Standardized testing required by the State of Pennsylvania should be a realistic barometer of what children have learned rather than how well their schools have prepared them specifically for the examination. That’s the underlying issue dogging the tests known as the Pennsylvania System of ...
There’s nothing wrong with the Claysburg-Kimmel School Board’s 8-1 decision on Aug. 9 to seek help from the Pennsylvania School Boards Association regarding the district’s search for a new superintendent. Claysburg-Kimmel agreed to pay the PSBA $3,500 for its assistance in finding a ...
The words “hero,” “heroic” and “heroism” all apply to today’s emergency responders. They put their own personal well-being, as well as their lives, on the line every time they respond to a call. The current opioid epidemic has added a new dimension to the challenges with which ...
First-class postage stamps at 49 cents each may be about to go the way of the carrier pigeon. By next month, the Postal Service may be given permission to increase stamp prices dramatically. Increasing use of online communications has hurt the Postal Service, cutting deeply into its ...
Neither in the plain wording of the First Amendment nor in numerous court decisions reaffirming and elaborating on it is there any license for violence or inciting it. Yet some of those who use free speech as a shield clearly are bent on doing harm to others. A small group of bigots was ...
Decision-making quicksand within Pennsylvania’s state government continues to impede progress in completing work related to the $32 billion 2017-18 state budget — the spending part of which was passed and signed into law about a month and a half ago. There’s no sign that the current ...
Antis Township’s decision to abandon maintenance of two roads within the Northside Modular Village development was a decision too long delayed. For years, the township acted improperly in performing maintenance on Northside Drive and Waterline Drive — mostly at taxpayers’ expense — ...
If President Donald Trump’s proposed trillion-dollar national infrastructure-improvement initiative now were on the verge of evaluating shovel-ready projects for funding, the borough of Duncansville’s busiest corridor might be a good candidate for a grant under that program. The ...
A package of emergency funding for the Department of Veterans Affairs was approved by the U.S. Senate this past week. It includes $2.1 billion for a special program to ensure veterans are not kept waiting for health care treatment at VA facilities. Meanwhile, the agency continues to spend in ...
Wednesday’s train derailment in the southwestern Bedford County borough of Hyndman, while tragic, can also spawn appreciation for all of the strides that have been made in terms of railroad safety. While last week’s accident might make some people skeptical about whether enough has been ...
It shouldn’t have taken Pennsylvania 25 years to launch a new public review of the basic mission of the state parks system. The system, which now consists of 121 parks, should be subjected to a thorough evaluation at least once every 10 years. Too much can change — or deteriorate — over ...
It’s always nice to see local products make good, and that is certainly the case with Altoona’s Dan Ott. The 25-year-old found himself at the center of the poker world during the World Series of Poker that was televised nationally by ESPN over several days and wrapped up July 23. Poker ...
Freshman state Sen. Wayne Langerholc Jr.’s proposal that Cambria County be removed from the list of counties where a vehicle emissions test is required each year should not be approved without a close evaluation by environmental experts and the opportunity for public input at formal ...
In reference to the article on July 25 concerning the sale of WTRN, I find myself confused by the court’s attempt to restrict correspondence with the FCC and to cease posting on social media by Ted Simpson, son of the late owner. I feel that there is shown a disregard of the constitution ...
Now that the Pennsylvania Senate has put forth proposals for completing funding of the approved $32 billion 2017-18 state budget, the next step is for the state House to agree or disagree with some or all of them — and unveil new options that it deems workable. As last week ended, with the ...
No one disputes that the death of a woman at the hands of Minneapolis police was a terrible mistake. There was no ill intent. Nevertheless, Australian Justine Damond, who had been living in Minneapolis, is dead. She leaves behind a grief-stricken fiance and scores of people who remember her ...
An effort in the Pennsylvania General Assembly to toughen the commonwealth’s lobbying law is constructed on what appears to be proper consideration and sound judgment. The proposed legislation, House Bill 1175, passed the state House on a unanimous vote July 7, paving the way for the ...
If your household is being bombarded by robocalls and you’re irritated about your inability to stop them, now is the right time for you to sound off. Until July 31, the Federal Communications Commission is accepting public comment on the FCC chairman’s proposed rules to allow telephone ...
Monday’s front-page Mirror article about schools’ efforts geared at curbing cyberbullying acknowledged the difficulties and limits inherent in that mission. Among the school district superintendents quoted in the article was Portage Area’s Eric Zelanko, who expressed the importance of ...
Talk among the politicians in Washington often seems to focus on why the government needs to spend more. If the justification is not national security, it probably will be health care. There seems to be precious little thought given to a serious, growing threat to both our welfare and ...