I and two other members of the Hollidaysburg Community Watch Dog Association attended the last meetings of the Hollidaysburg Planning Commission and the zoning board. On the agenda at both meetings was a request for zoning variances by the developer of the apartment complex to be built ...

We hear a lot of negative stories about teenagers. As a grateful grandmother, I want to acknowledge the students of Hollidaysburg Area High School for helping my grandson with Down’s Syndrome have a very typical and inclusive experience in school. He graduates this year and has ...

How to increase tourism in Bedford County has come to the forefront in the issue of whether or not to increase the room tax from 2 to 5 percent. The last large increase in the tourism budget occurred in 2008 when revenues increased by more than a third. Why did this increase occur? The ...

I would like to address the problem on 11th Avenue, here in our city of Altoona, whereby teenagers and young children seem to think it is OK to just ignore the signs posted that state, “No skateboards, etc. on the property.” These are clearly posted in front of the post office and on ...

Somebody really needs to ask more questions about Senate Bill 1006 because of the potential to cause problems for property owners in Blair County. Under this bill, counties would be permitted to enact an ordinance requiring notice of substantial property improvements. Currently they receive ...

Now that I’m retired, I find time to learn about different stories in the news. One interesting topic that I become aware of a few years back is the ranking of presidents. This ranking is conducted by members of the American Political Science Association. Respondents are current and ...

Ann Coulter’s May 3 column in the Mirror revealed more about Coulter than it did about the immigrants that she wrote about. According to her, the main contributions of recent immigrants were such things as raping elderly people and food stamp fraud. For these reasons, she, like her savior ...

Real milk is good. It’s good for you and me and most other people. The recent announcement from a fast-food chain that it’s dropping the whole milk in the kids meal to 2 percent got me to thinking. What are they trying to do? The one-twelfth of an ounce difference will not cause obese ...

In response to George Christ’s letter (April 30) noting “U.S. should spend less on military.” I would suggest he reads William Inboden’s article on “The role of a strong national defense.” In this article, Inboden notes the following: “strong national defense is thus ...

Let me start by saying that I am not completely against the new school being built, but more thought needed to be put into the current economic condition the school district is in prior to committing to a project this big. Currently the Altoona Area School District is running an annual ...

I am a registered nurse who cared for acutely ill and critical hospital patients for 22 years. I became a nurse practitioner and cared for cardiac patients in and out of the hospital for an additional 15 years. I strongly endorse legislated minimum nurse-patient ratios as necessary for safe, ...

For the last couple of months, I have been paying close attention to the mainstream media,various publications and many so-called online media news outlets and liberal, left-wing misinformation centers. All you see is a real attempt to silence conservatives via YouTube, Facebook, the ...

The Tyrone Area School Board is proposing a tax increase in each of the three counties that it serves because, as board member Brian Bressler noted, they “are not getting money from the state like (they) did before.” Tyrone Area is making additional investments in student safety and ...

I attended The Sunderman Memorial Concert Series on Sunday, April 22 at Trinity Lutheran Church in Altoona. What a joyous concert arranged by Tom Bradley and Sunderman Conservatory at Gettysburg College and Professor Ari Isaacman-Beck. What talented guest musicians — piano major Nicolas de ...

On reading John Frederick’s Mirror column in tribute to Jacques-Yves Cousteau, dated Feb. 7, I was moved to think about James Dugan (1912-1967) an author, historian, editor, magazine writer, naturalist and conservationist, who worked closely with the famous Frenchman collaborating on many of ...

National parks in our country are facing an $11.3 billion deferred maintenance backlog. Our national parks and trails, like our own 6 to 10 Trail in Blair County, are not only great tourism draws, they provide communities a competitive advantage in attracting new permanent residents and ...

I was dismayed to learn that 12 Pennsylvania House representatives have sponsored resolutions to impeach four state Supreme Court justices. They argue that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court violated our state’s constitution when it imposed a new congressional map. It is ironic because the ...

The American College of Radiology recently released new guidelines for breast cancer screening. All women should be evaluated by age 30 to determine if they are at increased risk for developing breast cancer. This is particularly important for black women and those of Ashkenazi Jewish ...

Not to come across as Andy Rooney, but did you ever notice that PennDOT seems to dig up the same roads year after year? I drive I-99 every day, and prior to last year, it was smooth in every spot. Then PennDOT started work late in the year, culminating in a bunch of patchwork that feels like ...

I just returned from the Mishler Theatre after watching “The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber.” This show was spectacular. I never saw a show where every single person in it was outstanding. Congratulations to everyone who had anything to do with this wonderful show. I don’t think I ever ...