Pennsylvania
Ukraine's Zelenskyy visits Pennsylvania ammunition plant to thank workers and ask for more
SCRANTON, Pa. — Under extraordinarily tight security, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday visited the Pennsylvania ammunition factory that is producing one of the most critically needed munitions for his country’s fight to fend off Russian ground forces.
Rep. Matt Cartwright, a Democrat who was among those who met with Zelenskyy at the Scranton Army Ammunition Plant, said the president had a simple message: “Thank you. And we need more.”
The Scranton plant is one of the few facilities in the country to manufacture 155 mm artillery shells and has increased production over the past year. Ukraine has already received more than 3 million of them from the U.S.
Zelenskyy’s visit kicked off a busy week in the United States as he works tirelessly to shore up support for Ukraine in the war. He will speak at the U.N. General Assembly annual gathering in New York on Tuesday and Wednesday and then travel to Washington for talks on Thursday with President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.
The area around the ammunition plant had been sealed off since Sunday morning, with municipal garbage trucks positioned across several roadblocks and a very heavy presence of city, regional and state police, including troopers on horseback.
As Zelenskyy’s large motorcade made its way to the ammunition plant in the afternoon, a small contingent of supporters waving Ukrainian flags assembled nearby to show their appreciation for his visit.
“It’s unfortunate that we need a plant like this, but it’s here, and it’s here to protect the world,” said Vera Kowal Krewson, a first-generation Ukrainian American who was among those who greeted Zelenskyy’s motorcade. “And I strongly feel that way.”
She said many of her friends’ parents have worked in the ammunition plant, and she called Zelenskyy’s visit “a wonderful thing.”
Laryssa Salak, 60, whose parents also immigrated from Ukraine, also said she was pleased Zelenskyy came to thank the workers. She said it upsets her that funding for Ukraine’s defense has divided Americans and that even some of her friends oppose the support, saying the money should go to help Americans instead.
“But they don’t understand that that money does not directly go to Ukraine,” Salak said. ”It goes to American factories that manufacture, like here, like the ammunition. So that money goes to American workers as well. And a lot of people don’t understand that.”
The 155 mm shells made in the Scranton plant are used in howitzer systems, which are towed large guns with long barrels that can fire at various angles. Howitzers can strike targets up to 15 miles to 20 miles (24 kilometers to 32 kilometers) away and are highly valued by ground forces to take out enemy targets from a protected distance.
With the war now well into its third year, Zelenskyy has been pushing the U.S. for permission to use longer range missile systems to fire deeper inside of Russia.
So far he has not persuaded the Pentagon or White House to loosen those restrictions. The Defense Department has emphasized that Ukraine can already hit Moscow with Ukrainian-produced drones, and there is hesitation on the strategic implications of a U.S.-made missile potentially striking the Russian capital.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned that Russia would be “at war” with the United States and its NATO allies if they allow Ukraine to use the long-range weapons.
At one point in the war, Ukraine was firing between 6,000 and 8,000 of the 155 mm shells per day. That rate started to deplete U.S. stockpiles and drew concern that the level on hand was not enough to sustain U.S. military needs if another major conventional war broke out, such as in a potential conflict over Taiwan.
In response the U.S. has invested in restarting production lines and is now manufacturing more than 40,000 155 mm rounds a month, with plans to hit 100,000 rounds a month.
Two of the Pentagon leaders who have pushed that increased production through — Doug Bush, assistant secretary of the Army for acquisition, logistics and technology and Bill LaPlante, the Pentagon’s top weapons buyer — were expected to join Zelenskyy at the plant. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, also joined the Ukrainian president.
The 155 mm rounds are just one of the scores of ammunition, missile, air defense and advanced weapons systems the U.S. has provided Ukraine — everything from small arms bullets to advanced F-16 fighter jets. The U.S. has been the largest donor to Ukraine, providing more than $56 billion of the more than $106 billion NATO and partner countries have collected to aid in its defense.
Even though Ukraine is not a member of NATO, commitment to its defense is seen by many of the European nations as a must to keep Putin from further military aggression that could threaten bordering NATO-member countries and result in a much larger conflict.
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Copp reported from Washington.
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.
Pennsylvania
Western Pennsylvania man takes Terrible Towel to Mount Everest as tribute to late friend
The Pittsburgh Steelers’ Terrible Towel is a symbol of celebration known around the world, but it was recently taken to new heights.
Allen Dean, a Steelers fan from Sewickley, recently took a Terrible Towel with him as he climbed Mt. Everest.
“I had to show myself that I can do whatever I set my mind to,” says Dean, who spoke with KDKA-TV’s Barry Pintar after his climb from Pokhara, Nepal, near Mt. Everest. “By doing that, I was an example to my kids that, through all the hardships our family has gone through, if you put your mind to something, you can do it, and if it is something as big as Everest, whatever it is, that if you put your mind to it, you can do it.”
Allen says a man called “Big Mike” was a long-time father figure who died a few months ago. His window gave Allen Big Mike’s Terrible Towel. It was then, by way of tribute, that an idea was born.
“She asked me, ‘Allen, would you be able to take the terrible towel to Everest if you make it?’ I said, ‘Absolutely, for Big Mike, anything,’” Dean recalled. “Big Mike was like my last father figure that I had around, so it meant a lot to me to just bring peace. It just meant a lot to me to finalize the loss of such a male role model in my life.”
Allen says he trained vigorously for this climb, often spending weekends taking his kids to hike just about every regional state park imaginable.
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