Breaking News

Editorials

McCrory’s story one of success

The former McCrory’s 5 & 10 building in downtown Altoona has proven all of its naysayers wrong. By “naysayers” we mean those people who could envision no chance of saving the formerly deteriorated 11th Avenue structure. Even if the building itself were rehabilitated, the naysayers believed, it would be next to impossible to find anyone confident enough in its future to want to try operating a business in it. Wrong! A building that had seemed destined for the wrecking ball — if it were able to avoid collapse before the wrecking ball arrived to demolish it — is once again ...

Humanity won on that Easter long ago

Believers in the Scriptures wake up on Easter morning knowing that if they will be attending a church service, they will hear a by-now-familiar message about the frantic pre-dawn moments of the first Easter Sunday 2,000 years ago. A familiar message, yes, but one that does not get boring or otherwise “old.” “On the first day of the week,” according to the gospel of John, “Mary of Magdala came to the tomb early in the morning, while it was still dark, and saw the stone removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and ...

Outcome of NS case important

A major development affecting one railroad company usually is assumed to apply to others as well, if not immediately then over the long term. Therefore, all railroad companies, especially the major carriers, are no doubt monitoring closely how much success, if any, Norfolk Southern Railroad will have in trying to force two other companies to help pay for the $600 million class-action settlement to which Norfolk agreed in connection with its February 2023 derailment near the Ohio-Pennsylvania border. Regardless of how current court proceedings conclude, railroad watchers probably ...

Parking may come down to mindset

In an April 9 front page Mirror article about downtown Altoona parking, a representative of Mountain View Eye Associates was quoted as saying, “The biggest thing anyone says is it really sucks to park (in the center city area).” Some people might disagree with the tone of that quote, but it must be acknowledged how challenging and frustrating parking has become in the downtown for many other people — and a turn-off to coming back unless absolutely necessary. Still, Altoona is not alone. Gone are the days when cities of Altoona’s size had a number of privately owned parking ...

Fire safety important all the time

Near the end of an April 2 front-page Mirror article about a fire that damaged an Altoona home, a paragraph noted “there has been a rash of fires in the city lately, including two fatal fires on successive days — March 18 and 19.” For city residents old enough to remember the redevelopment decades of the 1960s and 1970s, the spate of recent blazes might have resurrected memories of the structure fires here that were not uncommon during those earlier years when the city began embracing an expanded character that was not deeply embedded in the railroad industry. Blazes in the ...

Retailers must work to meet shoppers’ needs

Shoppers here go about their usual routines, but seldom, if ever, can one be heard expressing “out of nowhere” what is on his or her mind while walking amid racks of clothing looking for a particular item or size. It might be refreshing to shoppers and be a future bragging point on behalf of this region’s brick-and-mortar retailers if at least some area stores would assign occasionally an assistant manager or some other designated employee to watch customers’ facial expressions for the purpose of inquiring about their shopping experience in progress and what might be ...