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‘Hero’ notion for Mangione needs a rethink

Altoona has been accorded deserved praise but also has been inflicted with an undeserved black eye over the Luigi Mangione case — Mangione being the suspect in the high-profile murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson Dec. 4 outside a New York City hotel. The latter is totally without cause, saddening people here who still firmly believe that murder is not a good thing. But reject any thought that Mangione, from a prominent Baltimore real estate family, is destined to rot and die in prison, a forgotten man, if he is convicted of the heinous New York crime. Considering the ...

Mathematics hysteria long overdue

Disagreement persists inside and outside of the political arena over what books school children should be permitted to read, tied to classroom work, and over what books should be banned from their eyesight. Censorship always will be a volatile discussion issue in what is touted as a free country. For many adults, including parents and politicians, what education professionals think — including education professionals who have spent decades helping to educate children without others second-guessing — now doesn’t matter. Some people prefer to form their changes-need-to-be-made ...

Generous gift ensures pool for future

Most people maintain a special place in their heart for memories related to the community where they were born and/or grew up — even decades after leaving to pursue their life’s dreams and ambitions. However, it is much rarer for that fond remembrance and loyalty to be demonstrated years later by way of a large gift to benefit the community as a whole or some specific part of it. Meanwhile, there probably isn’t a place in America where natives of a community are lined up waiting to give a gift having lasting significance to that “home” of happy memories. Fortunately for ...

History shows, US can’t relax safety protocols

Eighty-three years ago this weekend, Americans spent most of the day contemplating with uneasy hearts what the future would bring. Dec. 7, 1941, was the day Japan opted for the gamble that Americans would be caught off-guard and that this country would succumb to the imperialistic intentions of the Far East power. Japan did succeed on that day 83 years ago. It caught America’s Pacific Fleet off-guard, resulting in a heavy loss of life, as well as ships, as well as other defense hardware. However, the fool’s paradise that the surprise attack on America concocted for Japan was ...

Tax increase will enable city progress

For Altoona, 2025 could prove to be pivotal to the point of being reminiscent of the “new” Mountain City that evolved during the course of two decades, the 1960s and 1970s. The 1960s and ’70s — the major redevelopment decades — established a positive foundation upon which the city has, since, continued to build and to establish new strategies and strengths, despite formidable obstacles and setbacks along the way, many money-related, some not. With a new comprehensive plan in place, the city has the opportunity to pursue multi-faceted improvement, perhaps not on the ...

Dermatologists important part of health care

Jerry Seinfeld educed laughter from his television audiences when he called his dermatologist girlfriend “pimple popper M.D.” But people who pooh-pooh dermatologists’ place in medicine are missing an important part of the overall medical picture. The examinations dermatologists perform often identify problems or the beginnings of conditions of concern that other physicians might miss in what most people regard as “regular” examinations. Dermatologists often identify early signs of diseases, such as types of cancer that manifest, for instance, as rashes, and even tumors. ...