Breaking News

Editorials

Employers should be open to ‘fair chance’

It is reasonable to conclude that virtually all companies and all supervisory employees, at one time or another, have run into employees who wanted a job but didn’t really want to work — who wanted the pay but didn’t really want to put forth the effort to earn it. Such employees undermine their company’s overall performance and, thus, often erode the company’s bottom line. In this competitive business world, that truly must be characterized as unsustainable and must be addressed quickly. Enough of that, though, because this editorial will be focusing on a resource that ...

It’s a good idea to cut drug costs

The White House has proposed good and bad ideas to reduce drug costs. Among the better ones is a reform of the obscure 340B drug program, which enriches large hospitals at the expense of patients. Cue the protests from the hospital lobby. The 340B program is a classic example of a well-intended policy that has caused unintended harm. Congress established the program in 1992 to help hospitals that disproportionately serve Medicaid and low-income patients. Such hospitals are allowed to buy outpatient drugs at steeply discounted rates, on average about 45% of a drug’s list ...

No room for haste in trail plan

The future holds the answer of how the issue of a proposed trail network on Altoona Water Authority land in the Sugar Run Road area will shake out. The only thing certain at this time is that much discussion should be accorded the idea before a final decision is rendered. The threat of a lawsuit has been issued by a landowner in that area regarding the prospect of noise emanating from the trail, although there could be other concerns as well. Meanwhile, existing support for the trail idea includes the argument that the proposal would be for the best, but in what ways merits further ...

Children, not drivers, have right-of-way

Right-thinking people of Pennsylvania have to be wondering whether the study associated with obtaining a driver’s license in this state has begun being regarded as something that doesn’t really matter — that the information presented is part of a lame exercise worthy of being forgotten quickly. Does Pennsylvania really have so many drivers who don’t know what blinking red lights on a school bus mean? Then there’s the obvious follow-up question: Does Pennsylvania really have so many drivers ignorant of the potential costs associated with the illegal practice — in human ...

RFK Jr.’s vision of CDC should alarm Congress

Susan Monarez’s 28-day tenure as the nation’s top public health official was doomed from the start. Her boss, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., wanted her to do two things: champion his dubious anti-vaccine agenda and uphold “gold-standard science” at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Recognizing the conflict, Monarez chose the latter and was fired last month. Monarez’s departure from the CDC highlights a dilemma that any successor will face: Under Kennedy, no serious scientist can hold the job. The risk this vacuum of expertise could pose to Americans’ health and safety ...

Kick off holidays with giving

First thoughts of the end-of-year holiday season emerge for many people as summer gives way to autumn. This year autumn begins on Sept. 22 and, by then, many other residents of this area already will have turned their thoughts away from summer’s hot, sultry days and refocused on the cooler conditions evolving and the beauty of the changing leaves. Mention the phrase “season of sharing” and Christmas comes to mind, as well as something else that has become important here amid all else that the holiday season delivers. That “something else” is the Altoona Mirror’s annual ...