AAA projects 43.8 million travelers will head 50 miles or more from their homes over the Memorial Day holiday travel period*. This year’s total number of travelers is a 4% increase over last year and comes close to matching 2005’s record of 44 million Memorial Day travelers.

“Long holiday weekends like Memorial Day are the perfect way to kick off the summer travel season and Americans will be traveling in record-breaking numbers this year,” said Bevi Powell, senior vice president, AAA East Central. “Whether it’s a family road trip, a luxury cruise, or a train trip across New England, travelers are making choices that will ensure they have the trip of a lifetime.”

Road trips are expected to set a record. AAA projects 38.4 million people will travel by car over Memorial Day weekend, the highest number for the holiday since AAA began tracking in 2000. The number of drivers this year is up 4% compared to last year and is 1.9% higher than in 2019. Traveling by car is appealing for many people because of its convenience and flexibility. AAA car rental partner Hertz said Orlando, Denver, Atlanta, Boston and Las Vegas are the cities displaying the highest rental demand, with the busiest pickup days projected to be Thursday, May 23 and Friday, May 24.

Mid-Atlantic Region Memorial Day Forecast Highlights:
*Region includes New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania.

This Memorial Day weekend drivers can expect similar gas prices as last year when the national average was roughly $3.57. Pump prices rose this spring but have held steady in recent weeks. Prices might creep higher as the summer-driving season gets underway. The wildcard remains the cost of oil. Wars in the Middle East and Ukraine could cause concern in the oil market.

Airports are bracing for a spike in travelers. AAA expects 3.51 million air travelers this holiday weekend, an increase of 4.8% over last year and a 9% jump compared to 2019. This will be the most crowded Memorial Day weekend at airports since 2005, when 3.64 million flew for the holiday as the travel industry finally rebounded post 9/11. This Memorial Day weekend, air ticket prices are comparable to last year. AAA booking data shows a 1% to 2% increase in prices for domestic flights. Several factors play into how much travelers pay for airfare, including destination, number of stops and fare class. For example, passengers who book nonstop flights with seat selection and carry-on bags included will likely pay more than those who select basic economy with a layover.

Nearly 2 million people are expected to travel by other modes of transportation, including buses, cruises and trains. AAA projects 1.9 million people will take these other modes of transportation, an increase of 5.6% compared to last year.

Best/Worst Times to Drive
INRIX, a provider of transportation data and insights, says drivers leaving Thursday or Friday should hit the road early to avoid mixing with commuters. Travelers going back home on Sunday or Monday should avoid the afternoon hours when return trips will peak.

“Travel times are expected to be up to 90% longer than normal. Travelers should stay up to date on traffic apps, 511 services and local news stations to avoid sitting in traffic longer than necessary,” said Bob Pishue, transportation analyst at INRIX.

Source: INRIX

Top Destinations
This Memorial Day weekend, travelers are seeking theme parks and entertainment venues in Orlando, New York, Las Vegas and Southern California. Seattle, Anchorage, and Vancouver rank high because of the popularity of Alaska cruises this time of year. Florida beaches and cruise ports will also be packed.

European cities dominate the international list. The top 10 domestic and international destinations below are based on AAA booking data.

Travel Trends
As travelers make plans for summer and beyond, AAA Travel has identified the following trends:

• Bucket Lists: Travelers taking once-in-a-lifetime trips
• Milestones: Families booking anniversary, retirement and family reunion trips
• Asia: More travelers interested in visiting Asia, especially Japan
• Solo Trips: More people, especially women, interested in traveling by themselves
• Luxury Vacations: More travelers seeking high-end cruises and tours
• Trains: Many travelers interested in rail vacations across New England, Canada and Europe
• Adventure in Nature: Travelers booking trips to Antarctica, Africa and the South Pacific

Travel Agent Survey
A recent survey of AAA Travel Advisors highlights topics travelers are frequently discussing when booking trips, including:

• Travel Insurance: 51% of agents say more travelers are interested in protecting their trips
• Types of Vacations: AAA Travel Advisors say these are among the types of vacations travelers are most interested in:

• 77% of advisors say ocean cruises
• 70% of advisors say all-inclusive vacations
• 67% of advisors say river cruises

Danielle Smith – Keystone State News Service

Pennsylvanian’s general election takes place in November and a new poll from the Rural Democracy Initiative showed likely voters from rural areas of the state are up for grabs.

Patrick Toomey, researcher and partner of Breakthrough Campaigns, said the data in the survey show rural voters are what he called “economic populists,” and do not want the government calling the shots on certain issues such as abortion.

“Rural voters do feel like things are getting worse for them and in their communities economically,” Toomey reported. “The vast majority of rural voters, they are economic populists and their policy preferences align with many progressive goals. It is very clear that rural voters are not a cultural monolith either.”

Toomey added while rural America tends to be more conservative than its urban and suburban counterparts, certain conventionally progressive policy items such as focusing on retirement security and making taxes more fair are not being associated with President Joe Biden or Democrats.

Toomey pointed out half of rural voters consider Republicans to be more dedicated to prioritizing the needs of working families, compared to just 32% who shared those sentiments for the Democratic Party. While the increasing costs of housing, health care and child care are all important issues to rural voters, the data show reproductive freedoms are also a top priority.

“Rural voters are opposed to abortion bans,” Toomey explained. “They have nuanced views around abortion itself, but three-quarters either support it or don’t want the government interfering in something that should be left up to women and their doctors.”

More than 1,700 voters in 10 states participated in the poll, which found nearly half of rural voters would choose a “culturally aligned” rural Democrat over a Republican businessperson from a big city on the East Coast.

The unofficial start of summer is here for Pittsburgh’s Premier Destinations for Family Fun!  Kennywood, Idlewild & SoakZone, and Sandcastle are set for an exciting Memorial Day Weekend with FREE ADMISSION offers at each park, details include:

• Kennywood will offer free admission to military personnel and veterans, plus discounted admission for up to four guests beginning the first day of daily operations, Thursday, May 23 through Monday, May 27. The unofficial start to summer kicks off with the debut of the all-new Potato Smash, the park’s mouthwatering mash-up of the classic bumper cars and the iconic Potato Patch® Fries. Bites and Pints also begins Friday, May 24, with its gastronomic extravaganza featuring eight different international cuisines, plus brand-new electrifying entertainment. The chef-inspired tasting event features unique menu items with dishes inspired by Brazilian, German, Greek, Irish, Italian, Jamaican, South Korean, Mexican and Polish cuisines.

• Idlewild & SoakZone will offer free admission to military personnel and veterans, plus discounted admission for up to four guests, Saturday, May 25 through Monday, May 27. Pittsburgh’s Best Amusement Park for Kids and Families celebrates Memorial Day Weekend with the opening of SoakZone Water Park. Plus, guests can experience all-new Story Book Forest upgrades, thrilling special events, new and improved dining options, an expanded operating calendar plus several parkwide enhancements including newly paved pathways throughout Story Book Forest.

• Sandcastle is offering free admission to all educators beginning Opening Day, Saturday, May 25 through June 30, plus discounted admission for up to four guests. The highly anticipated 35^th Celebration Season will be packed with the best summer fun in the region with Sandcastle’s distinctive blend of thrills and relaxation, exclusive offers, and new and enhanced events. Pittsburgh’s Hometown Waterpark’s multi-year transformation is complete with its vibrant beachy boardwalk vibe and parkwide enhancements.

Story by Curtis Walsh – Beaver County Radio. Published May 20, 2024 2:13 P.M.

(Koppel, Pa) Over 100 local employees are bring layed off their jobs as Tenaris restructures their workforce. Tenaris made an announcement last Wednesday that 170 workers would be layed off between Pennsylvania and Ohio facilities while stating that the steel shop in Koppel would not be affected.

Beaver County Radio spoke with Carolina Mendoza, who handles Media Relations for Tenaris North America about what this meant for Beaver County. Mendoza relayed that a large concentration of the cut positions are at the Koppel plant, in the heat treatment and finishing lines departments. 120 local Koppel workers were affected.

The company says the cuts are “due to an influx of imports of OCTG into the United States.” They add that they are “asking the federal government for its support to level the playing field through the  enforcement of fair trade remedies and additional tools of defense for a healthy, domestic OCTG supply chain that enhances national security with regards to energy development and creates and  preserves jobs.”  

Tenaris says they will continue ongoing investments at the steel shop in Koppel.

Ben Van Leeuwen scoops Kraft Mac & Cheese flavored ice cream Wednesday, May 15, 2024, in the Brooklyn borough of New York. Kraft Heinz approached New York-based artisanal ice cream maker Van Leeuwen a few years ago about macaroni and cheese-flavored ice cream. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

Van Leeuwen Ice Cream usually draws customers with gourmet takes on classics like vanilla and pistachio. But occasionally, the artisanal ice cream maker headquartered in New York slips in what it calls a “shock flavor,” like Hidden Valley Ranch or pizza.

Surprising flavor combinations – think gravy-flavored Jones Soda or Sour Patch Kids Oreos — are showing up more frequently in grocery stores and restaurant chains. Hershey recently introduced pink lemonade-flavored Kit Kats, while IHOP and Lay’s brought out Rooty Tooty Fresh n’ Fruity potato chips, designed to taste like strawberry-topped pancakes with a hint of bacon.

While it’s tempting to pass off these limited-time flavors as social media stunts, experts say there’s more to the story. Food companies are responding to the changing and expanding tastes of consumers while also trying to keep brands relevant and distinct to win space on crowded store shelves.

“We’re in a really exciting time of flavor development where consumers are not just one thing. You’re not just a sour lover or a sweet lover. You want a little of this and a little of that,” said Kristen Braun, the senior brand manager for Oreo innovation at Chicago-based food and beverage company Mondelez International. “Companies are finding the freedom to explore a little bit more and get more creative.”

Sour Patch Kids Oreos – vanilla cream-filled cookies speckled with colorful bites of the sour candies – are one of about a dozen limited-edition Oreo flavors that Mondelez plans to release this year. Braun said it takes the company one or two years to develop such products, which stay on shelves for about nine weeks. She’s already thinking ahead to future flavors that blur the lines between sweet, salty and spicy.

Oddball pairings aren’t entirely new in the food and beverage industry. Hubba Bubba released a bubble gum-flavored soda in the late 1980s, for example. But manufacturers and their suppliers have gotten more sophisticated and efficient, making it easier to experiment and put out limited-editions more frequently, said Mark Lang, a food marketing expert and associate professor of marketing at the University of Tampa.

Kyle Shadix, who as the corporate executive research chef for PepsiCo, has worked on beverages like Maple Pepsi and a strawberry shortcake Pepsi sold in Japan, said the members of Generation Z are also fueling innovation. They’re diverse, adventurous and pick up on food trends quickly through social media, he said.

“They’re every chef’s dream to design for,” said Shadix, who is currently experimenting a lot with Mexican, Korean and Japanese flavors. “Gen Z is going to drive us faster. We’re going to start to see even more exploration quicker than in the past because they’re just so open to it.”

Toying with flavors can boost brands in several ways. Sometimes they bring new customers to a brand. They might also nudge buyers to pick up the original flavor, Russell Zwanka, director of the food marketing program at Western Michigan University, said.

“Sour Patch Oreos sound interesting, but nobody wants to risk buying Oreos that don’t taste good, so people buy both,” Zwanka said.

When companies combine brands, they’re trying to build an association in consumers’ minds. Peeps-flavored Pepsi, which came out last year, sends the message that Pepsi is current and fun, Lang said. Mustard-flavored Skittles, which came out last summer, made the 104-year-old French’s brand seem playful.

Enter Kraft Heinz, which approached Van Leeuwen Ice Cream a few years ago about macaroni and cheese-flavored ice cream. Ben Van Leeuwen, the company’s co-founder and CEO, was doubtful at first but found that Kraft’s powder blended well with the Brooklyn-based company’s ice cream.

Van Leeuwen’s Kraft Macaroni and Cheese ice cream came out to rave reviews in 2021 and was re-released for a short time last fall.

“We will only do a shock flavor if we can make it good and distinct. We will not do a shock flavor where it’s just shock in name but taste like vanilla,” Van Leeuwen said.

But novel flavor combinations don’t always work. Van Leeuwen couldn’t eat more than a few bites of his company’s Hidden Valley Ranch ice cream, which contained onion and garlic powders. And shock flavors typically don’t end up on the permanent menu because of their lower “eat-ability,” he said.

“I think you would taste our mac and cheese and you’d say, ‘Oh, that’s good,’ but do you want to take a pint of that mac and cheese from your freezer when you’re watching whatever show on Netflix and eat the entire thing? Probably not,” Van Leeuwen said.

Candy brand Brach’s ran into that issue with its Turkey Dinner Candy Corn, a 2021 limited-edition version of the fall staple that tasted like turkey, stuffing, green beans, cranberry sauce, apple pie and coffee. Katie Duffy, vice president and general manager of seasonal at Ferrara Candy Co., which owns Brach’s, acknowledged there was a “gross-out” factor.

“We have learned from consumers that we don’t want to have something where they eat a few pieces of candy and then they toss it because there’s some things that they don’t want to repeat,” Duffy said. “We want it to be a delicious flavor journey.”

Brach’s recently introduced Easter Brunch-flavored jelly beans, and they hit that mark, she said. The candy beans mimicked the flavors of blueberry maple pancakes, chocolate doughnuts, caramel cold brew, cinnamon rolls, berry smoothies and mimosa cocktails.

Shannon Weiner, senior director of insights and analytics at Ferrara, said the company closely tracks social media to see what flavors are trending. People are increasingly looking for dessert and dairy-flavored candies, she said. They’re also seeking more international flavors like Tajin, a brand of chile-lime spice from Mexico that recently did a collaboration with Pop Tarts.

Lang thinks the more time people spend in restaurants or trying out new foods, the more they seek out unusual flavors.

“We are variety-seeking animals. We constantly are seeking something new and different; it’s in our wiring,” he said. “We like to experiment.”

Whether she is your Grams, Abuela, Oma or Gigi, McDonald’s is celebrating grandmas and cherished moments they create with the Grandma McFlurry – available starting tomorrow – Tuesday, May 21 — for a limited time.

The new McFlurry is sweet – just like grandma – and features a delicious syrup and chopped, crunchy candy pieces (like the favorite treat grandma hid in her purse!) – all blended in creamy vanilla soft serve. It’s the perfect sweet treat to share with grandma.

“Grandmas have always held a special place in our hearts, and today they’re having a major moment influencing culture – inspiring trends in fashion, decor and now, even food with our newest McFlurry,” said Tariq Hassan, Chief Marketing and Customer Experience Officer at McDonald’s. “The Grandma McFlurry tastes like a trip down memory lane, and we’re excited to give our fans that experience while honoring the grandma-figure in all our lives.”

In honor of the limited-edition Grandma McFlurry, McDonald’s is giving fans another opportunity to connect with their grandmas.  Mickey D’s is partnering with two breakthrough artists to remake hit oldies reimagined with a new sound. Singer-songwriter Remi Wolf is covering the classic song “How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You)”. And two-time Latin GRAMMY nominee and Puerto Rican star Jay Wheeler is creating a cover of the iconic Latin song “Piel Canela.” Both will be available on all music platforms starting tomorrow.

Story by Sandy Giordano – Beaver County Radio. Published May 20, 2024 1:53 P.M.

(Aliquippa, PA) Last Thursday night was the night seniors received awards and scholarships following a dinner in the Aliquippa high school cafeteria.  Several students received recognition for academic achievement, and scholarships were awarded, according to Director of Pupil Services and Athletic Director Jennifer Damico, who provided Beaver County Radio with the information following the banquet.

Story by Curtis Walsh – Beaver County Radio. Published May 20, 2024 12:41 P.M.

(Rochester, Pa) Beaver County Emergency Services were called to a residence on Pinney Street in Rochester Monday morning. An active SWAT standoff lasted hours before a man was taken into police custody.

Witnesses and neighbors told Beaver County Radio the incident started around 7am, when they say a man was allegedly holding a female hostage. We also heard reports that a child may have been inside the home at the time of the incident.

Beaver County Radio witnessed law enforcement bring a man out in handcuffs around 11:30am and place him in a Rochester police cruiser.

We are currently working on gathering more details.