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We've seen so many traditional summer events here at home canceled because of the pandemic. Now, one of the area's more popular ethnic heritage festivals is announcing some big changes for this year. The Saint Paul's Italian Festival typically brings huge crowds to Erie's Little Italy neighborhood. This year's edition is set for August 7 through 9....

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“I hope and trust that this monument will be the means to bring in touch the people of Italy and that of America.” It was with these words that Frank Carlucci, master sculptor and president of the Christopher Columbus Monument Association, presented the Columbus monument that stands on Scranton’s Courthouse Square to the city on October 21, 1892 du...

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Philadelphia officials said Monday that there are no plans to remove a statue of Christopher Columbus from Marconi Plaza. The announcement was issued after a weekend of sometimes tense moments between protesters who defended Columbus as a symbol of Italian American culture, and counter-protesters who argued that the statue represents oppression. Ba...

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The killing of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis has renewed protests over statues that many people say glorify racist or genocidal figures in American history. In Philadelphia, the statue of former Mayor Frank Rizzo was taken down in the middle of the night after protesters tried to topple it during protests. In South Philadelphia, protesters...

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The base of a second monument honoring Christopher Columbus is being hidden from view while its future is debated after the explorer became a focus of protesters in Philadelphia amid nationwide demonstrations following George Floyd's death in Minnesota. The Delaware River Waterfront Corporation said the monument at Penns Landing on the Delaware Riv...

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There is a renewed push to remove a Christopher Columbus statue in Lancaster, and County Commissioner Craig Lehman is spearheading the movement following nationwide protests surrounding racial inequality. Cities, states, and municipalities across the country have removed similar statues. “My thinking was that this would bring about a necessary nati...

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Columbus statues have been pulled down all over the country.  He’s the trending symbol of hatred, of oppression, of racism and bigotry, so the good and tolerant folk who hate the things they think he did (according to Howard Zinn and other hostile biographers) have been exorcising his spirit by vandalizing his image. In most cities, they’ve been su...

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Thirty years ago, the Senator John Heinz History Center embarked on a mission to preserve and interpret the history of Italian migrants that settled in Western Pennsylvania. The initiative began at the encouragement of Italian American community leaders who sought to recognize the legacy of Italian immigrants in the region. They discussed funding a...

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Workers covered a Philly statue of Christopher Columbus with wood Tuesday morning after three straight days of heated gatherings around it, and as statues of the 15th-century explorer are coming down around the country. Images from SkyForce 10 showed the Columbus statue in Marconi Plaza surrounded by trucks and workers from the Streets Department,...

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Wilkes-Barre city council members weighed in Monday on whether a monument honoring Christopher Columbus should be removed from Public Square after it was vandalized for the second time in three days. Council members who responded to inquiries were split on whether the 10,000-pound, 7-foot-tall monument should be removed, as requested in an online p...

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