Jim Thorpe continues to get national recognition for its small-town charm. The latest to recognize this Carbon County gem is Far & Wide, an online media company and travel site, which named the county seat community as the “coolest destination in Pennsylvania.”

In another survey by the same company, Jim Thorpe was listed as one of the top 100 destinations in the United States among communities with a population of fewer than 10,000 residents. With a population of about 4,600, Jim Thorpe is one of just two Pennsylvania communities to make the Top 100 list, coming in at number 69. The other is Doylestown, the Bucks County seat with a population of 8,300, which placed number 95.

Indicating why it chose Jim Thorpe, Far & Wide said that it is “colorful and quaint, with locals who treat visitors like family. Its location near the Lehigh Gorge State Park guarantees unbelievable views of mountains that change colors throughout the seasons, and Victorian houses are complemented by old trains that still operate for tourists, a thoroughly charming throwback touch.”

Including a “fun fact” for each of the communities chosen, Far & Wide said, “This is where Jim Thorpe, the first Native American to win an Olympic gold medal for the U.S., is buried - hence its memorable name.”

Local singing star passes away

I was saddened to learn of the death of Phyllis DeMilio Santo, a 1960 graduate of Summit Hill High School. She was one of the few area residents to ever have been signed to a major recording label contract. She was 80 and succumbed after a long illness.

As a youngster, she was a well-known regional performer who caught the eye of Coral Records executives. Performing under the stage name of Jill Whitney and managed by the late Summit Hill-born Richard “Richie” Lisella, who also directed the career of well-known London and Coral Records singer Teresa Brewer, she was featured on several Coral recordings, the most popular of which was “Tennessee Wig Walk,” recorded in 1953 when she was just 10 years old. The record, with Don Costa as musical director, achieved modest success nationally.

About four years later, she was signed by ABC Paramount where her most famous recording was “Rebel.” She performed on Bandstand with Bob Horn, American Bandstand with Dick Clark and also was a contestant on Ted Mack’s Original Amateur Hour. In addition to performing at many local venues, she also sang at Atlantic City’s famed Steel Pier. Her professional career was short-lived when she became a mother and devoted her energies to raising her three daughters and a son.

Oz spent $26M on campaign

Republican Dr. Mehmet Oz spent more than $26 million of his own funds in his unsuccessful effort to capture the U.S. Senate seat won last year by Democrat John Fetterman. Because of a 2022 U.S. Supreme Court ruling, Oz is still raising money and repaying himself with it. According to Congressional Record Roll Call, he has raked in $1.2 million so far this year. The ruling holds that while campaign contributions cannot be used by candidates or officeholders for personal expenses, this does not include loan repayments. The court sided with Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, in his lawsuit and rejected the previous $250,000 limit on the use of campaign contributions made after an election, for the sole purpose of repaying the candidate’s personal campaign loans. “Restricting the sources of funds that campaigns may use to repay candidate loans increases the risk that such loans will not be repaid in full, which, in turn, deters candidates from loaning money to their campaigns,” wrote Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. in his majority opinion.

Pa. Representatives back Trump

More than half of the Pennsylvania Republican Congressional delegation has endorsed former President Donald Trump for 2024. The number of Congressional seats has dropped from 18 to 17 after the state’s loss of a seat following the decennial census, leaving nine Democrats and eight Republicans. So far, five Republicans have said they are for Trump. Among them is Dan Meuser, whose 9th District includes Schuylkill County. The others and their districts are: Scott Perry (10th), John Joyce (13th), Gary Reschenthaler (14th) and Mike Kelly (16th). Meuser said he believes that five or six of the GOP candidates could do the job but liked Trump because he’d proven himself. Meuser called the four indictments that Trump is facing “politically motivated.”

Uncommitted so far are Brian Fitzpatrick (1st), Lloyd Smucker (11th) and Glenn Thompson (15th). Fitzpatrick, a moderate who represents a swing district based in Bucks County, said he couldn’t vote for Trump in 2016 after video surfaced of Trump using vulgar, aggressive language to describe women. Fitzpatrick said he didn’t vote for Trump in 2020. The two most well-known Republicans supporting Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, Trump’s closest rival for the nomination, are former Hazleton Mayor and ex-U. S. Rep. Lou Barletta and former U.S. Rep. Tom Marino, whose district at one point included part of the Times News area. Both are former Trump supporters.

Vaccination decline

The pushback on vaccinations associated with the COVID-19 pandemic has spilled over to parental decision-making about whether children entering kindergarten should be vaccinated for several childhood diseases that have been largely eliminated by large-scale immunization programs.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data show the percentage of children vaccinated against measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) declined nationally from about 95% in 2019-2020 to 94% in 2020-21 and to 93% in the 2021-22 school year, the last year for which data is available. Though the decrease is not dramatic, the CDC says about 250,000 school children nationwide are unprotected against MMR, diseases that had been all but eradicated for decades before vaccine hesitancy began in 2020.

By BRUCE FRASSINELLI|tneditor@tnonline.com

The foregoing opinions do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editorial Board or Times News LLC.