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Editorials

Addressing dropout rate has merit

The Altoona Area School District is considering a number of good strategies for trying to reduce the school system’s dropout rate. However, some district residents who read — and subsequently gave serious thought to — an article in Tuesday’s Mirror might be justified in wondering whether the district could be failing to give enough attention to two very relevant points. The article in question reported on an Altoona Area School Board meeting last Monday in which board members participated as a committee of the whole, rather than in their official board-meeting ...

Plea deals for 9/11 terrorists most troubling

Surviving family members and friends of victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks have a right to be livid over military prosecutors’ willingness to negotiate plea deals for five 9/11 defendants being detained at the Guantanamo Bay high-security prison in Cuba. In exchange for guilty pleas, prosecutors reportedly would halt pursuit of death sentences, while also possibly stopping objections to more lenient ongoing punishment for those of the five considered more peripheral to the plot. Something does not “smell” right in what has begun. In a nation where killers of one ...

Prison talk: Blair must be transparent

Blair County officials are capable of making the right decisions regarding the current county prison and perhaps, eventually, a new one. However, based on an article in the Mirror’s March 12-13 edition, some county residents might be thinking that those leaders will need to become more aggressive in tackling the issue than what the officials are at this time. Nevertheless, it can be argued that it is better to approach the proposed project in an open-minded way, rather than allow preconceived notions to mold a situation that might not be in Blair’s best interests. Needs — and ...

Let’s always keep sun shining in

The rights of free speech and a free press are historically and inextricably intertwined. Today and moving forward, these rights demand protection as much, if not more,than ever. Pennsylvania celebrates Sunshine Week this week — March 13-19 — and there is an excellent reason for choosing this time frame. Our fourth president, James Madison, drafted the Bill of Rights in 1791. He believed in freedom of the press, saying “and the freedom of the press, as one of the great bulwarks of liberty, shall be inviolable.” Madison was born March 16. Celebrating Sunshine Week at ...

Be careful amid the ‘madness’

If you’re a sports fan in general, or a basketball fan in particular, then this week is probably something you’ve looked forward to — the beginning of the NCAA basketball tournaments, often referred to as “March Madness” because of the at-times unpredictable nature of the game results. And while March Madness is nothing new, the meteoric rise of legalized sports gambling is — at least relatively speaking. According to an Associated Press story, it is estimated that 17% of American adults (not just sports fans, but all adults) will place a bet of some kind on the ...

As gas prices rise, remember local tourism

To resurrect a well-worn phrase, many people of this region are “screaming bloody murder” over the escalating price of gasoline and heating oil. In this free nation, they have a right to express their views and complain, although they should take care to ensure their opinions are built upon accuracy, fairness and acknowledgment of the proverbial bigger picture. For now, there should be agreement that only Russian President Vladimir Putin is the one responsible for the pain at area gasoline pumps. If he had not ordered the invasion of Ukraine, gas prices might have remained ...