Latest news with #FrankBurns
Yahoo
12 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
PA House passes bill requiring American-made steel in tax-payer funded projects
HARRISBURG, Pa. (WHTM) — The Pennsylvania House of Representatives passed a bill Monday requiring American-made steel for all tax-payer funded projects. State law already requires government projects to use American-made steel. However, H.B. 1018 would extend this requirement to private entities receiving public funds or tax incentives. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now 'This is one way to bring back good-paying, family-sustaining jobs – by leveling the playing field for hardworking people and industries that were economically steamrolled by unfair competition,' said Rep. Frank Burns (D-Cambria), who sponsored the bill. The bill, which is a part of Burns' larger 'American Made Jobs Plan,' passed the House 200-2. It will now move to the Senate for concurrence. Mexican aluminum, steel exporters say sales in US down 63% due to tariffs The bill comes as tariffs have driven down the demand for foreign-made steel. In February, President Donald Trump ordered a 25% tariff on Mexican and Canadian steel and aluminum imports. Exporters of Mexican steel and aluminum said that has led to a 63% drop in sales to the United States. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Reuters
30-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Reuters
Loretta Swit, 'Hot Lips' Houlihan on 'M*A*S*H,' dies at 87
NEW YORK, May 30 (Reuters) - Loretta Swit, the Emmy Award-winning actress who played no-nonsense U.S. Army combat nurse Major Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan in the hit TV series "M*A*S*H" for more than a decade, died on Friday at the age of 87. Swit, a mainstay of one of the most successful and acclaimed series in U.S. television history, died at her home in New York City from what was suspected to be natural causes, her publicist, Harlan Boll, said. Swit earned two best supporting actress Emmys and 10 nominations for her role as "Hot Lips," the lusty, tough but vulnerable, patriotic Army career nurse in the series that ran from 1972-1983. As the only regular female character in the groundbreaking show set in the fictional 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital during the Korean War of the 1950s, "Hot Lips" endured the insults, pranks and practical jokes of the fun-loving male surgeons. The show's cast also included Alan Alda, Wayne Rogers, McLean Stevenson, Larry Linville, Mike Farrell, Harry Morgan, Gary Burghoff, David Ogden Stiers and Jamie Farr. Swit defined her role by playing a strong, determined, independent woman, who had input into the development and storyline of her character, including her split from her married lover Major Frank Burns, hilariously played by Linville, and her own wedding and divorce. She appeared in nearly all of the more than 250 episodes and the series finale, which was the most watched episode of any TV series in history when the show ended in 1983. The TV series was based on the real-life experiences of an Army surgeon, who penned the 1968 book "MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors," and on director Robert Altman's 1970 black comedy film of the same name. "While we were shooting, even from the very beginning, we were aware of how very special it was," Swit said about the series in a 2017 interview with Fox News. "The symbiosis, the camaraderie, the love and respect we had for each other." Loretta Swit was born on November 4, 1937, in Passaic, New Jersey. After finishing school, and against her strict parents' objections, she began training as an actress at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York. She worked as a stenographer while auditioning for roles. "The first thought I ever had in my head was being an actress. I can't remember ever not wanting to perform,' she told the Star magazine in a 2010 interview. The tall, blonde stage and TV star was a strict vegetarian and animal lover. She started her career in theater and appeared in guest roles in TV dramas such as "Gunsmoke," "Mannix," "Bonanza" and the original "Hawaii Five-O," before landing her signature role. Swit also originated the character of Detective Christine Cagney in the pilot for "Cagney & Lacey" but could not take on the role in the TV series because of her contract with "M*A*S*H". The actress made her Broadway debut in "Same Time, Next Year" in 1975. She performed in the musical "Mame" on tour and starred in the one-woman play "Shirley Valentine" more than 1,000 times over three decades. "Acting is not hiding to me, it's revealing. We give you license to feel," she said in an interview with the Star magazine in 2010. "That's the most important thing in the world, because when you stop feeling, that's when you're dead.' After "M*A*S*H" Swit appeared in TV movies, on game shows and on the stage and in films but she never found the same level of fame. She also devoted herself to animal rights and was a former spokesperson for the Humane Society of the United States. She married actor Dennis Holahan, who played a Swedish diplomat in an episode of "M*A*S*H," in 1983. The couple divorced in 1995 and had no children. Although "M*A*S*H" ended decades ago, Swit found new generations of fans through syndication of the series. "The show has never been off the air! A lot of people don't realize that," Swit told the Huffington Post in 2018. "I've seen it in Thailand, in Egypt ... It's a phenomenon."
Yahoo
17-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Train crashes, buying an elephant and other crazy stunts the Iowa State Fair once pulled
As the countdown to the Iowa State Fair continues on, now's the time to start planning your entries for the contests and competitions. From cow-chip throwing to homemade pies, from fine art photography to wine, there's something for everyone to enter for a chance to win the coveted Blue Ribbon. Check out how to participate at If you're worried about the economy and the Iowa State Fair this year, don't fret. More: Want to save money at the Iowa State Fair? Here are early deals for 2025 Back in the 1930s, deep in the Depression Era and way before safety regulations, fair employees had to stage bigger and bigger attractions to get people with less and less money in the gates. Thus, the great grandstand spectacle was born. Below are the stories behind five of our favorite spectacles, clipped from 1930s video shot by Frank Burns, Sr., the then-superintendent of the Varied Industries Building. The video has been archived and provided to the Des Moines Register by the State Historical Society of Iowa of Des Moines. The most famous fair-time spectacle ever was the Iowa State Fair elephant. Baby Mine — who, just for the record, was actually named simply Mine — was purchased by the State Fair and the Des Moines Register after crowd-sourcing nickels and dimes from Iowa's schoolchildren. Mine learned tricks and performed across the country as 'Iowa's pride and Joy' from 1929 to about 1942, always making a point to come back home in August for the Iowa State Fair. In her off-time, she lived in a climate-controlled stall on the fairgrounds. Mine's life had a tragic end, though, and she died in obscurity. Learn more about her rise to fame and fall to anonymity in this special Subscriber-exclusive story. Crashing various vehicles together was a big draw for the fair during the '30s, but the most infamous of these sorts of staged events was the collision of two steam-powered locomotives in 1932. Despite having also wrecked locomotives in 1896 and 1922, the 1932 crash took on an election theme by pitting a Herbert Hoover train against a Franklin Delano Roosevelt train. (Register reporting from the time is not clear on which train won, though in the actual election that fall, Iowan Hoover was defeated in a landslide by Roosevelt.) Traveling at about 50 miles per hour, the four engineers bailed just before the two trains hit each other head-on, hurling metal and wood into the crowd. More than 45,000 people had to be held back from getting too close to the crash site as fire spread from Roosevelt's engine to Hoover's, the Register reported. All of this was orchestrated by an Iowan (of course). Joseph S. Connolly became known as 'Head-On Joe' for his famous train-crashing performances, according to a biography titled 'The Man Who Wrecked 146 Locomotives.' 'Somewhere in the makeup of every normal person,' Connelly is quoted as saying in the book, 'there lurks the suppressed desire to smash things up.' 'As a historian, it kind of breaks my heart,' State Curator Leo Landis told me, 'because here you've got two steam-powered locomotives that, if they were around today, would just be priceless and there'd be museums that would love to have them, that, as a demonstration, get set up and crash into each other.' The smashing theme continued throughout the 1930s, but in 1937 the Iowa State Fair upped the ante by having Captain F.F. Frakes crash a speeding airplane into a house. About 60,000 people watched this climax to this fair's "Thrill Day," according to the Iowa State Fair archives, but the feat apparently made Frakes a wanted man. The house in tatters on the grandstand, Frakes barely escaped arrest for the stunt, State Fair lore says. In general, planes and air tricks of all sorts were draws for the fair. Even an appearance from the grand olde Register and Tribune autogiro (an airplane with windmill-like blades on the front), brought people out to the fairgrounds. With the Great War still in the memory of many older fairgoers, military-themed displays proved popular in the late 20s and 30s. In 1929, the fair staged an airplane dog fight of sorts. The culmination of the show was puncturing and capsizing a WWI anti-shrapnel balloon. And then there's the good old fun of a human cannonball. Wheeeeee! COURTNEY CROWDER, the Register's Iowa Columnist, traverses the state's 99 counties telling Iowans' stories. Her fair spectacle is seeing just how much food she can really eat. You can reach her at 515-284-8360 or ccrowder@ Follow her on Twitter @courtneycare. This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa State Fair: Remembering some of the fair's wildest stunts
Yahoo
11-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Train crashes, buying an elephant and other crazy stunts the Iowa State Fair once pulled
As the countdown to the Iowa State Fair continues on, now's the time to start planning your entries for the contests and competitions. From cow-chip throwing to homemade pies, from fine art photography to wine, there's something for everyone to enter for a chance to win the coveted Blue Ribbon. Check out how to participate at If you're worried about the economy and the Iowa State Fair this year, don't fret. More: Want to save money at the Iowa State Fair? Here are early deals for 2025 Back in the 1930s, deep in the Depression Era and way before safety regulations, fair employees had to stage bigger and bigger attractions to get people with less and less money in the gates. Thus, the great grandstand spectacle was born. Below are the stories behind five of our favorite spectacles, clipped from 1930s video shot by Frank Burns, Sr., the then-superintendent of the Varied Industries Building. The video has been archived and provided to the Des Moines Register by the State Historical Society of Iowa of Des Moines. The most famous fair-time spectacle ever was the Iowa State Fair elephant. Baby Mine — who, just for the record, was actually named simply Mine — was purchased by the State Fair and the Des Moines Register after crowd-sourcing nickels and dimes from Iowa's schoolchildren. Mine learned tricks and performed across the country as 'Iowa's pride and Joy' from 1929 to about 1942, always making a point to come back home in August for the Iowa State Fair. In her off-time, she lived in a climate-controlled stall on the fairgrounds. Mine's life had a tragic end, though, and she died in obscurity. Learn more about her rise to fame and fall to anonymity in this special Subscriber-exclusive story. Crashing various vehicles together was a big draw for the fair during the '30s, but the most infamous of these sorts of staged events was the collision of two steam-powered locomotives in 1932. Despite having also wrecked locomotives in 1896 and 1922, the 1932 crash took on an election theme by pitting a Herbert Hoover train against a Franklin Delano Roosevelt train. (Register reporting from the time is not clear on which train won, though in the actual election that fall, Iowan Hoover was defeated in a landslide by Roosevelt.) Traveling at about 50 miles per hour, the four engineers bailed just before the two trains hit each other head-on, hurling metal and wood into the crowd. More than 45,000 people had to be held back from getting too close to the crash site as fire spread from Roosevelt's engine to Hoover's, the Register reported. All of this was orchestrated by an Iowan (of course). Joseph S. Connolly became known as 'Head-On Joe' for his famous train-crashing performances, according to a biography titled 'The Man Who Wrecked 146 Locomotives.' 'Somewhere in the makeup of every normal person,' Connelly is quoted as saying in the book, 'there lurks the suppressed desire to smash things up.' 'As a historian, it kind of breaks my heart,' State Curator Leo Landis told me, 'because here you've got two steam-powered locomotives that, if they were around today, would just be priceless and there'd be museums that would love to have them, that, as a demonstration, get set up and crash into each other.' The smashing theme continued throughout the 1930s, but in 1937 the Iowa State Fair upped the ante by having Captain F.F. Frakes crash a speeding airplane into a house. About 60,000 people watched this climax to this fair's "Thrill Day," according to the Iowa State Fair archives, but the feat apparently made Frakes a wanted man. The house in tatters on the grandstand, Frakes barely escaped arrest for the stunt, State Fair lore says. In general, planes and air tricks of all sorts were draws for the fair. Even an appearance from the grand olde Register and Tribune autogiro (an airplane with windmill-like blades on the front), brought people out to the fairgrounds. With the Great War still in the memory of many older fairgoers, military-themed displays proved popular in the late 20s and 30s. In 1929, the fair staged an airplane dog fight of sorts. The culmination of the show was puncturing and capsizing a WWI anti-shrapnel balloon. And then there's the good old fun of a human cannonball. Wheeeeee! COURTNEY CROWDER, the Register's Iowa Columnist, traverses the state's 99 counties telling Iowans' stories. Her fair spectacle is seeing just how much food she can really eat. You can reach her at 515-284-8360 or ccrowder@ Follow her on Twitter @courtneycare. This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa State Fair: Remembering some of the fair's wildest stunts
Yahoo
10-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Rep. Burns, Cambria County officials at odds over ballots for primary
EBENSBURG, Pa. – The Cambria County Board of Elections has approved a slate of elections custodians and workers ahead of the May 20 municipal primary election. The nearly 30 election workers approved Thursday will receive stipends of $85 to $150 for their work at the courthouse on election night – the range depends on how long they are scheduled to work, the elections board said. However, state Rep. Frank Burns, D-East Taylor Township, issued a press release stating the county has yet another election issue. He said he received a phone call from Pennsylvania Department of State Secretary Al Schmidt on Thursday morning, informing him that Cambria County misprinted its ballots for the May 20 primary. Burns said he was told the order of judicial race candidates presented on the ballots was incorrect, that the 'State Department flagged the problem a month ago' and that 'the county ignored that notice and plowed ahead with misprinted ballots, which have already been mailed to voters.' 'The county commissioners need to take action,' Burns said. 'They can no longer hide from the failures of the election mishaps on their watch.' Speaking on behalf of the county commissioners, Cambria County Solicitor Ronald Repak issued an email saying Burns' claims are partially false. It is correct that the only two names listed under the Republican state judge race were in the reverse order for the mail-in ballots sent out prior to May 6, Repak's email said. However, the county's elections director, Nicole Burkhardt, made contact with the Department of State to alert them to the mail-in ballot issue and seek guidance – not the other way around, Repak's email said. 'The Cambria County director of elections reached out to the Department of State to let them know of the inverted names on the Republican state judge race mail-in ballots and was told to segregate those mail-in ballots to ensure they are properly marked and scanned,' Repak's email said. The problem was rectified in 24 hours, he said. 'We want to be clear, the Cambria County Director (of elections) found that two names were inverted on the state judge race for the mail-in ballots only,' he said. ' ... We appreciate that the County Elections Department did not wait, but took swift action to correct it. Any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the Elections Department.' Moreover, the precinct ballots for election day are correct, he said. 'Additionally, for this May primary, the County will be testing the actual precinct ballots before disbursement to the precincts to avoid the issue related to the previous election,' Repak said in his statement. As for the approved election workers, their duties include collecting materials from polling places, counting mail-in ballots and working with ballots delivered by truck on election night, according to the elections board – a board that is composed of the Cambria County commissioners. In addition, county elections office staff said it has hundreds of elected inspectors and clerks are set to work at local voting precincts across the county. Somerset County Voter Registration and Elections Director Tina Pritts said Somerset's 230 local election workers are also preparing for election night. She said there will be 15 county employees who handle the ballots at the courthouse on election night. Pritts expects lower voter turnout for the upcoming municipal election compared to the last election in November, in which voters turned out in droves to elect the United States President and congress members. Cambria County experienced a unique problem during the last election: the county's voting systems malfunctioned. Ballots that couldn't be scanned due to a printer error were collected by Cambria County sheriff's deputies and hand-delivered to the courthouse where they were hand-counted with poll watchers from both parties present. However, as the municipal primary approaches, the county's voting machines – and the election-day paper ballots – have been tested for accuracy and dependability, Repak said. Repak said the county commissioners and elections office have taken steps to prevent a repeat problem. 'We are doing everything we can to make sure it's tight for May and November elections,' he said.
