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Opinion

Making a case for electric cars

Letters to the Editor

As communities across the country grapple with rising fuel costs, air pollution, and the growing impacts of global warming, one solution is becoming increasingly clear; the widespread adoption of electric vehicles. Electric cars offer a cleaner, more sustainable alternative to gasoline-powered vehicles. By producing zero tailpipe emissions, they reduce air pollution and improve public health, especially in urban areas where smog and poor air quality disproportionately affect vulnerable populations. When you factor in that EVs cost roughly 40% less to fuel, and with fewer moving parts, ...

Blair County Courthouse clock plans are a breath of fresh air

Editorials

The clock on the clocktower of the Blair County Courthouse doesn’t exactly match the clock that was mentioned in the 1967 hit “Twelve Thirty” by the musical group The Mamas & The Papas. That ’60s hit referred to a clock on a steeple outside the window of an apartment in New York City where “everything was dark and dirty,” according to the song lyrics — a stalled clock that always said 12:30. Of course, Hollidaysburg isn’t dark and dirty — not by a long shot — but, for some older residents of Blair County, the courthouse clock might conjure up musical memories from ...

Changing minds, one word at a time

Opinion

I’ve just passed the three-year mark of writing this column. Every week. For three years. Over 120,000 words, enough for one long novel or two short ones. Why do it, anyway? It seems appropriate on the third anniversary of the column to come up with three reasons. First: Before turning to column-writing, I had five published novels. I wrote them in no small part to escape the violent, unjust world we live in and hang out in a fictional world where I had some control over what happened. By 2023, though, anger was boiling inside of me at a world where injustice, poverty, ...

The truth is not a disaster

Opinion

The United States Supreme Court has released its decision in Louisiana v Callais. To listen to Democrats, including former President Barack Obama, who just argued that a wildly drawn partisan redistricting scheme in Virginia was “fair,” is to hear hysterics lying to whip partisans into a frenzy. A few days after a progressive activist, inflamed by left-wing rhetoric attempted a mass assassination of the president and his cabinet in Washington, perhaps Democrats should rein in their lies. The Supreme Court said, plainly, that states cannot draw legislative districts based on race. ...

FISA is not for illegally spying on US citizens

Editorials

The Washington Post America’s spy programs are complex, but the Fourth Amendment is simple. It says the government cannot collect and search through the private communications of United States citizens without a warrant. Congress is deadlocked on renewing Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), and the Fourth Amendment points to a straightforward compromise. That is: Keep up overseas surveillance to protect U.S. national security, but require a warrant whenever the resulting database is used to look through a specific American’s communications. The ...

Abortion is not reproductive ‘care’

Letters to the Editor

Our Commonwealth Court decided that Pennsylvania taxpayers should pay for abortions for low-income Medicaid recipients. Susan Frietsche, executive director of the Women’s Law Project, called it a victory for “reproductive autonomy.” Gov. Josh Shapiro praised this new access to “reproductive care.” “Autonomy” implies self-reliance, not reliance on others for their support. In all cases, reproductive autonomy is best exercised before a child is conceived. “Care” is a perverted term for the governor to use in this case. A full 50% of the people involved in this ...