I would like to express many thanks to the Richland School District. Richland hosted the District Chorus festival on Friday, Jan. 9. They hosted 182 students from 34 different school districts. Richland can be very proud of their staff that provided a wonderful experience for these young adults. I must also say Blair County can be very proud of your students. The future for these young adults is very bright. Duane Ehredt Sr. Altoona
Before Christmas, President Donald Trump announced a one-time $1,776 payment to the men and women of our all-voluntary active-duty military. This gift lands somewhere between a good and great idea. Because the payment was issued quickly, the administration chose to fund it by redirecting roughly $2.6 billion from an existing military program, the Basic Allowance for Housing. There were certainly other ways to finance this bonus. Which brings us to a more troubling example of robbing Peter to pay Paul. In this case, the Peter is the American taxpayer, and the Paul is Paul Walczak, a ...
Over the weekend of Dec. 13, 2025, Australia and the United States experienced mass shootings. For Australia, the Bondi Island shooting was the third such event since 1996. The National Gun Archives reported Brown University was the 391st mass shooting in the U.S. in 2025. In the past 10 years, the United States has had over 5,700 mass shootings which killed or injured more than 19,000 people. Australia allows its citizens to own guns. However, after the 1996 Port Arthur massacre, the Australian government established strict uniform gun control laws across the country, which included ...
On Dec. 23, I, along with many across the nation, read the gut-wrenching message that former Sen. Ben Sasse wrote to the American people. “Last week I was diagnosed with metastasized, stage-four pancreatic cancer, and am gonna die.” The rest of his message is about his outlook, his faith and his family. Through both his writing and his tenure in the U.S. Senate, Sasse was an incredibly principled, conservative leader for Nebraska. In 2021, he became disillusioned with President Trump, and he was one of the Republican Senators who voted to convict the President in his second ...
Did you see that the President is now building his own Arc de Trump. I guess the new gold ballroom was not enough. I did not know the President could dance. He always has film clips of the golfing, albeit he is lousy. I think everyone should come up with new ideas for the President, something he could build in your state or city. I was thinking of an Eiffel Tower, or maybe change the face of the Sphinx at the Luxor Hotel in Las Vegas to his likeness. Then we can move on to Mt. Rushmore, take off Washington, as he is the most prominent. I’m sure the list could go on but I am not ...
The Intergovernmental Stormwater Committee’s current work to restore impaired stream reaches will reduce both flooding and sedimentation in the Hollidaysburg area and downstream communities. The Beaverdam Branch upstream of town and Brush Run at the Sylvan Hills Golf Course had been altered in such a way that flooding had increased, but action is being taken to restore these streams to a more natural state by stabilizing their banks and making their floodplains accessible so that the velocity and volume of downstream floodwaters are reduced. In addition to the corrective actions ...