So crazy has the lawsuit climate become that a court filing last week probably should have come as no surprise. Still, it is more than a little unsettling. MGM Resorts International, which owns the Mandalay Bay casino-resort in Las Vegas, has filed suit against hundreds of victims of the mass ...
In this legislative and gubernatorial election year, Pennsylvania lawmakers and Gov. Tom Wolf were elated regarding their ability to complete work on the 2018-19 state budget prior to the June 30 deadline for finalizing the spending plan. Both the Republican-controlled Legislature and ...
Whatever the Altoona Area School Board ultimately decides regarding the district’s administrative office space needs, paramount in that decision must be that it’s anchored with careful spending. The goal must not be creation of an administrative Taj Mahal. Rather, the facility eventually ...
Our view Gallitzin facing decision Gallitzin Borough Council’s discussion last week about whether borough police officer Gil Barton should be allowed to work as a member of the Cambria County Specialized Emergency Response Team was important from the standpoint of available local police ...
The criminal case tied to the theft of $123,481 from the Pleasantville Assembly of God in Bedford County between 2011 and 2017 is winding toward a close, but there’s still an important issue that needs to be addressed. It’s the question of why only one person was entrusted with official ...
Whether or not state House Bill 2025 becomes law — we hope it will — Pennsylvania school districts should comply with the proposed law’s intent of having all school buildings’ water tested for presence of lead, a neurotoxin interferes with children’s ability to learn and ...
There was everything to like about the way Blair County Judge Jackie Bernard handled a 19-year-old’s burglary case on July 6. Hopefully, the young man learned enough from the experience to ensure that he’ll never again come before Bernard or any other judge as a defendant. We hope many ...
The $21.2 trillion national debt today is worrisome enough. But it is going to get worse, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. You may want to sit down for this: Within 30 years, the national debt will top $100 trillion, if nothing changes, the CBO is predicting. That ...
In this country there remains a serious shortage of human organs such as kidneys for transplantation. Despite informational efforts aimed at encouraging people to designate themselves as organ donors, many healthy organs go to people’s graves instead of helping to save or better someone ...
News that turnpike tolls will go up 6 percent in January was neither a surprise nor welcome. The toll increase — which, like state pension contributions — are going nowhere but up in the coming years, largely because of shortsighted decisions years ago by lawmakers and the governor. Not ...
Video of a Lancaster city police officer using a stun gun against a black man went viral last week after it was uploaded to Facebook. According to the Lancaster City Bureau of Police, officers responded to a disturbance on the first block of South Prince Street involving a man identified as ...
The Blair County court system’s latest crackdown on people who’ve ignored summonses for jury duty, while commendable, could have been made more effective for both the short and longer terms. Regarding some of the individuals who ignored their summonses multiple times, the $25 or $50 fines ...
In this year 2018, some Americans are concerned about the future of this great country. That such a situation is in play isn’t the first time, and it probably won’t be the last. Correct within the minds of most of the citizenry, despite today’s problems and issues, is the fact that ...
This Independence Day celebration in central Pennsylvania — and throughout the rest of the commonwealth — no doubt will be more colorful and noisy than any in the past. This will be the first celebration of the nation’s independence since the state abandoned its archaic, overly ...
The time for Americans to be honest about recycling may have arrived. Thank the Chinese for forcing us into a discussion we should have had years ago. Millions of Americans separate materials such as paper and plastic from their garbage, placing the items in recycling bins. Then, homeowners ...
Because of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on June 21, it’s too early to predict the wording of the Use Tax line on the 2018 Pennsylvania state income tax form and whether, beyond this year, the line will have to continue to exist. For 2017, the line — Line 25 — said simply, “Use Tax. Due ...
Today is a sad day to be a journalist. And today, especially, is a sad day to be a journalist at a community newspaper. Today, we are reminded that, in doing our due diligence as reporters and editors and upholding all Americans’ First Amendment right to a free press, we put ourselves at ...
Americans are famously compassionate people. When we learn of someone in need, we tend to dig into our pockets to help them. Last year, we set a new record: about $410 billion in charitable giving, according to an authoritative report by the Giving USA organization. It totaled donations ...
Do you have $15.4 billion socked away for a rainy day? We didn’t think so. But your government does, and the bureaucrats, backed by liberal lawmakers, don’t want to give it up. Analysts in President Donald Trump’s administration have found that amount of money locked up in inactive ...
It’s safe to say that most Americans are deeply concerned about the ongoing plight of the children of illegal immigrants, regardless of their opinions about how the immigration issue in general should finally shake out. The mental and emotional terror — indeed, horror — that the ...