Blair County boasts a rich industrial past driven by the 19th-century iron trade, the expansion of early canal and transport networks and its rise to a world leader in railroading through the Pennsylvania Railroad. The iron industry began in Blair County in the early 1800s as at one time ...
Public comment dominated the majority of the Altoona Area School Board meeting Monday, as district employees addressed ongoing contract talks and a parent raised concerns about recent alleged conduct by a group of district students. UniServ representative Douglas Rosenberry spoke on behalf of the Altoona Area Education Support Professionals of Pennsylvania, which is actively in negotiations with the district to reach a new collective bargaining agreement for its educational support professionals. Many educational support professionals experience a challenging work environment on a ...
BEDFORD — Pennsylvania Healthy Lands Week encouraged volunteers to roll up their sleeves Monday after planting native trees around Shawnee State Park’s campsite and dropping fish habitats full of invasive tree branches into the lake. From now through Oct. 4, state parks and forests in ...
At a City Council workshop Monday, Altoona Parking Authority manager David Curtis told council members about policies he’s enacted since taking over three months ago, while officials floated their own ideas about how to improve parking in the downtown. Curtis has stressed building good relationships with customers, businesses and students; has interacted with drivers who’ve parked in the wrong places with “friendly” letters designed not to alienate; worked on making regulations clearer and easier to find; emphasized keeping facilities clean and well-lighted; and worked on ...
HOLLIDAYSBURG — A member of an alleged fraud ring told a Blair County jury Monday morning that he was coerced into cooperating with the group, during the first day of trial for the ring’s supposed “supplier.” Jaylon Maurice Speight, 31, of Walstonburg, North Carolina, is accused of procuring the checks and debit cards that he and his co-defendants would allegedly use to defraud various banks. He faces a single felony count of corrupt organizations and two felony counts each of criminal conspiracy to engage in forgery, forgery, theft, receiving stolen property and access device ...
House lawmakers weighed putting a moratorium on AI Chatbots in children’s toys during a committee hearing Monday. The House Communications and Technology Committee heard testimony on House Bill 2637 sponsored by Committee Majority Chair Joseph Ciresi, D-Montgomery. HB2637 sets a three-year moratorium on the manufacture, distribution and sale of toys containing AI Chatbots. Ciresi said the moratorium would help keep children safe, allow more research and give government and the AI industry time to set guardrails. The toys use an internet connection, microphone and a speaker ...
