Fire sirens again are a hot topic in Hollidaysburg, as they were in 2017 when the borough’s Phoenix Volunteer Fire Department announced plans to replace its two sirens that had been out of service for — at that time — about eight years. Noise is the issue — and whether new technology ...
With a male-dominated Pennsylvania General Assembly, it will be interesting to watch how the following legislative proposal is greeted, discussed and, finally, plays out. Most women will agree that it is a measure that should not be tabled. By way of an Oct. 7 press release published by the ...
Members of Congress who want to “overturn” President Donald Trump’s withdrawal of U.S. troops from Syria are engaging in an absurd performance of political theater. Many lawmakers, both Republican and Democrat, have been critical of Trump’s decision to abandon Kurdish separatists in ...
Most Pennsylvania motorists, at least the owners or leasers of many newer models, probably are unaware that their personal vehicles might be equipped with a data-collection “black box.” Most people generally think of such devices only regarding large commercial aircraft. Whenever ...
The Pennsylvania General Assembly’s error in late June, in which lawmakers stripped arrest powers from Altoona Area School District police — as well as police of other school districts — is not the first time the Legislature brought about unintended consequences from actions during the ...
Pennsylvania residents who are outdoor-recreation oriented — and even those who aren’t — can find plenty of informative reading by accessing the preliminary “Penn’s Parks For All Plan” on the website of the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources ...
The main point emerging from the Sept. 24 hearing by the Pennsylvania House Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee regarding the state’s current fireworks rules was that significant modification of those rules isn’t likely to be a quick, easy exercise. It’s reasonable to speculate ...
The powerful messages emanating from the two-hour walk by Saint Francis University students and faculty on Sept. 25 extend beyond trying to prevent suicides. Heeding the messages that the student-faculty walk delivered could have the additional effect of saving lives under different ...
Cleanup efforts, whether like the one held in Altoona on Sept. 21 or the spring cleanups held annually in Blair County and throughout the region, usually result in news coverage focusing on the volunteers who devote their time to improving the appearance of the landscape. As part of that ...
In June, as Pennsylvania lawmakers were working to put the finishing touches on the current 2019-20 state budget, legislative Republican leaders indicated that consideration of Gov. Tom Wolf’s “Restore Pennsylvania” proposal would be put on hold until the fall, at the earliest. Judging ...
Penn State Altoona says its mission is “to cultivate a vibrant learning environment through excellence in teaching, research, creative activities, outreach and the advancement of personal, social and intellectual growth.” The campus further states that it seeks “to empower a diverse ...
Clearly, House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi smells blood in the water. Otherwise, she would not have launched an impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump. The question now is whether House Democrats circling to take a political bite out of Trump will attempt to ignore a ...
The “personal problems/issues” to which he alluded did not give 63-year-old Pennsylvania state Sen. Mike Folmer, R-Lebanon, the right or authority to access child pornography. Although Folmer must be judged innocent until proven guilty, the senator, elected to his fourth term last ...
The worldwide grounding of Boeing Co.’s 737 MAX jets in March in the aftermath of two fatal crashes that claimed a total of 346 lives hasn’t garnered much visible attention and discussion in this part of Pennsylvania. Most flight- and airport-related public attention in recent months has ...
Three Democratic candidates for president, and perhaps more, are hoping to gain votes by proposing all-out prohibitions on hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, used in the oil and natural gas industries. Sens. Kamala Harris, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren have all proposed the bans. Look ...
Let us hope and pray the world is not about to witness something like what happened 30 years ago in Beijing. If it happens again, this time in Hong Kong, there will be absolutely nothing the United States or anyone else can do to stop it. During late spring and early summer in 1989, an ...
Altoona isn’t alone among the cities of America in being home to substandard curbs, including curbs that are in violation of the federal Americans With Disabilities Act. Some cities are engaged in the process of installing curb ramps that allow people in wheelchairs to get on and off ...
The three Altoona Area School Board members who walked out of a meeting on Sept 9 rather than hear a presentation from a representative of the Pennsylvania School Boards Association did not enhance the board’s image. That should be the conclusion of both the district residents who oppose the ...
A new — albeit limited in scope — pilot program being launched by the New Jersey Department of Education is worthy of being watched by educators in Pennsylvania and other states, even if it doesn’t spur widespread change outside of Pennsylvania’s neighbor to the east. Anyone ...
Justice Elena Kagan, dissenting in the U.S. Supreme Court’s gerrymandering decision in June, unearthed a marvelously descriptive word: Dummymandering. Gerrymandering is a made-up word, drawing on Elbridge Gerry and his drawing of a Massachusetts voting district that looked like a salamander ...