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Completing the picture

There is a story in today’s paper that we wanted to call attention to, on page B4: “Trump wants to undo diversity programs. Some agencies react by scrubbing US history and culture.”

The story covers, in part, the short-lived removal of information about the Tuskegee Airmen after President Trump’s DEI executive order.

Go ahead, read it. We’ll wait.

You’re back? Alright.

The key thing about this story that we want to highlight is that the original story broke a week ago, right after Trump took office. As the story notes, the move was “swiftly rescinded after a bipartisan outcry.”

Those in the area who are World War II or aviation buffs — we know there are a bunch of you — likely know the significance of the Tuskegee Airmen, and it is crucial to our history and culture that we remember American heroes like them. For the rest of you, it’s a fun Wikipedia dive for a rainy day.

We weren’t able to get this story in the paper when the news first broke that the Tuskegee Airmen would no longer be taught.

There was a story in the Tuesday, Jan. 28 paper that mentioned that the subject had been temporarily suspended before being reinstated — but that was the best we could do at the time.

We don’t often hear feedback from readers, but lately, we have been hearing that we simultaneously have too much on Trump and also too little — depending on who is telling us.

Believe it or not, we are sensitive to both viewpoints.

Informing our readers is our most important responsibility, and we take it very seriously.

Local news is the highest priority for us, and we will always put it before all but the most earth-shattering events. You can find out about what famous figures are doing from any major outlet — but they don’t cover Keystone Central, our various township supervisors or the county commissioners, for example.

For the state and national level news, we lean on Associated Press content to try to make sure that the most significant events are covered, as The Express has done for decades, long before the current staff were even born.

We — your editorial team, who, to be clear, live and work in the area — select those stories to try to give readers the most complete picture of what’s going on that we can provide in the space we have available. Even then, though, we try to focus on things that could affect the people living in this area.

Trump and his administration have been doing so many things worth covering, though, that we can’t always manage to hit it all. Things have and will fall through the cracks, and sometimes the news changes overnight between when the paper is printed and it reaches your mailbox. Regardless, if you want to be informed about what’s going on, we strive to make sure you can be.

At the same time, we want to make sure that there are things in the paper for those of you who are just plain tired of hearing about Trump this and Trump that. To that end, we select content that we find interesting — and hope you agree — across a wide variety of topics. Some of us remember classes in school where we would need to write reports about articles in the paper, and we want to continue that legacy.

Above all, though, we are committed to our communities. As The Express nears our 144th birthday, in just under a month, we remain steadfast in our fight to provide you with the most comprehensive coverage we can manage.

There’s an awful lot going on right now. The world is changing around us, and whether it’s for the better or for the worse is up to your interpretation.

What we hope is clear, though, is that we take our legacy and the duty of our mission seriously.

Some of you may not always like or agree with what we publish — but as long as you are informed or intrigued, we are doing our jobs.

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