The question of whether financially strapped Pennsylvania should continue to provide an official taxpayer-funded residence for its lieutenant governor is relevant now, but it should have been addressed a long time ago, considering the savings that could have been realized. With state ...
With my husband battling cancer for the past two years, I have seen firsthand how quickly medical costs can skyrocket. The House Republicans’ repeal and replace bill would have a devastating effect on every family facing serious illness by repealing the essential benefits provisions in the ...
I feel that rebuilding the B building of the Altoona Area High School is unnecessary. During the remodeling, the ninth graders would need to be moved to the high school. Putting ninth graders into the high school will just crowd the students and staff members. In order for the staff to ...
Which of government’s protective functions is more important: safeguarding us against computer hackers or detecting and stopping the next terrorist plot or, perhaps, slowing down a rogue nation’s missile or nuclear program? As more and more global extortionists demand money in exchange ...
Imagine buying more than 100 houses in the city of Altoona. This is the equivalent of paying for the new expansion planned to be added to the Altoona Area High School. More than $88 million is planned on a new building in one of the busiest parts of town to allow students to get a ...
More than 50 percent of fur that is from clothing comes from China, where millions of dogs and cats are skinned and left to bleed to death. Animal cruelty or animal neglect can be intentional or unintentional. If someone wants an animal, I believe he or she should give it what it needs. ...
After reading the story about the AASD board meeting on May 15, I have to wonder what kind of fiscally irresponsible people we have on the board. The story highlights the fact that the budget for this coming year has a $9 million deficit, which the proposed 5-mill tax increase will only ...
The following paragraph was taken from an article written by Justice William O. Douglas: “History shows that the main architect of regressive laws were often men of good intentions. Their reasons sometimes had the ring of patriotism to them, the protection of the safety of the state against ...
Expanded AG power needs more scrutiny The Pennsylvania General Assembly has plenty of 2017-18 budget work remaining as the June 30 deadline for completing a spending plan hangs less than a month and a half away. However, two legislative proposals — one involving pension forfeiture and ...
The Mirror’s “our view” in the May 8 edition is so blatantly prejudicial from what should be an unbiased newspaper that it requires a response. In case whoever wrote that missed it, Hillary Clinton took absolute and complete responsibility for losing the election. James Comey’s ...
As of 2017, students are required to pass the Keystone exams in order to graduate. These tests are designed to challenge students academically and ensure students have learned throughout their schooling for these grades. In my opinion, though, I think that students should not be ...
Last Saturday’s Mirror featured an opinion by retired teacher Frances Hugg on guns in the classroom. This opinion is classic uninformed rhetoric. One reason why mass shootings in schools is a hot topic is simply because you have large groups of kids with no security and a majority of ...
A case the U.S. Supreme Court may handle this week raises troubling questions — but they are not limited to those many in the media and the courts are addressing. Reporters have focused on the case because it is one new Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch dealt with while he was a ...
With the firing of James Comey, Donald Trump’s recent admission that he was thinking about Russia when he fired Comey and the reports that Trump demanded personal loyalty from Comey, it is now more pressing than ever that an independent investigative commission be formed to investigate ...
Most everybody knows that when walking your dog, it must be on a leash. But when I am walking my dog in a remote place, he’s walking beside me — not bothering anyone. I guess you people that knew the words very well — “it’s the law” — follow everybody and stop them and tell them ...
Beginning in August, as the result of a law passed last year, Pennsylvania will begin requiring first-time drunken drivers to get ignition interlock systems installed on their vehicles. What that means is that, before the person’s car will start, the driver will, in effect, be required to ...
Corey Joseph Leech of Johnstown, only 31 years of age, was the latest victim at the hands of the diocese of Altoona-Johnstown. Leech was laid to rest last week. I ask your readers to look up his obit. He is the third victim I know of to die from our diocese in less than a year. We ...
I have been watching the United Airlines’ issues with overbooking flights in the news the last couple of weeks, then I saw the article about the airlines raising the limits of payments to bump flyers to $10,000. I don’t agree with the airlines’ solution to the problem of overbooking ...
Many schools have school uniforms to stop bullying throughout the school. I believe that Altoona Area School District should follow that rule. With uniforms, a lot less kids would be bullied because kids can’t pick on them depending on if they have money or are on welfare. The bullying ...
Students at every campus need to step up to eradicate this behavior and drinking. This article about the death of a Penn State student cries out for action and reaction. People are dying to get into fraternities? There are so many other alternatives — helping the poor, projects, the ...