Here we are, 17 years to the day after commercial airliners hijacked by Middle East terrorists brought down the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York, caused serious damage at the Pentagon and apparently had as a target the Capitol, White House or some other important place in ...
A question that the Pennsylvania Legislature should weigh is whether cash bail should be eliminated or kept as an option for people accused of having committed crimes in this state. A new law eliminating cash bail will take effect in California on Oct. 1, 2019. The District of Columbia, as ...
We hear a lot about unemployment rates, the gross domestic product, business inventories and a variety of other economic indicators. But among the most interesting are productivity reports from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In essence, productivity data compares the value of goods and ...
Today isn’t like the 1950s, when open burning of trash, leaves, brush and branches was a common practice of families and individuals, many of whom didn’t have close at hand the convenience of regular trash-collection service, municipal composting facilities and other disposal ...
Pennsylvania is gearing up to begin issuing Real ID-compliant driver’s licenses and ID cards to people who want them, beginning in March. If you’re not familiar with why this state will be making them available, you’re not alone. It’s safe to surmise that most Pennsylvania residents ...
Altoona — and, presumably, more than a few other Keystone State municipalities, particularly the larger ones — have experienced unwanted impacts from the law passed last fall that liberalized Pennsylvania’s antiquated fireworks rules. It’s obvious now that the Legislature failed to ...
All that’s been said about U.S. Sen. John McCain since his death on Saturday should cause Americans to reflect deeply and in an open-minded way on the great service to this country that was the hallmark of his life. It’s safe to say that the federal government would be more of a body of ...
August is the month when back-to-school shopping is in its proverbial high gear, even though sales of school supplies and the latest school fashions get underway right after the Fourth of July. But this month has been unusual on two fronts, and they’re the bases for concern and the fodder ...
After hearing of the estimated cost — $92 million — of a parade he proposed to showcase America’s military, President Donald Trump wisely called the event off. As he noted, that much money could do much good if spent on defense hardware. Trump suggested the parade in Washington, ...
Although veterans will be the primary beneficiaries of the multimillion-dollar “renewal” targeted for the Hollidaysburg Veterans Home over approximately the next decade, Blair County as a whole also will reap great benefits from the upgraded facility. Here’s the way that a front-page ...
The old saying “poor guy” shouldn’t be used in reference to former Bedford County District Attorney William Higgins. On Friday, Higgins received a criminal sentence that can be likened to a sweetheart deal, despite the multiple serious crimes to which the former DA pleaded guilty in ...
Former FBI agent Peter Strzok was fired by the agency earlier this month, long after he should have lost his job. Strzok was involved in both the FBI’s investigation of former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and that of President Donald Trump. He was removed from the Trump probe ...
The Electric Service Reliability Report for 2017 released on July 31 by the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission shows what it describes as regressed overall reliability performance by the state’s electric distribution companies. However, those companies don’t deserve the black eye that ...
Even while he was running for president, the news media was a frequent target for Donald Trump. During his August 2016 campaign rally in Altoona, Trump took aim at the news media, pointing out the reporters covering his appearance and encouraging jeers from the crowd. So, it’s no surprise ...
The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday that the United States is stepping up its fight against worsening threats to this country’s electricity system and other critical industries. According to the Journal, top Trump administration officials are devising new penalties “to hit back ...
Most communities victimized by some troubling or terrible event aren’t prevented from moving forward and putting what occurred behind them relatively quickly. But the southern Bedford County community of Hyndman, which was the scene of a derailment involving 33 cars of a 178-car train on ...
With destructive, deadly wildfires in California making both headlines and dramatic pictures, expect a new round of claims that climate change is to blame. But if there is a link between global warming and wildfires, it is a negative one. Solid, scientific research indicates the area burned ...
It’s impossible to know for sure whether this part of Pennsylvania has seen the worst of this summer’s flooding and whether current clean-up efforts will be able to proceed without weather-related setbacks. It must be acknowledged that forecasts covering the coming weeks have indicated ...
Give U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III credit for insisting that Paul Manafort get the fairest trial possible. Manafort, at one time during 2016 a key adviser to Donald Trump in his bid for president, went on trial last week on charges unrelated to that campaign. Manafort is accused of a ...
The front page of Tuesday’s Wall Street Journal provided the troubling news that state and local pension shortfalls are hitting retirees with little time to engineer what the Journal described as a “Plan B.” “Many cities and states can no longer afford the unsustainable retirement ...