Hits and Misses
Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
Assistant sports editor Joe Tuscano is retiring after almost 43 years with the Observer-Reporter.
Mike Jones/Observer-Reporter
This former horse farm at 65 Fischer Road in South Strabane Township, which is currently owned by Bass Pro Shops, is under consideration to be purchased by Champion Center Enterprises LLC and converted into a co-working office space.
HIT: When Joe Tuscano first entered the newsroom at the Observer-Reporter, Jimmy Carter was still president, “The Empire Strikes Back” and “Caddyshack” were in movie theaters, Paul McCartney’s “Coming Up” and Billy Joel’s “It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me” were topping the charts and the most recent winners of a World Series were the Pittsburgh Pirates. Almost 43 years after he started his career at the O-R, Tuscano is retiring. Throughout his long tenure at the newspaper, there have been tremendous changes in the media landscape, both in the region and nationally, but Tuscano has been reliably dedicated and versatile. He has covered everything from University of Pittsburgh football to high school track and field, with high school wrestling being a particular specialty. Readers have been served well by Tuscano’s efforts, and the time he will have for relaxation is richly deserved.
MISS: On Tuesday, supervisors in South Strabane heard a proposal to develop land on Fischer Road into a co-working office space by a local company affiliated with the Champion Center, which has nondenominational churches in Washington and Canonsburg. The Champion Center had previously tried to develop the property for a tax-exempt church in an area zoned for commercial purposes, but the proposal was withdrawn. Now, an entity calling itself Champion Center Enterprises, LLC, has come forward with a plan to build a co-working office space at the site. Though a vote on the plan was not taken, supervisors seemed justifiably skeptical. South Strabane’s planning commission has already given it a thumbs down. Then, the developers are proposing that 281 parking spaces be put in place for a facility that would, in theory, only serve somewhere around 30 people at any given time. Then, the developer who spoke to the board was Johnny Miller, the brother of Champion Center co-founder and pastor Nathan Miller. But Miller told the board that he did not know who the owner was when asked, and would also not answer whether he was, in fact, Nathan Miller’s brother. Just what are the Champion Center’s intentions? The South Strabane board and the township’s residents are right to wonder.
MISS: In case you are one of approximately five people who have not yet been made aware, actor and lifestyle maven Gwyneth Paltrow has lately been a defendant in a Utah courtroom. She’s being sued by a retired optometrist who claims that Paltrow crashed into him and fled on a ski slope seven years ago, causing a brain injury, broken ribs and emotional distress. Izzy Ampil of BuzzFeed News wrote, “The whole thing is blissfully ridiculous. This trial exists in a privileged bubble where grown adults can’t hash out their resort squabbles without getting litigious about it.” The question, though, is why the media, particularly television news, has paid so much attention to something that is so “blissfully ridiculous.” Twists and turns in the trial have been breathlessly reported on during the nightly newscasts of the three major networks, and at least one cable news network preempted its regular programming to carry Paltrow’s testimony. But this is hardly the O.J. Simpson trial redux – it’s a civil suit. More importantly, though, what stories are not getting time and space that are of greater importance in the long run? What would Walter Cronkite have thought?