Salena Zito

Americans just love to be part of something bigger than themselves. Yes, we will fiercely defend our individualism. But we are also uniquely aspirational about what we can do together for the greater good. This is pretty much something that we do daily when no one is looking, but social media has placed our intuitive community gathering in the spotlight.

Mike Rowe’s “Build Freedom” joins a new federal push to fund skilled-trades training and fill defense and local jobs, starting in Texas, Michigan and Pennsylvan...

For decades, the story written about river towns in post-industrial Pennsylvania and Ohio, or places like Macomb County, Michigan, and the small communities outside of Fort Worth, Texas, has been one of decline. It is a familiar, weary Beltway narrative about the Rust Belt and the forgotten middle. But if you actually pull up a […]

The following is an installment of On This Day , a series celebrating America's 250th anniversary by following the actions of Gen.

By Salena Zito If you stand on the banks of the Monongahela River just south of Pittsburgh, you can still hear the echoes of an America that used to build things.

ALTOONA, Pennsylvania — In Virginia Lee Burton's classic children's book, Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel , Mulligan often boasted that his steam

When Vice President JD Vance was a child, he recalls riding with his Mamaw when Bonnie Vance accidentally drove up the opposite way on the on-ramp on Interstate 75 in Ohio

If you stand on the banks of the Monongahela River just south of Pittsburgh, you can still hear the echoes of an America that used to build things.

Salena Zito | Jul 14, 2026 The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Townhall.com.

DERRY TOWNSHIP, Pennsylvania — The mid-morning sun danced cleanly off the calm waters of Keystone Lake, casting a bright sheen over a scene that feels entirely unstuck from time.