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MLK message cannot be overstated

On this national holiday honoring the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., some people might be wondering what can be said about him that has not already been said. That’s a fair, logical question, considering how King’s life, speeches, leadership and the goals and causes he promoted have been dissected time and time again, especially since his assassination on April 4, 1968, on a motel balcony in Memphis, Tenn. However, since Martin Luther King Jr. Day 2023, a book published on May 16 of last year has provided another round of comprehensive insight into the life of the civil rights ...

Cancer research should not have restrictive limits

It is difficult for the average person to understand what parameters might be in play when the words “preliminary research” are used in connection with the battle against cancer. Unfortunately, on the issue of trying to determine the right time to stop cancer immunotherapy, medical researchers and doctors might be compelled to continue using those two words for a much longer time than they formerly anticipated. What is forcing the existence of that situation is an inadequate number of cancer patients willing to participate in supervised testing in question. Meanwhile, drug ...

Local agency downfall is disturbing

All considered, the Blair County Community Action Program probably will be better off under the eventual control of the Everett-based Center for Community Action than as it currently exists. The bulk of Blair residents probably have been unaware of how much the local agency’s problems have worsened. Mirror readers who read all of reporter William Kibler’s Jan. 6-7 article now have a better perspective of to what extent the Blair agency has devolved. Those who have recognized the local agency’s value over the years might have felt shaken by some of what they read last weekend, ...

Seeing both sides of IRS Christmas gift

In the days leading up to Christmas, without referring to it as such, the Internal Revenue Service revealed that it would be giving a “Christmas present” to roughly 4.6 million Americans who owe back taxes for the tax years 2020 and 2021, as an incentive for those taxpayers to pay up their past-due amounts. That “gift” involves waiving nearly $1 billion in late-payment penalties. By law, interest tied to that overdue money cannot be forgiven by the IRS – and continues to accumulate. If the newly announced gesture achieves its desired result – bringing the ...

City’s tax bump will help future

An article published in the Mirror’s Dec. 11 edition not only reported on the Beaver County community of Aliquippa’s exodus from state fiscally distressed status. That article also delved into Altoona’s exodus from the same program in 2017 after only five years of that unwanted status. With the start of a new year — one that will see Altoona property owners pay only an additional half-mill of city real estate tax — it is a good time to reflect on why the Mountain City is in the solid financial shape it can boast about while numerous other Pennsylvania municipalities are ...

Our political foundation must improve

America’s current political climate already is portending that 2024 could end up being one of this nation’s most ugly years ever. What a terrible observation on which to welcome or anchor a new year, but it is true. This country is engaged in a dangerous “game” inside politics that really is not a game. Rather, what is in play is an exercise of hatefulness, bitterness and harshness that could undermine the United States for generations. Anyone who does not know the meaning of the words “virulent” or “virulence” needs to look them up in a dictionary, pronto, then ...