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Public notices must remain accessible

Some state lawmakers seem to think they have come up with a way to modernize how local governing bodies get the word out about their meetings, pending actions, tax increases, new ordinances and other measures. But Senate Bill 194 — which resurrects the idea of putting public notices on governmental websites — is another way to keep the public in the dark because the idea begs the question: “Who’s going to see them there?” Public notices have long been published in the classified section of local printed newspapers. Those who follow local governments regularly monitor that ...

EPA’s work in derailment far from done

An Associated Press article about the Feb. 3, 2023, Norfolk Southern train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, said the accident prompted a national reckoning with rail safety and calls for reform, although proposals for new industry rules stalled in Congress. Unfortunately, though, with each new development related to the 2023 accident, that well-intentioned reckoning still underway seems farther from completion than it was just days before. A new development, reported in the June 4 Mirror, provided ample testimony to that. According to that article, a specialized plane equipped with ...

Baby Agnes mystery needs to be solved

The possibility exists that someone — or some persons — in Blair County or somewhere else in the region might be feeling much anxiety or outright fear today as a result of an announcement last week by this county’s coroner and the Pennsylvania State Police. For the benefit of anyone who might have missed the announcement, Coroner Ray Benton and the state police revealed that the unidentified partial remains of a child found deceased on Feb. 5, 1987, in a wooded area between Pinecroft and Bellwood had been exhumed on June 10 with the purpose of attempting to obtain DNA ...

Trust between parents, kids most important

Julie Jargon’s Family & Tech column on the Personal Journal page of the June 9 Wall Street Journal focused on “sextortion” scams involving Apple Messages that ended in tragedy. She wrote that in 2024, more than 5,000 sextortion cases were reported by the public to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and to Thorn, a child-safety nonprofit. But it was the individual tragedies that she recounted and the photos of the victims that accompanied the article that proved the horrific nature of what occurred. The article and photos also provided the realization that ...

Cellphone law could be tougher

The expression “time flies” is familiar to most people. However, time cannot “fly” fast enough regarding Pennsylvania’s new handheld-cellphone ban for individuals operating motor vehicles on commonwealth roadways. Until the full teeth of the law replaces the wishy-washy provisions currently in place, innocent drivers or vehicle passengers could die or be maimed — just because only a warning will be issued now, rather than a monetary penalty from violators’ wallets or pocketbooks. The possibility of a fine, rather than a warning, could deter some drivers from risking use ...

Rise in alcohol use by women concerning

There is a new “chapter” in the saga of alcohol-consumption health consequences. Actually, the chapter itself is not new, but there’s a new recognition that hasn’t been front-and-center in a widespread way up to now. Now that recognition is becoming more visible and, with that, more troubling. Women and their spouses — or significant others — need to pay attention and, perhaps, have some heart-to-heart discussions about what’s at stake and what needs to be done to avert a tragic outcome. No right-thinking person should consider the issue one to be pooh-poohed. Those who ...