Christians whose religious observances are based on the Gregorian calendar ended their Lenten journey this weekend, embracing the hope that is at the foundation of today’s Easter celebration. Orthodox Christians who are observing Palm Sunday today under the Julian calendar and whose Easter ...
Regardless of people’s viewpoints regarding last weekend’s March for Our Lives rally in Washington, D.C., as well as similar rallies held in other locales across the United States, it would do well for them not to ignore what’s happening in the school district that was the scene of the ...
Altoona, other Blair County municipalities and communities in neighboring counties have so much about which to be proud, as evidenced by this year’s People & Progress sections that accompanied Tuesday’s regular Mirror edition. This region is blessed with myriad businesses striving ...
Even in the Wild West of online marketing, legitimate enterprises ask consumers to opt in or out of sharing their data. But now, reporting by the Guardian and The New York Times reveals how online social media enterprises like Facebook leave open yawning back doors for marketers to obtain ...
The serious bullying and sexual harassment accusations leveled by a student at the March 12 meeting of the Altoona Area School Board demand that, within the bounds of privacy constraints, parents and other district residents are apprised of official findings of an investigation that was ...
We Americans disagree on many things. Not on our military veterans, however. There is virtual unanimity in the feeling that while we can never fully repay the debt we owe them, we ought to do our best in the attempt. That has not happened for some time. Scandals involving the quality of ...
Gallitzin Borough’s problems are a product of borough officials over the years preferring to “look the other way.” Rather than address problems as they began to evolve, officials opted to avoid friction between themselves and the people responsible for the problems. That’s not ...
Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidates aren’t required by law to release their tax returns, but candidates for the commonwealth’s highest office have done so for at least six campaigns dating back to the 1990s. The practice of releasing returns began as an extension of what started on the ...
Pennsylvania might — or might not — be on track to meet money projections for 2017-18 and 2018-19 tied to the major gambling expansion approved by the Legislature last October. But even if the goals for those two fiscal years are met, an important question will continue to be whether ...
The Altoona Area School Board is right in electing not to subject the district’s proposed construction and renovation project to a voter referendum. When voters elect board members, they entrust in the successful candidates their confidence that they’re capable of making the right ...
If local-level leaders had been more aggressively involved in planning early-on for the four-lane, limited-access Route 22 in Blair County in the 1960s, this county might now have the eastern link between the Duncansville-Hollidaysburg area and the Huntingdon County line. The fact that that ...
Truth. Facts. Transparency. Simple words that shine even more brightly as we celebrate Sunshine Week. This appropriately named week, organized 13 years ago by The American Society of Newspaper Editors and Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, helps all of us realize the importance ...
Blair County has much for which to be proud. It is built upon a strong foundation of loyal, dedicated, hard-working people, as well as governmental leaders who are unceasing in their determination to make the county even better from all vantage points possible. It has a beautiful landscape ...
The Dec. 31, 2018, deadline for America’s passenger railroads to install speed controls is a virtual stone’s throw away, considering the size and complexity of that installation. However, there continues to be doubt about whether all of the railroads will be able to meet that deadline — ...
Not every municipal governing body encourages representatives of paid or volunteer fire departments serving them to regularly attend governmental meetings. But those units of government, like Antis Township, that do prefer or demand such attendance, by virtue of financial support that they ...
None of the issues being debated in the wake of last month’s Parkland, Fla., school shooting can be judged irrelevant. Some suggestions and calls for action are intensely controversial while some less controversial ones also are on the conversation “plate.” But each — very ...
Some higher education administrators seem to have decided to bring back the ’60s — in a completely unacceptable manner. Veterans of civil rights and anti-war demonstrations during the 1960s may remember one tactic employed against them: parade permits. Public officials who just didn’t ...
The possible departure of Tyrone Borough from the four-member Intermunicipal Relations Committee doesn’t necessarily portend the demise of the governmental council that oversees recycling in those municipalities. But Tyrone’s departure, if it actually comes to pass, would inflict a ...
Altoona would have erred in forgoing a celebration to mark the 150th anniversary of its 1868 incorporation as a city. But this year’s sesquicentennial celebration, besides focusing on the city’s history, also holds possibilities for touting Altoona’s many current assets, with an open ...
Gov. Tom Wolf is optimistic about the prospects of getting the Pennsylvania Lottery back into sound revenue territory — optimism that might be shared by some lawmakers as well. However, the governor’s projections don’t seem to be acknowledging fully the short- and long-term implications ...