The LuLac Edition #4, 887, January 7th, 2023

 MEDIA MATTERS

POSTPONED: Keystone Edition: Meet Your Congressmen

Due to the ongoing vote for Speaker of the House in Washington, the previously announced Keystone Edition Reports “Meet Your Congressmen” taping for Sunday, January 8th at the WVIA public media studios in Pittston has been postponed. Stay tuned to wvia.org and WVIA's social media channels on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to be the first to know when the new date is announced. We apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for your continued support of WVIA.       WHEN FRANCO CAME TO TOWN   Last week the death of Steeler great Franco Harris was met with stunned sadness. Passing away days before the 50th anniversary of The Immaculate Reception made it even gloomier. The news brought back a memory that sent me on a wild chase to unearth photos in the LuLac archives from decades ago. During the 1980 campaign for United States Senator, Joseph Rhoades was running against Pittsburgh Mayor Peter Flaherty, former Congressman Ed Mezvinsky who moved here from the Midwest, C. Delores Tucker and an entire group of lesser-known candidates. Harris was in town to boost the State Senator’s campaign accompanied by the candidate’s wife Linda who would later become the Secretary of Aging under the Casey administration. The event attracted a lot of people who came to hear Harris. Keep in mind this was on the heels of 4 Steeler Super Bowl wins. A classmate of mine from high school armed with a football for Franco to sign and here we are with one unidentified guy I can’t remember. From left to right, Michael Smith, Linda Rhodes, Franco, me in what can only be charitably called a mullet/afro gone wild and the other gentleman. I was handing Franco and Mrs. Rhoades something in writing (can’t recall) but that’s how we met Franco. Rhodes lost the Senate race to Flaherty who ran for the Senate twice before in losing battles. The Pittsburgh Mayor lost in the General to Arlen Specter who served into the next entury.