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Editorials

The Altoona Water Authority’s decision to hire a company to help obtain grants for authority capital projects is a decision built on good intentions. It’s in the best interests of all authority customers for that company — Delta Development Group of Camp Hill, Cumberland County — to succeed in the money search. However, that being said, AWA customers would do well to consider a reasonable question, since some of their water-usage revenue, no doubt, will be spent for Delta’s service and expertise. That reasonable question revolves around Blair and adjacent counties’ ...

Planting trees can help keep us safe

Letters to the Editor

Altoona has always had hot summers, but with the last two summers, those temperatures have only gotten worse and more dangerous. The forest fires smoke in Canada has blazed to central PA, which causes air quality to decline. That creates risks for many people in our community, especially children and elderly. Children breathe faster than adults, which means they inhale more polluted air. Temperatures combined with poor air quality trigger asthma attacks and other breathing issues. According to the Pennsylvania Climate Impacts Assessment, “projected increases in asthma-related ...

Politicians involved in FDA raise red flags

Editorials

It was just one man’s opinion but it’s concerning nonetheless — for the long term as well as the short term. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, an interview about which the newspaper reported on Feb. 17, Dr. Richard Pazdur alleged that fast-track drug approvals had been politicized in a manner in which he never had experienced in his 26 years at the federal Food and Drug Administration. Pazdur was a top federal drug regulator at the time of his abrupt departure from the FDA in December. Pazdur, who is an oncologist, had “scrutinized applications for cancer ...

We can’t be held hostage by oil

Letters to the Editor

Among the many lessons learned from the Iran war, the most significant should be our need for energy independence. Oil is a powerful weapon. Any country able to disrupt its supply and delivery is at a strategic advantage against even the most powerful foe. Imagine a scenario where Iran sees defeat imminent and says it will destroy its oil facilities, eliminating the planet’s third-largest reserves. The mere threat would bring the world to its knees. We can no longer afford to be held hostage by oil. Most recently, presidents Biden and Obama started us down paths to energy ...

Senators should vote no on SAVE Act

Letters to the Editor

I’m upset. I was born in Bedford and I’ve been voting since I was 18. The SAVE Act, if passed, is questioning my right to vote. Women in particular are going to have a problem. My birth certificate, which is in my maiden name, doesn’t match my REAL ID driver’s license. This bill requires everyone to reregister to vote in person (this means at the courthouse) and your driver’s license, REAL ID ($30), military ID aren’t going to be good enough. This pretty much eliminates me being able to register to vote by mail or online. Do you know where your birth certificate ($20) ...

State should consider I-99 extension

Editorials

People unfamiliar with Blair County’s mid-20th century highways probably cannot grasp the picture fully of how major roadway projects over the subsequent decades were the springboard for great economic progress. Interstate 99 has been the biggest economic generator up to now for the county as a whole and it isn’t done yet, as this editorial will discuss. However, numerous other improvements, including bigger ones such as the modern, four-lane, limited-access Route 22, Altoona’s 10th Avenue Expressway and 17th Street corridor, plus the improvements to Plank Road, Logan Boulevard ...