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Scrutiny needs to continue over rail safety

The fiery Norfolk Southern derailment that wreaked havoc in and around East Palestine, Ohio, just west of the Pennsylvania border last winter — as well as the derailment’s aftermath — have dispatched numerous poignant messages not only to current and future generations of NS management but also to officials of other freight railroads. No doubt another important message/development less than two weeks ago is causing railroad watchers to ponder how it might impact, directly or indirectly, other rail carriers, possibly forever, going forward. That new wrinkle in the Feb. 3 NS ...

City plan requires public input

Time and opportunity will be available for Altoona residents, through August, to provide input regarding a new citywide comprehensive plan. Because of all the good that can emerge from a well-thought-out document of that kind, it is important that Altoona’s proposed plan be accorded all of the interest and participation that can be mustered. Unfortunately, though, odds are that the sessions will not generate the kind of strong interest being sought. That will be especially true if the planning document remains generally non-controversial. Benefits that the city as a whole likely ...

Job applicants need to meet expectations

Some young people are unhappy about men and women returning to the workforce after years, months — or even days — of retirement. When asking a formerly retired individual why he or she decided to give up on a less-demanding, presumably less-stressful life, the questioner often remarks that, by returning to work, the former retiree has taken employment from a younger person who needs a job. That is a reasonable point, but there are important reasons why some employers appreciate the opportunity to hire an older person, even if that person never has worked in the kind of position ...

Let’s all be neck-deep in USA pride

Today, people of the United States, as they celebrate the 247th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, ought to be neck-deep in patriotic pride for having the opportunity to live in this nation of freedom and abundance, despite its imperfections. Of course, as everyone who pays attention to the news knows, the patriotic pride this holiday deserves won’t be close to the unanimity that this day deserves to exhibit. The divisions on many political and non-political fronts — national, state and local — will not be eroded by the meaning, history and significance of today’s ...

Anxiety keeps heightening in Russia

No one can predict precisely what is in store for Russia and its president, Vladimir Putin, as the weeks and months pass in the aftermath of what the Wall Street Journal has labeled the “lightning insurrection” launched by Yevgeny Prigozhin and his Wagner paramilitary group. Will what the world has witnessed in recent days be acknowledged someday as the spark that eventually helped overturn Russia’s previous successes in Chechnya and Crimea? No doubt Putin’s troubles inflicted at the hands of Prigozhin has helped bolster optimism in Ukraine that the Russian president’s ...

Trooper’s ultimate sacrifice

Footage posted on social media captures the chilling audio of the intense gunfight in Mifflintown between law enforcement and Brandon Stine, the man who Pennsylvania State Police say killed Tpr. Jacques Rougeau Jr. and critically wounded Lt. James Wagner in separate encounters last week. On Saturday, June 17, the popping of hundreds of bullets flying through the air can be heard as the police exchanged gunfire with Stine, who was armed with a .458 magnum caliber hunting rifle. Surrounded in a residential area, Stine fought the police until the bitter end. The final battleground ...