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Area briefs: Puzzle swap set for Saturday

A puzzle swap will be held from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 15, at Schlow Library in State College. Participants should mark puzzles with missing pieces and make sure boxes and pieces are secure. Attendees do not need to have anything to swap to participate. Casual puzzling will also be an option. There is free parking at the library with validation inside. Democratic women to meet The Blair County Federation of Democratic Women will meet at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 18, at Perkins Restaurant, 3300 Pleasant Valley Blvd., Altoona. All women who are registered Democrats are welcome ...

Pennsylvania Superior Court rejects sex offender’s sentence appeal

A Pennsylvania appeals court has declared that a petition filed by a Bedford County man challenging his lengthy sentence on child sexual abuse charges was untimely and therefore was dismissed. The Pennsylvania Superior Court this week indicated in an opinion written by Judge Megan King that ...

Convicted child rapist deemed sexually violent predator

HOLLIDAYSBURG — A city man serving a 20- to 40-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to child rape was found to be a sexually violent predator following an evaluation by the state Sexual Offender’s Assessment Board. Judge Jackie Atherton Bernard accepted the evaluation in the case of ...

State law on mineral rights defies court ruling

HARRISBURG — A law quietly passed this summer aimed to end a complicated, decade-plus legal fight over who owns an estimated $1 billion in Pennsylvania natural gas. It may have only begun a new, even messier chapter. At issue are mineral rights — which give holders the right to extract coal, oil, gas, or ore — underneath as few as 60,000 acres to more than one million, depending on which side you ask. For years, a group of families, led by the Proctor family trust, has waged a legal battle with the state over mineral rights that they say their ancestors acquired more than a ...

Blair County Proud submissions sought

When a helping hand is needed, service organizations are there — to provide food to those who are hungry, to offer shelter to those in need, to offer a shoulder to lean on or to simply listen. These groups make Blair County special — and make us proud. The Mirror is seeking help to ...

State confronts measles outbreak

Pennsylvania is facing a growing measles outbreak with the start of another school year and different approaches by Harrisburg and Washington toward vaccines. The state Department of Health provides two new online tools this summer to help the public and parents track measles cases by county and in schools. A dashboard for the general public provides measles case details by county, age and hospitalization rates. The dashboard is updated three times a week. The school immunization rates interactive data tool launched last week provides information and annual data regarding vaccinations ...