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Med usage troubling when misconstrued

Editorials

A front-page headline in the Oct. 20 edition of the Wall Street Journal — and the lengthy article that followed it — evoked the troubling question of whether many people in this country who don’t really need to be taking antidepressants are becoming hooked on them. For people of the Southern Alleghenies region — Blair, Cambria, Bedford, Somerset, Huntingdon and Fulton counties — the obvious question needs to be whether such a scenario might be playing out here. “Out-in-the-open” dialogue dealing with the issue should be welcomed here. It might open many people’s eyes to ...

State leaders must be fiscally responsible

Letters to the Editor

It’s time for Pennsylvania to get serious about fiscal responsibility. Every year, families, seniors, and small businesses across our Commonwealth are expected to live within our means and our government should do the same. A balanced budget isn’t just good accounting, it’s constitutionally mandated in our Commonwealth. Gov. Josh Shapiro seems to have forgotten this, since he’s consistently called for a budget that has billions more in spending compared to the revenue that Pennsylvania is actually bringing in. The burden ultimately falls on us, the taxpayers, to foot the ...

Medicaid vital to Pa. health care system

Letters to the Editor

As Pennsylvanians, we all share a stake in preserving access to health care across our Commonwealth. Deep cuts to Medicaid scheduled for 2026 and 2027 would imperil that access — especially for rural hospitals and vulnerable communities that already operate with razor-thin margins. Hospitals across Pennsylvania have been forced to reduce or eliminate maternity services in recent years. Four rural labor and delivery units have closed since 2020, and today only about 38% of rural hospitals retain obstetric services. The crisis of disappearing maternity care is not isolated — it’s ...

Democrats are stuck on repeat

Other Commentaries

What do you do when voters have rejected your party’s policies and the losers have nothing new to offer? Answer: You stage large demonstrations that include name calling (this from Democrats who have called for “lowering” the rhetorical temperature). Anyone who believes last Saturday’s “No Kings” (was that poll tested?) demonstrations across the country were not organized and largely paid for by left-wing groups hasn’t been paying attention. The New York Times claims there is “no evidence” that the event was subsidized by billionaire George Soros and other far-left ...

Ceasefire and peace are not the same

Other Commentaries

House Speaker Mike Johnson, a quick study in the art of laying it on thick, announced that he was teaming up with Israel’s Knesset speaker to invite parliamentary leaders from around the world to jointly nominate Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize — and for nothing less than inaugurating “a new golden age.” Though refraining from that level of MAGA-fication, Democrats have not stinted on the praise due to Trump for achieving the ceasefire and hostage agreement. Former National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, Bill and Hillary Clinton, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Joe ...

Insurance subsidy talks cannot wait

Editorials

Sometimes if you just wait, a situation will change. Maybe the forest fire will burn itself out. Maybe the floodwaters will recede. Maybe the storm promised by the weatherman will veer off and unleash its fury elsewhere. That can happen. It does happen. But it doesn’t always happen. That’s part of why we have insurance. We need to protect ourselves from a raging fire or rising water or from the roof being ripped off by wind. And it’s why we rely on health insurance to allow us to seek medical care for something as catastrophic as a car crash or as disabling as diabetes — ...