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Letters to the Editor

Altoona water use should be verified

I am writing to express my concerns regarding the billing practices of the Altoona Water Authority, particularly the lack of a way for consumers to verify the accuracy of their charges. While our bills detail the number of gallons used, we have no accessible meter on our properties to confirm these readings. In contrast, both electric and gas utilities provide us with visible meters, allowing us to check the accuracy of what we are being charged. When purchasing gas, for instance, we can see the calibrated meters in action, ensuring transparency. However, with the water authority, we ...

State leaders must be fiscally responsible

It’s time for Pennsylvania to get serious about fiscal responsibility. Every year, families, seniors, and small businesses across our Commonwealth are expected to live within our means and our government should do the same. A balanced budget isn’t just good accounting, it’s constitutionally mandated in our Commonwealth. Gov. Josh Shapiro seems to have forgotten this, since he’s consistently called for a budget that has billions more in spending compared to the revenue that Pennsylvania is actually bringing in. The burden ultimately falls on us, the taxpayers, to foot the ...

Medicaid vital to Pa. health care system

As Pennsylvanians, we all share a stake in preserving access to health care across our Commonwealth. Deep cuts to Medicaid scheduled for 2026 and 2027 would imperil that access — especially for rural hospitals and vulnerable communities that already operate with razor-thin margins. Hospitals across Pennsylvania have been forced to reduce or eliminate maternity services in recent years. Four rural labor and delivery units have closed since 2020, and today only about 38% of rural hospitals retain obstetric services. The crisis of disappearing maternity care is not isolated — it’s ...

Qatar air base on US soil is a bad idea

I am writing to express my profound alarm over the proposal to let Qatar build and operate an air force base on American soil. This isn’t a simple diplomatic arrangement; it’s an unprecedented erosion of our national sovereignty and security. Permitting a foreign nation to establish its own military installation on our soil is a radical departure from policy. An independent foreign base is a sovereign foothold, not a joint training facility under U.S. command. It raises critical questions of legal authority and creates an unacceptable risk to American military technology and ...

A surefire way to stop shutdowns

There is a way to stop all these shutdowns by these kindergarten antics by our elected officials. What needs to be done is for “We the people” to demand a new article added to the Constitution stating that at any time the elected officials fail to keep the federal government fully funded or cause a shutdown as is happening at present shall lose the right to run for office in the next election at any federal level. There would be no exceptions for any party or person. I believe that the very thought of losing their position of both power and all the benefits that go along with ...

Is a police state coming?

I was recently in Egypt to see the antiquities. I was shocked at the obvious police presence. There were military men in white, police in fatigues and uniforms and armed men in suits always present and accompanying us when we ventured off the bus or ship. Very unsettling. Here you see the state trooper or the local cop infrequently and feel no threat. They are generally known, local people. I am horrified to see that changing. Not yet here in rural, central Pennsylvania, but troops are being sent to cities and armed military and ICE and masked unknowns are roaming the streets with ...