Any Blair County resident who recalls the Sunday afternoon mystery tours of about a half-century ago knows that it was during those years that “tourism enlightenment” really began to blossom here. To participate in the tours, couples or families obtained “sealed orders” at a designated ...
For millions of American students, public schools have been closed since mid-March. School has been wherever a quiet place could be found in the home. For most, class starts when they and their parents decide it will. That simply will not work for many children. There is a reason we still ...
No doubt some members of Congress had to hold their noses while they were voting for the $2.2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act. CARES includes a ton of money for initiatives that have nothing to do with COVID-19. Why on earth did anyone think it was important to ...
Millions of dollars in stock transactions on behalf of five U.S. senators have raised serious questions about their ethics — and whether they broke laws against insider trading. Clearly, the matter needs to be investigated, but not as a witch hunt with the preconceived notion that someone ...
The coronavirus crisis has millions of workers and thousands of companies wondering when life will get back to normal. That will be weeks or months from now, with the initially optimistic President Donald Trump extending social distancing guidelines through April 30. The real determinant ...
From a 2020-21 budget-planning standpoint, Pennsylvania lawmakers and Gov. Tom Wolf still have adequate time to assemble a responsible spending package prior to the June 30 end of the current fiscal year, despite the challenges and uncertainties that the coronavirus crisis has heaped upon this ...
We Americans are renowned for our compassionate generosity. When we learn of a need, we rush to fill it. It is time to double-down on that attitude of helping others. Throughout the nation, tens of thousands of nonprofit organizations — some big national ones, others strictly local — are ...
At President Donald Trump’s urging, the United States is adding a sixth branch — the “Space Force” — to our armed forces, in order to defend the vast region beyond our atmosphere. Perhaps we should be thinking of inner space, instead. Throughout the nation, public health ...
The coronavirus pandemic is dominating people’s attention, but they must not close their eyes to other potential perils. Unfortunately, there’s one that has been lurking in the proverbial shadows for some time that demands vigilance and parental communication, before it has the ...
Hunters have been persistent in their opinion that culling is not the answer to eradicating chronic wasting disease from the deer, elk and moose populations, and a meeting of Pennsylvania Game Commission representatives, lawmakers and hunters on March 7 in Blair County did not change that ...
Prudence, not panic, needs to be the order of the day among Americans. Unfortunately, not everyone seems to have gotten the memo. During a press conference Sunday, President Donald Trump noted that heads of major retail companies had told him something he never expected to hear: Don’t buy ...
Most of us prefer sunshine. It’s rare to hear someone say, “That was a nice, cloudy day.” We’re invigorated by a glorious sunrise and spend hours outdoors on brilliantly sunny days. As John Denver so succinctly sang, “Sunshine on my shoulders makes me happy.” In journalism, the ...
The U.S. Census Bureau acknowledged its numerous serious challenges last week prior to launching the 2020 decennial head count on Thursday, when 112 million households were scheduled to begin receiving a letter asking them to respond online. As reported in Tuesday’s Wall Street Journal, ...
If the booming stock market during the past couple of years has prompted you to consider whether your 401K will permit early retirement, forget it. Stocks, and thus pension funds on which many Americans rely, have taken a beating during the past month. How bad is it? During the month that ...
Revitalization of America’s coal industry was a notable topic in the 2016 presidential election campaign — certainly for the Southern Alleghenies area and Pennsylvania’s other coal-producing regions - and it also might be an issue during this year’s campaign. If so, the industry will ...
Altoona isn’t the only municipality in the Southern Alleghenies region, encompassing Blair, Bedford, Cambria, Somerset, Huntingdon and Fulton counties, with a blighted — perhaps dangerous — property within its borders. Ride the highways, streets and back roads of the six counties, and ...
Children, even very young ones, can be very difficult. On occasion, parents, teachers and others supervising them have to be very strict to protect the youngsters and others around them. But should a 6-year-old be arrested and carted off to any sort of detention by law enforcement ...
At his news conference Wednesday, President Donald Trump sought to allay fears regarding the worldwide coronavirus outbreak, at least about its ultimate impact on the United States. He indicated that this country is mobilizing its massive health-defense resources against what people across ...
No newspaper or other news outlet should attempt to tell parents how to raise their children, or what values to try to instill in them. That’s a personal decision and responsibility that comes with being a parent. However, there is nothing wrong with news reporting that, in addition to ...
There only can be speculation about whether Precision Scheduled Railroading, while positive financially for railroad companies but already disastrous for many rank-and-file workers, both here and elsewhere, has concluded its “remaking” of the industry. While Altoona’s Juniata Locomotive ...