The battle against COVID-19 may well have been the world’s greatest challenge since World War II, and just as life after the war was not the same as it was before, life after the coronavirus is almost certainly not going to be the same as it was 15 months ago. To cite just one example, so ...

As we head down the stretch of a school year unlike any before it, plans are being finalized for how local schools will honor the graduating class of seniors. While we are making great progress on the fight against COVID-19 and more and more people are choosing to get vaccinated every day, we ...

Republican lawmakers are correct in urging Gov. Tom Wolf to fire the company whose mishandling of coronavirus-related data impacted at least 72,000 people. Beyond the called-for firing, state leaders need to take a long, hard look into the “window” that allowed the company to be hired on ...

The fatal hit-run accident in Logan Township on April 29 must remain a wake-up call regarding the need for tougher enforcement in the highway corridor consisting of Plank Road, Pleasant Valley Boulevard and Valley View Boulevard. The speeding problem within the corridor is — and has been ...

Among other things, President Joe Biden called for passage of the “PRO Act” on Wednesday during his first address before a joint session of Congress. The Protecting the Right to Organize Act, which the U.S. House passed by a narrow margin of 224-194 in March, is part of Biden’s ...

If a new report dealing with unpaid federal taxes is accurate — and doubt has not been cast regarding the correctness of the information — it is time for the government to assemble a major strategy built upon the old adage “you have to spend money to make money.” Beyond that, the ...

State Government Committee Chairman Seth Grove, R-York, has been holding hearings in the Legislature since November, focusing on the general election of 2020 and the issues that cropped up during that election. Pennsylvania’s election law, originally passed in 1937, was updated during the ...

Young people grow up, finish their schooling and leave the area in search of jobs. Meanwhile, employers could grow their businesses if only they could find skilled workers. So how can our society get the two together? State Rep. Clint Owlett, R-Wellsboro, is the prime sponsor of a bill ...

Residents of Dean Township in northeastern Cambria County have had three weeks to digest the friction-filled goings-on at their municipal government’s monthly meeting on April 5. Even now they should be unhappy about what occurred, regardless of their position about the controversial ...

Gov. Tom Wolf, apparently unsatisfied with controlling merely everything in Pennsylvania related to the COVID-19 pandemic, has decided he now needs to decree what is best regarding the state’s charter schools, despite the fact that up until recently, it appeared he and the state Legislature ...

Hope was delivered to all Pennsylvanians who are 16 or older with word that all are eligible as of this past Tuesday to get the COVID-19 vaccine. We should all embrace this opportunity. A successful vaccination program is essential to our recovery and the renewal of our full and vibrant lives ...

Altoona Mayor Matt Pacifico was right in calling the recently passed American Rescue Plan a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.” It is imperative that the city make the best use possible of the estimated $41 million that Altoona will be receiving, to be spent by 2024. Half of the money will ...

The Pennsylvania State Police announced last week it will make it a priority to hire as many as 65 women who were otherwise qualified to become troopers but were not hired because they could not meet rigorous physical fitness standards — standards that apparently were not required to perform ...

For many people, on the coattails of hearing good news comes their pessimism-rooted instinct to question what bad news might be lurking in the proverbial shadows. This month, on the state front, Pennsylvania residents received bad news first, followed a day later by welcome news that a ...

Traditions are traditions for a reason, so we understand why some — perhaps many — hunters may be opposed to the Pennsylvania Game Commission choosing to combine the firearms buck and doe seasons into a single two-week period. The PGC is calling them “antlered” and “antlerless” ...

Pennsylvania’s revenue situation can be likened to what every day can be seen on the Weather Channel. One financial report sees storm clouds bearing down on the commonwealth; then, out of the fiscal atmosphere, rays of sunshine break through the clouds and portend calmer, pleasant ...

From a retail perspective, downtown Altoona never will be the place it was a half-century ago, before businesses’ exodus to the corridor consisting of Plank Road, Pleasant Valley Boulevard and Valley View Boulevard. However, the downtown has maintained a service character that, while not as ...

One year ago, the COVID-19 pandemic was taking direct aim and we were scrambling to avoid being struck. Almost immediately, it seemed, many nursing homes were under siege with not only cases of the coronavirus but soon also deaths. Trying to get information for any specific nursing home in ...

Especially this year, use Easter to restore hope A slow evolution toward the way Easter was celebrated around the world pre-pandemic is occurring this weekend as Christians here and beyond commemorate Jesus Christ’s victory over death but also try to abide by recommended COVID-19 safety ...

Today, Good Friday, people around the world engage in prayerful remembrance of the death of Jesus Christ on the cross on Mount Calvary. For Christians, it is the most solemn day of the year. Unfortunately, like during most of last year, there is much additional suffering and death upon ...