Breaking News

Opinion

Nine Lessons from the Centre of the Commonwealth

Columns

The 250th anniversary of America’s independence prompts reflection on stories of national triumphs and historical moments. The true character of a nation, however, is not found only in capital cities or on battlefields; it is found in its most basic constitutive parts: local communities and the people from which they are composed. In reviewing the 250-year legacy of Centre County, we identified nine lessons that stand out as ways to be better individuals and community members. 1. Find the riches within Centre County is an educational hub and a powerhouse for technical ...

America, Land of Hope, at 250

Our View

America is the best nation in the world, producing countless famous people and great deeds, making world-leading innovations, producing many of the world’s most influential artists, entrepreneurs and leaders, containing an expansive set of cultures — and it’s all backed by assurances of personal freedom and the ability to be your best self. America is the worst nation in the world, built on a history of crimes against humanity: we violently executed Manifest Destiny, forced women and children to walk the Trail of Tears, brought Nazis into the fold with Operation Paperclip and ...

Beyond the Bicentennial

Columns

Editor’s Note: In celebration of America’s 250th birthday, we are rerunning a column written for the 200th, in 1976, by Express Editor Emeritus Rebecca Gross. They took great risks, those patriots of 200 years ago, who staked their future and their fortunes on the Declaration of Independence and the chance that a new nation could grow from a union of the 13 British colonies in America. They had faith and they had hope, but they had no promises of success. They did not know, as they signed the Great Declaration, and as they mobilized their puny strength to fight for freedom, whether ...

Dear Annie: We should vote on ideas, not physical likeness

Columns

MS NOW commentator Ali Velshi was not alone in complaining that women are “underrepresented” in Congress. It is true that women account for 51% of the U.S. population but only 29% of the House members. To which I say, “So what.” Basing the notion of fair representation on racial, gender or ethnic identity needs to be put in a folder — a paper folder stored in a dusty steel file cabinet. Most of us have additional identities — as electricians, teachers, environmentalists, grandparents, bus drivers, stock investors, union members. Who would represent me under this ...

Supreme Court upholds birthright citizenship, emphasizing the promise of equality in the Declaration of Independence

Columns

The Supreme Court on June 30, 2026, declared that universal birthright citizenship is protected by the citizenship clause of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, meaning that nearly all babies born in the United States automatically become American citizens, regardless of their parents’ immigration status. The ruling rejects President Donald Trump’s executive order, signed the first day of his second administration, which sought to end birthright citizenship for the children of parents present in the country illegally and for tourists visiting only temporarily. The high ...

Days of disgrace: America tells refugees to pound sand

Columns

“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,” reads the iconic welcome to the world’s oppressed inscribed on the Statue of Liberty. Emma Lazarus, the poet who penned those words, had herself helped Jewish refugees from the anti-Semitic pogroms of Eastern Europe who had fled to our shores in the late 19th century. As America’s 250th birthday approaches, it’s not untimely to consider her message. It has not only inspired hope for uncountable people desperately in need of it, but helped shape America’s proud, even lofty self-image as a refuge ...