Former Altoona, Allegheny Township and Penn State Altoona police officer Christopher Cohn consistently demonstrated understanding and kindness, especially with people who were having a hard time, according to those who knew him, speaking this week after Cohn’s death Sept. 23 at age ...
HARRISBURG — For the first time in recent memory, a bill to open up Pennsylvania’s primary elections to unaffiliated voters has passed the state House. The bill still faces tough odds of becoming law, particularly since there are only two months left in the 2025-2026 legislative session. ...
HOLLIDAYSBURG — The woman who was kidnapped alongside her two children in September 2025 by a Virginia Beach man testified to fearing for her and her children’s lives during the high speed chase that ultimately ended with his arrest. The woman took the stand to detail the ordeal during ...
To preserve local history, the Blair County Genealogical Society is accepting donations to digitize area newspapers, including many out-of-print publications. After those newspapers are digitized in their library system, people can inquire for PDF newspaper clippings priced per page in person at the Genealogical Society and via email. “There’s tidbits about family that have gone missing, like a birthday party or a 50th wedding anniversary or a baptism,” said Jim Snyder Jr., president of the Blair County Genealogical Society Inc. He said the project costs $6,000 to digitize ...
Officials of the organization that operates the state-mandated recycling program for Altoona, Logan Township and Hollidaysburg are looking for ways to increase revenues, so the organization can more easily make ends meet. An additional total of about $92,000 in annual costs for health insurance and wages since 2019 and slower delivery of entitlement grants from the state, coupled with almost flat revenues, is making it difficult for the Intermunicipal Relations Committee to put together a budget for 2027, according to Executive Director Brock Bryan. Bryan and committee members ...
A former Altoona man who is in a state correctional institution on multiple drug-related offenses has failed to convince the Pennsylvania Superior Court his sentence was “manifestly unjust.” Allen Lee Phelan Jr., 50, who lived in an apartment on the 1200 block of 15th Avenue, was ...
