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 ...
Units of government oftentimes bog down proposals by trying to stuff too much into one measure. A Mirror editorial on Sunday noted one such situation involving the Pennsylvania General Assembly, which has failed to pass a Senate bill authorizing speed cameras in active work zones, in part due ...
It would be nice to believe news from North Korea last week is evidence that country’s regime is serious about the “denuclearization” deal with President Donald Trump. Indeed, the report sounded very, very good: “North Korea appears to have started dismantling key facilities at its ...
Typical of Pennsylvania state lawmakers’ lack of urgency on many — if not most — issues, both houses of the Legislature scurried from the state Capitol for their summer recess without completing work on important legislation that should have been passed and signed into law this spring, ...
Most illegal immigrants come to the United States for economic opportunity. A few make the journey to escape political repression or crime. In many ways, what they do is entirely understandable — though, of course, immigration laws need to be enforced. Making their own homelands more ...
Whether in Altoona or any other municipality, ordinances are in place for good reasons. Among them are to maintain order, respond to existing problems or address anticipated issues. Municipalities with leaders who pay attention to the issues and concerns of today but also look routinely ...
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 ...