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What voters see in the two parties

The November midterm vote will be shaped less by party slogans than by the judgments voters make about their daily lives: whether prices feel manageable, whether their communities feel safe, and whether Washington is listening. Neither party can assume that frustration with its opponent automatically amounts to trust in itself. The economy is the clearest test. Recent national surveys show that 84% of registered voters consider it very important to their vote. That includes 88% of voters supporting Democratic House candidates and 82% supporting Republicans. Democrats hold an 8-point ...

A century of energy in Pennsylvania

Cambria County once powered Pennsylvania. In the 1910s and 1920s, its mines produced more than 16 million tons of coal a year, fueling Johnstown’s steel mills and much of the industrial Northeast. Generations of families built their lives around that industry, and its legacy is still visible in our rail lines, company towns and identity. A century later, Cambria County is again generating power for Pennsylvania’s future, this time from the sun. Cambria Heights School District recently signed a 28-year agreement for a solar array at our middle and high school campus that will ...

Numbers can clarify affordability

The term “Affordability Crisis” often appears in the news, but I have seen little to define and measure it, before assigning blame. This is my effort to do so. Let’s define Affordability as: your cost to maintain your current standard of living. A decline in your ability to maintain this standard of living defines an “Affordability Crisis”. Changes in Affordability can be measured by your increase in wages relative to the cost-of-living increase. Income taxes paid affect Affordability, too. Tax cuts improve Affordability as you keep more of your wages. So, by reviewing ...

No need to panic over AI

In the satirical 1964 anti-war film “Dr. Strangelove,” fears of a “Doomsday machine,” an automated, unstoppable device programmed to trigger global nuclear annihilation if the Soviet Union is attacked, gripped U.S. leaders and the Soviet ambassador in the American “war room.” Predictions of doomsdays by various means have gripped, even entertained the world for centuries. We are just getting over bogus predictions of “climate change” disasters and now comes artificial intelligence. AI insiders are telling TV interviewers that AI can potentially destroy the human ...

Data center concerns need leadership

The midterm elections are right around the corner, and both parties are about as popular as a Monday-morning visit to the DMV. The time-tested solution? Find a scapegoat, go negative, and blame the other side. This year the weaponized bogeyman is artificial intelligence. Many Americans are falling for the anti-AI information operation. They shouldn’t. A new poll from Politico has the grisly details: 63% of Americans think AI has the potential to “destroy humanity.” A majority of both Democrats and Republicans now think AI could herald the apocalypse. That’s quite a sea ...

Legislature must modernize small games of chance

The Veterans of Foreign Wars Department of Pennsylvania, with a membership of nearly 60,000 combat veterans encompassing more than 400 posts, is a vibrant and vital part of our local communities. We provide safe havens for our veteran population — venues for active-duty, honorably discharged, and retired military personnel to congregate, socialize, and bond — and assist veterans with accessing support and vital federal benefits. Individual VFW Posts across Pennsylvania improve local communities through beautification projects; donations to police, fire, and EMS departments; ...