Most of us remember the popular children’s song, “The Wheels on the Bus.” When we were kids, we sang it with our friends as we rode a yellow bus to school; as parents, we taught it to our own children. But in every school district across the state, the future of the yellow bus is at ...
This week, Sept. 13-19, is observed nationally as Direct Support Professional Recognition Week, and for good reason. Direct Support Professionals, or “DSPs” as they’re often called, are the frontline workers at human services agencies that support people living with intellectual or ...
Local Voices By Rebecca Aungst This week, Sept. 13-19, is observed nationally as Direct Support Professional Recognition Week, and for good reason. Direct Support Professionals, or “DSPs” as they’re often called, are the frontline workers at human services agencies that support ...
As executive director of The Pennsylvania Chiefs of Police Association and as a former member of the Pennsylvania Department of Health Medical Marijuana Advisory Board, I would like to express my concerns, and those of many of our membership, about the legalization of marijuana and the ...
The city of Altoona’s finances have made the news lately. Like many local governments, we’re facing the challenge of building a budget for 2021 without knowing where the economy is headed. Since January, the federal government has printed over $3 trillion and may print a few trillion ...
It is well known that the Chinese Communist Party steals intellectual property of American businesses and forces the transfer of technology as a condition of doing business in China. These practices eliminate American competitive advantage and enable CCP companies to produce cheap knockoff ...
With just weeks to the start of a new school year, Pennsylvania’s public school districts find themselves under siege, facing extreme public pressure and scrutiny, as they furiously plan for how to safely reopen schools. It’s a fight they shouldn’t have to wage alone. They’re ...
By Ron Evans Reportedly, when Andrew Jackson disagreed with a decision of the Supreme Court’s chief justice, he said, “John Marshall has made his decision. Now let him enforce it.” All three branches of commonwealth government are saying the equivalent regarding a ruling the ...
As Blair County navigates the pandemic, we are facing a time when many businesses and social clubs are determining if they can stay alive. I know this because I hear everyone from restaurants, bars, social clubs, convenience stores, tobacco shops and many other small business owners worry as ...
In recent weeks, I have been reflecting on the unprecedented challenges that our community and our team at Conemaugh Nason Medical Center in Roaring Spring have faced as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. More specifically, I’ve been intentionally looking for every possible silver lining in ...
Editor’s note: This commentary was written by Blair County commissioners Laura Burke, Bruce Erb and Amy Webster. As the Blair County Board of Elections, we always knew that the first election after the passage of Act 77, allowing no excuse mail-in voting, would be much different than the ...
My heroes have died. How fortunate am I. Though sad that I have had three life mentors die in the past two years, I feel fortunate to have had them bless my life in a time when many young men have none. What lessons have I learned from my heroes? My heroes were from the Greatest Generation. ...
Pennsylvania state troopers don’t enlist for medals or to win popularity contests. Many of us grew up wanting to be troopers, proud to serve our communities and willing to lay down our lives if necessary. Since the formation of our department in 1905, our ranks have suffered 98 ...
Due to the economic implications of the COVID-19 pandemic, Pennsylvania’s public school districts face declining local revenue collection that is projected to range from $850 million to more than $1 billion for 2020-21. At the same time, Pennsylvania cyber charter schools are entitled to ...
Sorting out events of the last week, I flash back four decades ago. The first time I saw a rubber bullet was 40 years ago, when I lived in Belfast, Northern Ireland. I arrived there as a volunteer with a Nobel Peace Prize-winning group called the Peace People. They sent a hip young social ...
We are your dairy farmers, families just like you facing unprecedented challenges posed by COVID-19. Like everyone, Pennsylvania’s dairy farmers have been tested in ways we could not have imagined months ago. We were positioned for a strong year at the start of 2020. But that drastically ...
OK. I’m taking the bait to, “We challenge anyone to explain how allowing customers to go to these businesses poses any more of a danger than allowing those same people to go to a big-box retailer,” as presented in the May 20 editorial “It’s time to treat us like adults.” The answer ...
The size of the investment necessary to bridge the urban/rural divide in Pennsylvania is in the billions of dollars, telecommunications experts and government officials tell us. The trouble is that some of those potential investment dollars are currently locked up into costs that landline ...
John Maynard Keynes, celebrated economist of the 1930s, was a fierce debater. In one, he abruptly changed his position on a certain important issue. Understandably, his opponent immediately questioned his “flip flop” on the issue. Keynes caustically responded: “When the facts ...
It’s not an understatement to say every Pennsylvanian has been impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. Thousands have faced the virus itself, over a million children are not in school and more than 1.5 million workers have lost their jobs as a result of Gov. Tom Wolf’s shutdown. The ...