Mark Scolforo, Author at The Rapid City Post

Buyers bid for holiday decorations at Buffalo Valley Produce Auction, Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025, in Mifflinburg, Pa. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Christmas tree retailers find lots to like at a Pennsylvania wholesale auction

November 23, 2025

Christmas went on the auction block this week in Pennsylvania farm country in the form of a giant Christmas tree sale. About 50,000 trees and a huge array of other seasonal items were bought and sold at the Buffalo Valley Produce Auction in Mifflinburg this week. Buyers from across the Northeast and mid-Atlantic were there to supply garden stores and other retail outlets. The Real Christmas Tree Board says the scent of real trees is a major draw for farm-grown trees. A trade group says more than 21 million farm-grown Christmas trees were sold in 2023, with median price of $75.

A building that formed part of the Carlisle Indian Industrial School campus is seen at U.S. Army's Carlisle Barracks in Carlisle, Pa., on Thursday, Sept. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Mingson Lau)

The remains and stories of Native American students are being reclaimed from a Pennsylvania cemetery

November 7, 2025

The latest round of exhumations of Native American students from a cemetery at the former Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania resulted in the remains of 17 students being repatriated to their families and tribes, the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma and the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma. Most details about the lives they lived are lost to history, but records offer glimpses into their experiences at Carlisle. That’s where 7,800 students from 100 tribes were sent as the U.S. government systematically and violently evicted Native Americans from their lands to seize them for white settlers. Several hundred people attended reburials in October, including relatives who shared family memories of their loved ones.

FILE - Headstones of Carlisle Indian Industrial School students are seen in the cemetery at the U.S. Army's Carlisle Barracks in Carlisle, Pa., on Friday, June 10, 2022. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum, File)

Native American boarding schools in the US, by the numbers

November 5, 2025

For much of the 19th and 20th centuries, the United States government and Christian denominations operated boarding schools where generations of Native American children were isolated from their families. Along with academics and hard work, the schools sought to erase elements of tribal identity, from language and clothing to hairstyles and even their names. The Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania, where the remains of 17 students were exhumed and repatriated in recent weeks, served as a model for other schools.

FILE - Voting booths are set up at a polling place in Newtown, Pa., Tuesday, April 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)

7 charged in 2024 Pennsylvania voter registration fraud that prosecutors say was motivated by money

October 24, 2025

A yearlong investigation into suspected fraudulent voter registration forms in Pennsylvania has led to criminal charges against six street canvassers and their leader. Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday said Friday the fraud was motivated by financial gain, not an attempt to influence election results. The man who led the drives in Pennsylvania is Guillermo Sainz. He is charged with illegally offering money to meet quotas. The six canvassers are charged with forgery and tampering with records. The investigation began in late October 2024 when election workers in one county flagged about 2,500 forms for potential fraud. The forms included all party affiliations.

This undated photo provided by the Philadelphia Police Department shows Kada Scott, 23, who has been missing since she stepped outside during her night shift at a nursing home on Oct. 4. (Philadelphia Police Department via AP)

Authorities say remains found in Philadelphia are of missing woman Kada Scott

October 20, 2025

Prosecutors in Philadelphia say remains found buried in a wooded area behind an abandoned school are those of Kada Scott, a 23-year-old woman who’d been missing for about two weeks. Police have said an anonymous tip led police back to the area they’d previously searched and they found the remains in a shallow grave. A 21-year-old man has been arrested and charged with kidnapping, stalking and other charges in Scott’s disappearance. Prosecutors say more charges against that suspect are being added.

Retired cardiologist Dr. Joe Bering teaches himself flute on the front porch of his cottage in the Campmeeting section of Mount Gretna, Pa., Wednesday, Aug. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Scolforo)

Pennsylvania’s Chautauqua is a summertime haven for lifelong learners

August 23, 2025

The central Pennsylvania town of Mount Gretna is a throwback to the period more than a century ago when the summertime get-togethers known as Chautauquas were practically a craze. They brought education, entertainment and a dose of religion to communities in the Northeast, across the Great Lakes, into Canada and beyond. These days the little mountain community that’s a two-hour drive west from Philadelphia springs to life every June, July and August. Its year-round population of about 1,000 more than doubles and its picturesque front porches become filled with energetic cottagers who punctuate their days with cooking lessons, nature walks, yoga, professorial lectures, music and plays.

Appalachian Trail thru-hiker Sam Cooper, trail name Pie Top, attempts the half-gallon ice cream challenge at Pine Grove Furnace State Park in Pennsylvania on Tuesday, June 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Mingson Lau)

Could you eat this much ice cream after walking 1,100 miles? Some Appalachian Trail hikers try

June 16, 2025

Midway up the Appalachian Trail, a little country store in Gardners, Pennsylvania, invites hikers to take on an additional challenge: eating a half-gallon of ice cream in one sitting. So far this year, about 50 thru-hikers have finished the challenge. Besides bragging rights, they earned a commemorative wooden spoon and the honor of having their photos posted on a store bulletin board. The record, set two years ago, is under 4 minutes. It took nearly 40 minutes for Sam Cooper to finish the challenge earlier this week. He called it “pure misery,” and added: “I don’t think anybody should be doing this. This is not healthy at all.”

Mark Scolforo.