There will be no “Wings over Pittsburgh” air show this year. The 911th Airlift Wing, the Air Force Reserve Command unit that hosts the annual event at Pittsburgh International Airport Air Reserve Station, has cancelled the show, which was set for mid June, due to the unit’s operational commitments and inadequate funding. “It was an extremely difficult decision,” said Col. Gordon Elwell Jr., 911th AW commander, in a March 2 release. He continued, “We looked at our current funding stream against our mission commitments and it just wasn’t possible.” The popular event normally attracts hundreds of thousands of people. The Lebanon Daily News reported March 3 that a contributing factor in the cancellation was the wing’s upcoming operational readiness inspection and the corresponding demands placed on it in preparation.
The Senate passed Republicans’ sweeping tax-and-spending package July 1 in a 51-50 vote, the culmination of a 27-hour marathon legislative session. The package—often called the reconciliation bill—includes a $150 billion package of defense funds that accounts for a significant portion of the money the Air Force and Space Force want…
