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Carriers remain our newspaper’s unsung heroes

Your newspaper carrier might be a dedicated, responsible young boy or girl who makes his or her paper deliveries before leaving for school. Your newspaper carrier might be a mother or father who, before the rest of the family is awake, “speeds” on foot through his or her neighborhood ensuring that morning’s Mirror is wherever it is routinely delivered — and where subscribers expect it to be — whenever they go to retrieve it. Oftentimes those parents — or siblings — serve as a substitute carrier whenever the regular carrier is ill or otherwise has some circumstance ...

An exciting future awaits PSU Altoona

The front page of the Sept. 28 Wall Street Journal featured a photo with the following message above it: “371: A space odyssey ends for NASA astronaut.” The photo was a lead-in to the edition’s Page 2 article headlined “NASA astronaut returns after record-setting year.” NASA astronaut Frank Rubio set a record for a space flight by an American, having spent 371 days in space in a Russian spacecraft, along with two cosmonauts. According to NASA, Rubio went to space as part of what was known as Expedition 68, which studied how spaceflights affect heart health. NASA ...

Railroad industry making strides to better safety

The horrific Norfolk Southern freight train derailment Feb. 3 in East Palestine, Ohio, near that state’s border with Pennsylvania, triggered — and continues to trigger — much-needed additional scrutiny throughout the railroad industry regarding the issue of dangerous cargoes. Such cargoes always will be a reality within that industry; that is part of the basic nature of that transportation mode. What is concerning, however, is that there always should be a quick way to determine what a train is hauling, in the event of a derailment or other emergency or circumstance. Full ...

Resurrecting old buildings encouraging

The Altoona Redevelopment Authority received a new upbeat report about the former McCrory’s building on Sept. 15, with the prospect of more good news to come in the weeks or months ahead. The vacant building, having “suffered” for years with a serious water problem, as well as a number of other serious, not-easy-to-resolve issues, now is being proclaimed “dry and secure” by the building’s new owner, developer Christopher Cook. Additionally, Cook has told the redevelopment agency that architectural and engineering work has been completed and has been approved by the city, ...

Better relations prove beneficial for US, Vietnam

Many U.S. residents remain leery of this country’s warmer relations with the Communist-run nation of Vietnam. That is understandable, considering America’s painful, protracted Vietnam War experience, which claimed the lives of more than 50,000 U.S. military personnel. Nevertheless, now, nearly half a century after the Communist victory in the Southeast Asia conflict in 1975, the warmer relations between these two countries not only is benefiting Vietnam, but the United States as well, although some people here will continue to remain skeptical. President Joe Biden’s visit to ...

Capture puts all at ease

A well-deserved sense of calm and appreciation engulfed eastern Pennsylvania, and even western New Jersey and northern Delaware, Wednesday as the news spread that escaped, convicted murderer Danelo Cavalcante had been captured after eluding authorities for nearly two weeks. At the same time, residents of those areas also expressed relief that none of the police involved in the protracted search had been injured — or worse — during the challenging operation. Having gambled with the prospect of avoiding capture and finding a way to return to his home country, Brazil, where he is ...