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Anticipating NTSB report on East Palestine

The National Transportation Safety Board’s investigation of the February 2023 Norfolk Southern train derailment at East Palestine, Ohio, near that state’s border with Pennsylvania, probably will not be complete until this summer. But as an Associated Press article printed in the Feb. 2 Mirror showed, the scrutiny being accorded the after-derailment decision -making process is destined to produce valuable information for guiding railroads’ handling of such dangerous, health- and life-threatening events, going forward. If there is one shred of proverbial silver lining stemming ...

Here’s hoping Lakemont can find answers

The “new” Lakemont Park is going to require adjustment for the individuals and families that continue to patronize the recreational facility. Unfortunately, it won’t be an adjustment to which most of those park-goers are looking forward. Lakemont Park 2024 will be a scaled-back version, even of its most recent self. The decisions made on behalf of the park for the coming recreation season are mostly unwelcome but at the same time necessary. It also is true the changes coming have seemed inevitable for some time, and that is not said with the purpose of criticizing or casting ...

Data focused on young drivers can save lives

This weekend’s editorial is about potential harm and actual harm, from a couple of different vantage points. For example, widespread uneasiness at this time continues to focus on vaping. Questions and concerns about it have been on the minds of people young and not-so-young for about as long as vaping has existed, but numerous uncertainties about it still abound. Reflect on how attitudes about traditional cigarettes have changed since a U.S. surgeon general’s report about the dangers cigarette smoking poses was released 60 years ago. Now, some public health experts have ...

Here’s hoping Gables can be restored

Altoona natives, about to arrive in the downtown after a long absence, usually cannot help harboring certain expectations about what they will see, even if they haven’t kept in touch with their roots for years or even decades. Most returnees, while reflecting on their Altoona past as they anticipate the downtown of today, recall the sights associated with the city’s long railroad history, images of the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament, the Mishler Theatre, Penn Alto Hotel and, perhaps, the towers for the elderly and handicapped. Of course, they might also harbor in their minds ...

Holiday spending data represents a positive sign

As the end of January approaches, the holiday shopping frenzy and the spending that accompanied it increasingly take the proverbial back seat to things more current — that is, of course, except for lingering holiday-related credit card debt. Now the attention is shifting in a big way to Valentine’s Day and, for many couples, the anticipation of becoming engaged. Just like those Christmas gifts that made that holiday special and bolstered the economy in the process, engagement ring purchases at this time of the year provide an economic shot-in-the-arm having a positive impact long ...

Convention Center report encouraging

Based on the Blair County Convention Center’s latest financial report, the facility is poised for an optimistic future, assuming that nothing horrific like the COVID-19 pandemic derails it. For the benefit of newcomers to the county, as well as others who might have lost track of the center amid all of the pandemic news in much of 2020, the center’s closure that year thrust it into a tailspin. Financial disaster was able to be averted because of skilled management, the center board of directors’ insight and competence plus some wise decisions preceding the health ...