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Community urged to share in outreach

Uncertainty is a very real part of all fund-raising campaigns. The main uncertainty is whether the cause for which money is being raised — or whatever else is being sought — will be deemed by potential contributors as worthy of their support. Even large-scale fundraising such as what Penn State University’s annual dance marathon THON seeks to accomplish carries with it a degree of uncertainty — such as whether the state of the economy will result in smaller or reduced-number of pledges, or whether the event was publicized enough prior to the start of the event. Then ...

Williamsburg tree issues require bids

Aside from their beauty, trees can be dangerous, even deadly. While adverse weather conditions such as high winds or heavy rains put varying degrees of stress on these “towers of nature,” there also are uncontrollable natural factors that weaken them as they age. It’s not unlike what humans and animals experience as they grow older and eventually die. However, for trees, that process can evolve over, perhaps, hundreds of years. Regarding trees and not unlike humans, these towering components of the environment should be accorded attention — at least those that exist outside ...

Georgia issue is a problem all prisons face

Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr is seeking help from Washington. You might already be asking, “Why should that be of interest to me?” Actually, it should be of interest to everyone. According to a report in the Sept. 15 edition of the Wall Street Journal, Carr wants authorization to jam cell signals and permission to shoot down drones. The actions would not be directed at law-abiding residents of his state; neither is he implying that such actions should be directed at law-abiding individuals anywhere else in this country. It’s problem people upon which he is focused, ...

Tyrone survey laudable

The message “it’s important to be persistent,” contained in a Sept. 19-20 Mirror article about the Altoona Redevelopment Authority’s “scaling up” of its battle against blight in the city, is especially apropos regarding Tyrone’s push to obtain public input concerning the future of the borough. In the redevelopment article in question, Josh Kaufman, the city’s designated blight manager, was listed as the person responsible for “digging into ownership” of problem properties in an effort to uncover individuals willing to deal with the authority. “It’s important ...

Universities walk tightrope with free speech

Free speech isn’t easy. It’s a balancing act between opposing positions: what can be said, what should be said, and what the consequences are. It is a tug-of-war Carnegie Mellon University is experiencing in different ways. The school is investigating posts by a professor that are garnering criticism. Uju Anya is an associate professor of second-language acquisition. It is the study of learning new ways to speak. Perhaps it is ironic that Anya’s words are creating trouble. The words in question are social media posts, some recent and some going back years. They are easy ...

There is hope for malls, but it’s dim

For several decades, Americans have been pronouncing the mall shopping experience either dead or on the verge of such an end. The Southern Alleghenies region has not been spared from witnessing and experiencing that unfortunate, long-evolving development. Anyone familiar with the problems of Altoona’s Logan Valley Mall and Johnstown’s Galleria — as well as the demise many years ago of Johnstown’s Richland Mall — can attest to how shopping habits and interests have changed over the years and reshaped the local-level and regional retail climates. The centerpiece of a mall ...