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Prison plans should shift into high gear

Mostly aimed at Blair County governments of the past, well-deserved criticism about procrastination over the issue of a new county prison has been meted out in this space. The need for a new incarceration facility has been known for decades by government leaders as well as many other people of this county. The problem has been that, rather than tackling new construction when a new facility could have been built for a small fraction of the current cost, county leaders chose instead to kick the proverbial can down the road and hope some future commissioners board would “pick it ...

PennDOT improvements vast over past

The Mirror’s April 14 edition provided a detailed look at the 2026 schedule of highway work in the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation’s District 9, which encompasses Blair, Bedford, Cambria, Somerset, Huntingdon and Fulton counties. The work schedule will continue the record of progress that has evolved at PennDOT over the past 50 years. Many older residents of this region can recall the 1970s, when large potholes were common on area roadways. One story emanating from that troubled highway era was that a northern Blair resident, apparently to call attention to a ...

Corp. welfare for hospitals raising costs

Hospitals are not as unpopular as other health care sectors, such as drug manufacturers and insurance companies. But like other businesses, they are prone to rent-seeking and fiercely defensive of special breaks. Case in point: The 340B drug discount program. The federal program was created in 1992 to help hospitals and clinics in poor communities. In recent weeks, it has become the target of new lawsuits over complaints that wealthy health systems are abusing the benefits and driving up costs for everyone else. The program requires pharmaceutical companies to sell drugs at a ...

County must ensure CYF stays strong

The Blair County commissioners are justified in breathing a sigh of relief these days that their efforts on behalf of the county’s Children, Youth & Families department have paid off. The Pennsylvania Department of Human Services has restored the full operating license of the Blair agency following nearly four years of intense local anxiety over the ultimate fate of CYF and its vital mission. Going forward, the challenge will be to ensure that CYF does not return to the problem existence within which it had languished for so long. Accomplishing that will necessitate close scrutiny ...

Economy a must-watch for election

Eye-opening at the top of the Wall Street Journal’s April 11-12 edition was the headline “Inflation hits two-year high.” Reporting that consumer prices jumped 3.3% in March from a year earlier, the largest increase in two years, the Journal said the April 10 inflation report from the U.S. Labor Department “was in line with the expectations of economists surveyed” by the newspaper “but the March reading was much hotter than February’s gain of 2.4%” The Journal continued: “The report is the first to capture the impact of the Iran war on inflation.” The Journal ...

WISE women truly make a difference

WISE Women of Blair County deserves applause for another successful Tribute ceremony and for the contribution it makes to our community. The organization, which hosted this year’s annual dinner on Wednesday at the Blair County Convention Center, honored seven women for their contributions that have made our community better. At a time when it’s easy to get caught up in governmental politics and the rhetoric among leaders who may or may not be making wise decisions, the Tribute ceremony provided a chance to hear about seven women whose interactions with others truly make a ...