Warrington avenues and IrvineStreet in Hazelwood.
Tim McNulty, spokesman for Mr. Peduto’s office, said the new initiative will draw funding from several different sources, such as donations, grants and tax dollars.
This Bell will not be sounding on KDKA
You might have heard this news on the radio, but apparently you’re no longer going to hear Wendy Bell on the radio. At least, not on KDKA Radio.
Staff writer Lauren Lee reported Friday that Ms. Bell, who was removed from the air in early September for saying park rangers should shoot vandals on sight, will notbe returning.
Entercom, which owns the radio station, said it and Ms. Bell had mutually agreed to partways.
Of course, there’s always the Internet, where Ms. Bell posted a video in which she talked to her husband about “being fired for sharing conservative values.”
Ms. Bell was fired from WTAE-TV in 2016 after 18 years when she made comments deemed racist on her official Facebook page following a mass shooting in Wilkinsburg in which five adults and an unborn child were killed during a backyard cookout. Ms. Bell began working for KDKA-Radio in January2019.
“A lot of people don’t like honesty, and a lot of people sure as heck don’t like common sense conservative values, and for some reason in society today, if you espouse those values, particularly as a woman, you get a price to pay,” Ms. Bell said in her Facebook video.
You’re supposed to let us throw them away
Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds. Now, about those nine trash bags out by the curb...
That was the question on the minds of federal prosecutors who Wednesday charged two local mail carriers with delaying or destroying mail that was recovered from the trash.
Staff writer Torsten Ove reported one complaint charges Sean Troesch, 48, of Baldwin, and the other charges James McLenigan, 29, of Lawrenceville.
Mr. Troesch worked out of the Mount Oliver post office. Authorities said Mr. Troesch put nine trash bags out in front of his house for Monday pickup. Agents who had been tipped off said they found bundles of undelivered mail.
Mr. McLenigan worked out of the Bloomfield post office and his route included Lawrenceville. Likewise, authorities said, a tip led them to video recordings of Mr. McLenigan tossing mail — much of it political advertisements— into trash bins.
“During this election season, the integrity of the mails is more important than ever,” U.S. Attorney Scott Brady said in a statement Wednesday. “When any public employee, including a mail carrier, violates the law, we will respond quickly. These carriers each attempted to destroy mail, including both political advertisements and an application for a mail-in ballot. Anyone who would obstruct or delay United States mail that includes election-related materials should know that the Department of Justice will take quick, efficient action against them.”