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Editorials

State should ban hand-held phones while at the wheel

The pilot program allowing the use of speed cameras in active work zones in the Philadelphia area, in effect since its approval under Act 86 of 2018, will be expiring this year unless the Pennsylvania General Assembly makes the program permanent. A Capitolwire article published in Wednesday’s Mirror reported that state Rep. Ed Neilson, D-Philadelphia, is planning legislation that not only would continue the Philadelphia-area program, but expand it. The problem is that the proposed expansion is too limited. What Neilson, chairman of the House Transportation Committee, wants to do ...

Graduation also brings new beginning

Another year has quickly passed, and we’ve arrived at the beginning of high school graduation season. Our two biggest schools, Altoona Area and Hollidaysburg Area, will stage their graduation ceremonies tonight. Bishop Guilfoyle Catholic held its graduation last week. Graduation is typically accompanied by mixed emotions for students, parents and families throughout the region. There will be tears of joy and sadness — joy of reaching a milestone and sadness that they and their classmates will go their separate ways after years of being together. In many cases, that beginning ...

Celebrate Memorial Day respectfully

No matter what is happening on this nation’s political and economic fronts – and much is happening – Memorial Day, the holiday we are observing today, should not and does not take a back seat. Only something truly catastrophic might cast today’s observance into the background, but even then most Americans would pause in respect to what this day represents. Memorial Day is the day when the nation honors the brave, selfless men and women who gave their lives while in this country’s service. It also is the day each year when Americans put special emphasis on ...

Death rate, sadly, continues to rise among our youth

Young people are America’s future, so the old saying goes. However, they cannot be America’s future if they are dead. “Young Americans are dying at alarming rates” was a headline in the May 18 edition of the Wall Street Journal, below which was the message, “Four main causes pushed up mortality, reversing years of declines.” Judging from the Journal’s research and reporting, new and more intensive school- and community-based strategies to effectively tackle the problem should, without question, be considered mandatory. Meanwhile, parental involvement in implementing ...

Important to balance city outlook

There was much to like about Mayor Matt Pacifico’s annual state-of-the-city report — dealing with activities and accomplishments during 2022 — that the mayor delivered at the Railroaders Memorial Museum on May 15. City residents can feel a sense of pride over all that was achieved during those 12 months. From the least significant item to the most significant, the items presented were deservedly upbeat and represented a building block for continued progress this year — even beyond. But there is an alternative conclusion that Pacifico’s report can justify, despite all of ...

Looking closer at (white-collar) work force

White-collar workers are not going to disappear totally from the Southern Alleghenies region, nor probably from anywhere else in “Business America.” But evidence continues to mount that white-collar jobs across this country are going to decrease markedly over the next several years, perhaps decades, and the long-held security of white-collar job status might already be a relic of the past in much more than a few places. How white-collar status in the Southern Alleghenies is holding up amid evolving new pressures has gotten little, if any, serious noticeable discussion, but ...