News

In the spirit of Phileas Fogg, who managed to travel “Around the World in 80 Days” in the famous book by Jules Verne, an avid reader can explore country after country “in one day, just by visiting one building in Wilkes-Barre,” Lindsay Griffin-Boylan said.

Four days after the Confederate army bombed Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, S.C., that launched the American Civil War on April 12, 1861, 18-year-old Sylvester Dana Rhodes of Plains Township enlisted in the U.S. Union Army in Wilkes-Barre.

The best time of the year is fast approaching.

PITTSTON — The 42nd Pittston Tomato kicked off with the first of a four-day celebration on what is the unofficial end of summer before school begins everywhere.

LOS ANGELES — Erik Menendez was denied parole Thursday after serving decades in prison for murdering his parents with his older brother in 1989.

RODANTHE, N.C. — Hurricane Erin kicked up big waves Thursday along the mid-Atlantic coast and began a slow march out to sea after pelting North Carolina’s Outer Banks with strong winds and swells that flooded a few places on the barrier islands.

VILLANOVA — False reports of active shooters at Villanova University and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga on Thursday led to panic and temporary lockdowns at the two campuses as they kicked off their fall semesters.

Gracie Jane Sinclair and the Band perform at SOMA in Midtown Village on Thursday.

A version of this story first appeared in Talk of the Town — a daily newsletter from the State College regional bureau of Spotlight PA, an independent, nonpartisan newsroom dedicated to investigative and public-service journalism for Pennsylvania. Sign up at spotlightpa.org/newsletters/talkofthetown.