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Diamonds to the return of the Northeastern Pennsylvania Air Show at the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport. After being grounded for 17 years, the event is set to take flight Aug. 12 and 13 following unanimous approval of the idea from the Bi-County Airport Board on Thursday. The show once offered a glimpse of American air-power history, with opportunities to stroll around — and in some cases, walk through — classic planes. The return of the show promises impressive displays of pilot wizardry from the likes of the U.S. Air Force Heritage Flight Team, an F-22 Raptor demo team, and a U.S. Navy F/A-18 team, as well as the U.S. Army Golden Knights Parachute Team jumping out of perfectly good airplanes.

Coal to those who rudely pulled into parking spaces painstakingly carved out by others following the daunting snowfall of Winter Storm Stella. It is true there is no legal right for residents to reserve the space they clean out, but as Wilkes-Barre City Administrator Ted Wampole pointed out, “there is common courtesy.” This is a perennial problem that returns each winter, and the solution should not be resorting to orange cones or old chairs marking shoveled turf. The worst offenders are those who don’t bother digging out their own spot, but gladly take one dug out by another. Community’s survive and thrive by treating neighbors as you would want them to treat you.

Diamonds to Mohegan Sun Pocono for bringing the 2018 Breeders Crown to The Downs at Pocono racetrack. The event features 12 championship races and purses totaling more than $5 million. There is some irony in the fact that the racetrack has become almost invisible since the casino set up shop. After all, the original rationale for legalizing gambling in Pennsylvania was to save struggling racetracks, though that quickly fell to the wayside as property tax relief and new money for community development rose to the top of justifications. While the casino and related buildings overwhelm the track for the casual visitor, it remains at the heart of the facility and deserves this boost of publicity and prestige.

Coal to to many of us who keep tipping the scale when others study how fat the nation, counties and cities are. Most recently, wallethub.com deemed the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton/Hazleton Metropolitan Statistical Area the 46th fattest among the country’s 100 largest MSAs. To be fair, this was an improvement over a similar ranking last year by the same website, when our local MSA ranked a depressing 20th. Commenting on the 2016 rankings, Geisinger Dr. Anthony Petrick suggested the real solution is akin to the long battle against smoking: People need to start seeing the long-term risks to short-term indulgences, and that takes extensive public education. His advice is as sound today as it was a year ago.