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Facing issues best done immediately

Too often, elected officials act as if they are walking among uncooked eggs when they’re faced with a tough issue. They are fearful of cracking open the eggs and unleashing a sticky, hard-to-clean-up mess — when sometimes such a mess already exists. It was the Blair County commissioners who were faced with that kind of a dilemma early this year in connection with the county Planning Commission but, to their credit, they navigated it appropriately. Recent days confirmed the importance and correctness of what action they felt they needed to take, as well as how problematic ...

Lawmakers need lessons on compromise

Pennsylvania has an approved 2026-27 budget; that’s the good news. The bad news is how much unfinished budget-related business the state General Assembly has before it, but was unable to accomplish, despite missing the June 30 statutory budget-completion deadline by nearly two weeks. For starters, lawmakers were unable to come to agreement on a regulatory framework for skill games, including taxing those devices. While some state residents might regard that as unimportant, from a fiscal standpoint it is, because it is estimated that taxing those games could generate about $2 ...

Leniency on property right decision

Despite giving an example of blight in their municipality the tough attention it deserves, the Logan Township supervisors extended a degree of leniency — correctly — to the owner of a blighted property on Sandy Run Road, giving her about four months to get the unsightly situation under control. The supervisors had the option to file a misdemeanor code-violation charge against the property owner, based on the fact that repeated citations had been issued against the property. However, all considered, the supervisors’ action probably was the right move, due to all of the ...

Questions abound on state budget

What if, in the weeks leading up to April 15, Pennsylvania taxpayers adopted the attitude that they would settle their state tax obligation whenever they got around to it, whether that was before, on or after the tax-filing deadline? On or before, no problem. However, what if the bulk of taxpayers decided that the deadline wasn’t really important — that it was just a date — and that they would complete their tax filing — whenever? Again, no problem. There wouldn’t be any financial penalty for missing the deadline, including no interest penalty for any money owed. The ...

New pet emergency team lauded

Altoona’s Salvation Army Worship and Service Center has made a meaningful commitment by way of its decision to expand its already laudable work agenda. The new agenda item centers on the area’s animal population, specifically during emergency circumstances. All area emergency services should open themselves to what the local Salvation Army unit wants to do and begin a positive working relationship — a partnership — as soon as possible. Developing that relationship should be easy, and that cooperative agenda should be encouraged enthusiastically by area residents, whether or ...

Why does Pa. have a budget deadline?

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review Here we are again. July. The annual observance is upon us. No. Not Independence Day. Less celebratory, possibly just as explosive. Pennsylvania once more has seen the yearly state budget deadline — and blown past it like a reckless driver. Did anyone expect anything else? Hoped, sure, but expected? Doubtful. This is the fifth consecutive budget to miss deadline and the 15th in the past 23 years. That means the state is consistently delinquent in its obligations: to its residents, to county and local governments and to its own agencies. In 2025, the ...