Pennsylvania
In swing state Pennsylvania, middle class struggles to get by
The giant steelworks that greets visitors to Allentown, Pennsylvania once symbolized the city’s success as an industrial hub. Today, its middle-class residents struggle to overcome the long-term impacts of post-pandemic inflation.
Purchasing power is one of the main themes of the US presidential election, and a thorn in the side of Democrats — especially in this Rust Belt battleground state, which could be one of a handful to decide who wins the White House in November.
“Inflation has come down tremendously,” said Bill Leiner, a 70-year-old nurse and volunteer for the Democratic Party, which seems to be coalescing behind Vice President Kamala Harris after Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the race.
“However, there are many people… who don’t believe that, because there’s a right-wing echo chamber pumping out disinformation,” Leiner told AFP, explaining he even has to help his own family members separate truth from fiction.
When a loved one complained about the high price of eggs, Leiner explained it was the result of a bird flu epidemic, not government policy, and advised the person to buy the store’s brand, instead of a name brand product, to save money.
“I’ve amended my habits. I keep an eye on prices. I look at what I do, at my budget,” he said.
Matthew Kayes, who was exiting a Whole Foods supermarket with his family, said he too had changed up his shopping habits, buying different products from different suppliers.
Kayes even goes straight to local farms in the region dotted with green hills, where “the prices are generally cheaper and, we find, the produce is better.”
Accountant Tamy Ferry said she watches her budget, but still buys what she likes, even if prices are higher.
“Occasionally, I stay away from certain things, or I wait until they go on sale, but I do shop at various stores,” Ferry said.
– More visitors at food pantries –
On Friday, all eyes will be on new inflation figures from the US government. May data showed that goods prices had cooled slightly — good news for both consumers and Democrats keen to overcome voter hesitation about their economic record.
In Allentown, residents are considered middle class if their households earn between $37,300 and $112,000 a year. Even then, some have had to turn to food pantries.
“For the last two years, we saw almost a doubling of the people showing up in our food pantry every single day,” said J. Marc Rittle, the executive director of New Bethany, a nonprofit that helps those facing economic and social hardship.
According to Rittle, more and more of the newcomers visiting New Bethany are middle class.
“Housing costs have skyrocketed, so people have to choose between paying their rent or buying food,” he said, explaining those coming to the pantry are looking for a “complement” to the food they can afford on their own.
“We don’t refuse anyone,” Rittle said — even those whose salaries exceed the level suggested by the federal Feeding America program.
He said he noticed that more Allentown residents started having trouble when the financial aid programs launched during the coronavirus pandemic expired.
At that same moment, the war in Ukraine sent oil prices soaring, which translated into an overall jump in the cost of daily necessities.
The annual inflation rate has certainly fallen, from a high of 9.5 percent in June 2022 to an average of 2.6 percent in recent months.
“A slowdown in inflation is still an increasing rate of the cost of living, so that doesn’t help at all. It’s just not going up as much as before,” Rittle said.
“We would have to return to a lower cost of living.”
– ‘Modest and incremental’ –
Al Jacobsen, executive director of Allentown’s 1,000-seat Miller Symphony Hall, also counts on the assistance of others to keep his budget out of the red.
He struggles to balance higher operating costs and salaries with the impossibility of raising ticket prices without seeing a hit on attendance, among patrons who face tough choices about how to spend the little disposable income they have.
He also says he has created new ticket categories and launched subscription incentives, but has been unable to book some artists whose fees have soared.
“We are not an essential service like food or shelter, so we’re limited in how much we can increase without affecting the demand,” Jacobsen said.
“Our increases have been modest and incremental.”
elm/sst/mlm
LANCASTER COUNTY, Pa. (WHP) — Pennsylvania State Police is investigating an incident in Salisbury Township on Saturday.
Lancaster County dispatch confirmed that troopers were called to the 4900 block of Strasburg Road for an incident that was reported around 11 a.m.
Fire and EMS was called to the area but have since been cleared, dispatch said.
This is a developing story. CBS 21 is working to learn more.
Pennsylvania
What’s old is new again in Pennsylvania as the Penguins and Flyers renew a long-simmering rivalry
PITTSBURGH, Pa. — Sidney Crosby would not take the bait, even though the smile on his face and the gleam in his eye hinted that maybe the Pittsburgh Penguins captain kind of wanted to.
Told that Philadelphia Flyers coach Rick Tocchet – an assistant with the Penguins when Pittsburgh won back-to-back Stanley Cups in 2016 and 2017 – knew his current team was going to have to “get after” Crosby and longtime running mates Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang when the cross-state rivals open their first-round series on Saturday night, Crosby just grinned.
“I mean, to be expected, what else can you expect me to say?” the 38-year-old future Hall of Famer said with a small laugh. “We’re all out there competing. We all are after the same thing. That’s how it works.”
Technically, that’s how it always seems to work whenever the Flyers and Penguins get together, regardless of circumstance. Things only figure to be ramped up considerably during the eighth – and perhaps most unlikely – playoff meeting between two teams separated by 300 miles geographically and considerably more in terms of postseason success.
The three Cups that Crosby has won during his 21-year career are one more than the Flyers have in the franchise’s nearly six-decade history, and yes some are still keeping track of Philadelphia’s long nuclear winter since its last championships.
The chances of either club being the last one standing when NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman hands the Cup to the victors in early June are slim. Oddsmakers put the resurgent Penguins in the middle of the pack to win it all, while the Flyers – who needed a 14-4-1 sprint to the finish to return to the postseason for the first time since 2020 – are among the longest shots in the 16-team field.
Not that any of that will matter when the puck is dropped and the venom that has long defined the contentious relationship between the clubs bubbles back up to the surface.
That venom on Philadelphia’s side has long been targeted at Crosby, who has beaten the Flyers three times in four playoff meetings, with the one loss coming during a frantic six-game series in 2012. Almost all the faces from those teams are gone.
Except, of course, for perhaps the most important one. Crosby, the only player in NHL history to average a point a game in 21 straight years, remains a threat and highly motivated by the return to the playoffs following a three-year absence.
“We have a ton of respect for Sid,” Tocchet said. “He’s an unbelievable person and player. But we’ve got to get him in the ditches right? We’ve got to make it hard on him.”
A long-awaited debut
Rasmus Ristolainen’s agonizing wait to feel the vibe of playoff hockey is over.
The Flyers defenseman will make the first postseason appearance of his 13-year, 820-game career when he hops over the boards at PPG Paints Arena on Saturday night.
Ristolainen’s wait before his playoff debut is the third-longest in NHL history. The 31-year-old even played in the Olympics before a postseason game. He won a bronze medal in February while playing for Team Finland at the 2026 Milan Cortina Games.
“Just really excited to play meaningful games this time of year,” said Ristolainen, who played in just 44 games this season while battling elbow injuries. “It’s been a really, really fun last month or so.”
Skinner or Silovs?
First-year Pittsburgh coach Dan Muse has flip-flopped between goaltenders Stuart Skinner and Arturs Silovs since the Penguins acquired Skinner in a trade with Edmonton in December.
Whether that will continue in the postseason is anybody’s guess. Skinner has a decided advantage over Silovs in playoff experience, having backstopped Edmonton to consecutive Cup appearances in 2024 and 2025.
Yet Muse has kept his thoughts close to the vest, and statistically speaking, Silovs and Skinner posted nearly identical numbers, none of them particularly great. Silovs finished the year with a .887 save percentage and a 3.07 goals against average while Skinner had a slightly worse save percentage (.885) and a slightly better goals against (2.99).
“We’re looking at all factors,” Muse said. “As I’ve said multiple times, I think both guys have been great for us. Both guys are a big part of why we’re here today preparing for Game 1.”
What’s old is new again
Philadelphia forward Sean Couturier has played for the Flyers for so long that he was actually teammates with his boss, general manager Danny Briere.
Couturier was once a key cog during a previous rebuilding phase in Philadelphia, back when he was the eighth overall pick in the 2011 draft. Couturier made his debut that season and has largely remained a steady presence in the lineup – save for back injuries that cost him the 2022-2023 season – and is the only Flyer still around from the franchise’s last home playoff series victory against, yes, the Penguins in 2012.
Couturier, Travis Sanheim and Travis Konecny are the only three Flyers on the roster to have played in a home playoff game, back in 2018.
“We were for a lot of years kind of in the middle, competing hard,” said Courtier, who had 12 goals and 24 assists this season. “We had some good teams. Just always missing a little something to get to the next step. I think it was maybe time to take a step back and rebuild. I’m just glad with how everything’s gone, honestly.”
___
AP Sports Writer Dan Gelston in Philadelphia contributed to this report.
Copyright © 2026 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
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