Every day for the past 60 days, I have written a column about what happened on this day 250 years ago in 1776. They are detailed, the moments are extraordinary, often heart racing, and I have learned so much that even as the history nerd that I am did not know.

I'd love to take you on that journey please check them out every day here: https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/4451487/on-this-day-george-washington-chased-demon-cannot-outrun/

OIL CITY- In less than a month The Derrick will be gone. Its passing will likely draw less attention than the possible closure of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 90 miles to the south, the 300 jobs recently cut at the Washington Post 300 miles away, or the 50 positions eliminated at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution 800 miles from here.

It is part of a crisis no one seems able to solve. Last year alone, more than 135 newspapers across the country shut their doors, the latest chapter in a two-decade decline. Since 2005, the number of newspapers published in the United States has fallen from 7,325 to fewer than 4,500.

Today’s front page of the Derrick featured a story on tempers flaring at a Sugarcreek Borough meeting, alongside coverage of township council sessions and local school board debates. It also included reporting on the everyday issues shaping life in the region — snow removal, flooding, road closures, and legislation in Harrisburg that could affect residents’ lives.

That kind of coverage will now disappear. So will the ability to speak truth to power. The power here may not be what it was in the 1870s, but someone still needs to hold water authorities, county commissioners, and school boards accountable — and soon, no one will be left to do it.

The Derrick’s reporting, research, and daily documentation of the oil industry became an essential source for Ida Tarbell, the famed muckraking journalist, as she chronicled the “oil wars” of the 1870s.

Tarbell, whose family life was affected by the domination of the industry because her father had been an independent oil man, is known by journalists for her 19-part series “The History of the Standard Oil Company,” published from November 1902 through October 1904 in McClure’s Magazine and published as a book in 1904.

Her work brought national attention to the untapped impact industrial monopolies would have on American businesses and was considered a catalyst to the Supreme Court’s decision to break up the Standard Oil monopoly. https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/op-eds/4449525/one-of-the-most-important-small-town-papers-of-the-industrial-age-closing/

GUYS One of my all-time favorite stories!

LAUREL HIGHLANDS, Pennsylvania — Andrea Rodi began Saturday morning with her boyfriend enjoying a mini-vacation in Stoystown; it was the final day of their weekend getaway spent traversing the Laurel Highlands Hiking Trail.

“We rented a cute little cabin near the Route 30 entrance to the trail and brought our snowshoes and cross-country skis and all of that, just to get outside and get away,” she said of the popular trail located four hours from her Chester County home.

Despite the dense snow on the trail and the 20-degree temperature outside, Saturday was a rare winter sunny day in Western Pennsylvania, Rodi said, and they were pumped to enjoy it: “We were out the day before when it was gray and a lot colder. So, because of the sun, 22 degrees felt like 80 degrees.”

She placed her cellphone in her vest pocket, and she then put her backpack on, and they started hiking.

“About a mile into the hike, I asked my boyfriend to open up my backpack because I wanted to take a couple pictures," she said.

He then unzipped everything and pulled out her vest. But there was no cellphone.

“It had vanished,” she said. She started questioning whether she'd even put it in there and wondered whether perhaps she had left it in her car after all.

They continued hiking another mile and a half, turned around, and walked back to the car. They still could not find it.

“At this point, I really felt like it's just somewhere in this car, and I can't locate it. And it was four o'clock, and we didn't have the Airbnb anymore, so we had a three-and-a-half-hour drive home,” she said.

As luck would have it, her boyfriend's cellphone wasn't working. That left her with no options to log into her Apple account and use the Find My iPhone service to locate the device.

Four hours later, she arrived home and logged into her iPad to start the search: “I thought for sure it was going to find it right outside my door in my car. And then, all of a sudden, the app starts moving all the way across the state to Route 30 in Somerset County.

“My boyfriend and I looked at the map really hard. And there it was, right by the creek where we had been rummaging through my pack. We debated on driving back out there, but the snowstorm was coming, and it was like 9:30 at night, so we decided we were going to drive out in the morning,” she said.

Rodi said that had this been a personal cellphone, she would have probably chalked up the loss and ordered a new one: “This was my work phone, and I felt a responsibility to do what I could to locate it.”

She decided to take one last long-shot chance and posted on the Laurel Highland Trail Facebook group she belonged to about the phone:

So I have a huge favor to ask!!! I lost my phone on trail today. I know exactly where it is because of find my phone —but I'm now home 4 hours away. If anyone is going out tomorrow -it's at mile marker 47 -about 100 ft either way. You'll prob see our foot prints of us entering packs etc. I'm offering a 200$ reward if found and mailed to me ! I realize it will prob be snowing in morning - so I know this is an absolute long shot —It's a work phone. Thanks. If storm wasn't coming I'd drive back out tomorrow.

Then, something magical happened. https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/a-lost-iphone-and-a-small-act-of-kindness-and-courage

What was heard in the middle of the country & resonated there was Jelly Roll being an example of a restored life, of a man who is grateful & in that grace shared his gift of redemption so that others know it is there for the taking for them too. https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columnists/4444749/jell-roll-faith-shined-grammys/

Rep. Chris Deluzio a western PA Democrat said he does not engage in “hunting people down” rhetoric & dehumanizing ICE saying he reserves throwing the phrase Nazis at actual Nazis.

He also said he does not want to defund ICE; he wants reform. Our interview:https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/4439818/deluzio-wants-ice-reforms-not-defunding/