Mark Brackenbury, Town&Gown

A recent vacation trip to St. Maarten gave me a renewed appreciation for University Park Airport. A 12-minute drive to the airport is a beautiful thing when you have a flight that leaves just after 6 in the morning. It’s hard to beat parking about 20 yards from the terminal and then breezing through…

One sure trait of an old-school journalist is a blunt way with words. Direct, economical, no pretense. And always looking to inform. That was Nadine Kofman’s style, and it was one of the things I enjoyed about working with her. Nadine, who passed away March 30 at the age of 75, wrote the…

In March, we celebrated some of the remarkable women who make Centre County such a great place to live. This month, some of the men who make this community special get their turn in the spotlight, beginning on page 60. It’s also a good time to meet the men in our office who –…

Some alarming data in 2015 from the Pennsylvania Youth Survey prompted the State College Area School District to take action.   According to anonymous responses, 40 percent of students in grade 12 reported feeling that “life wasn’t worth living.”  The district took steps including implementing universal screening to help confidentially identify at-risk…

Each March, we feature a special section in Town&Gown celebrating just some of the remarkable women of Centre County. Many of those highlighted naturally have high-profile positions, but we know that for each one of those outstanding women, there are many more doing great work, often behind the scenes. So, what better time…

I met my wife at a libel trial. Thankfully, neither of us was on trial. I was covering the case for a local newspaper in Connecticut, and Paula, a reporter at a different paper, had been called to testify. The introduction outside the courthouse was brief and our paths did not cross again…