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Clock ticking on planning for state budget

Pennsylvania has surmounted the first of its two springtime hurdles, the primary elections’ nomination process. Strict attention must now shift to the other hurdle — passing a 2022-23 state budget. Ideally, budget preparation and passage should be completed before spring gives way to summer on June 21. However, more likely, a completed spending plan probably won’t be ready until just before the start of the new fiscal year on July 1, or perhaps thereafter. Some people say stretching the process until virtually the last minute forces lawmakers to agree to concessions and ...

Central graduate shines

Shining rays of sun on some good news: Martinsburg native and Central High School graduate Danielle Maurer did herself and our area proud by winning two rounds of Jeopardy in programs that aired last week. In her first appearance, Maurer, a 2008 graduate of Central High School, ended a historic streak of 23 straight games by Toronto’s Mattea Roach, who piled up $560,983 in winnings. Maurer, a digital marketing manager and author who now resides in Peachtree Corners, Georgia, defeated Mattea by $1 and finished in first place with a total of $15,600. Maurer, whose parents, ...

Every single election is important

Do not judge the importance of any election on the number of nominations or offices up for grabs. Regarding the few offices for which nominees will be selected during today’s primary balloting, some voters might be tempted to “pass” on going to their polling place, but that would be a big mistake. That is because today’s voting will begin the process of electing a new governor, lieutenant governor and U.S. senator. Across the state, voters also will mark their preferences for congressional seats and state House and state Senate seats, as well as political party-related ...

Residents deserve voice in flood plans

Anyone old enough to recall the devastation wreaked by Tropical Storm Agnes in 1972 can appreciate flood-control efforts that were undertaken in the aftermath of that wide-scale weather calamity. Similarly, people who experienced fear and/or destruction from this month’s heavy, persistent rains are likely to be more open to steps deemed necessary to try to prevent future flooding — steps they might have opposed in the past. Then, some people might be tempted to take matters into their own hands to try to rectify problem conditions that have not been addressed, despite pleas to ...

Focusing on homeless important

Homelessness is a problem in the Altoona area, although the vibrancy of the city and its surrounding area amid everyday comings and goings might seem to indicate otherwise. The Mirror has touched on the issue in the past, but the real scope of the problem has not gotten under the proverbial microscope in a way that could help area residents understand vividly that homelessness also is a serious affliction here, not only in other places. An article in the May 3 Mirror, “Group looks to help homeless,” ramped up the needed understanding, but there is much more to tell, at least some ...

Addressing postal service’s deliberate ways

A leaked U.S. Supreme Court decision, not yet final, that would overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 ruling recognizing abortion rights for women, will continue to dominate the nation’s attention for months, if not years. Within hours after the decision was leaked, certainty already was cemented in the eyes of millions of Americans, men as well as women, that the ruling could have a seismic impact on this year’s mid-term elections and the 2024 praesidential balloting — as well as politics in general perhaps for generations. What is very important at this time, though, and which has ...