York should be careful before starting video

March 18, 2021

Could they be watching? It’s hard to get away from cameras these days. Doorbell cameras, traffic cameras, surveillance at businesses, we’re all walking and driving in and out of view constantly. And now York City Police Commissioner Michael Muldrow wants to make that video network official. Muldrow has been in touch with Better York on the possibility of setting up a surveillance similar to one in Lancaster City, which is run by the Lancaster Safety Coalition. The nonprofit has set up more than 100 cameras in downtown Lancaster, and the cameras are monitored by paid camera ...

Caregivers, seniors have earned kudos

March 16, 2021

As the COVID-19 pandemic threat to our health and economy still rages on, no one is more on the frontlines of the pandemic than seniors and caregivers. As executive director of the Pennsylvania Assisted Living Association, I have witnessed the response of our personal care and assisted living caregivers, and I could not be prouder of them. We are not nursing homes. Our members provide seniors with an independent living setting with personalized care; 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Yet the support for senior living providers, particularly in the American Rescue Plan is abysmal. ...

A park ranger works to protect you

March 15, 2021

By Dan Manka A park ranger is your friend. He is the embodiment of the law in the park. His presence keeps me safe. He enforces the rules and sees to it that others keep the rules, too. Our park is a better place, because he and his fellow rangers are there. A ranger treats everyone with integrity, character, justice, mercy, helpfulness and compassion. He is a friend to all, but he is also an enforcer of the law. He is a comfort to the law-abiding visitor, and his services are necessary to control the one who breaks the law. He has the right to use force when appropriate, ...

State must fix unemployment benefits system

March 12, 2021

Of all the systemic weaknesses that the pandemic has revealed — in the economy, education, and housing and health — the failure of government is a tragedy unto itself. For the past year, the focus has centered on the failures at the federal level to respond effectively to the pandemic — and more recently, to plan for equitable and rapid vaccinations. But the failures aren’t limited to federal government. States, including Pennsylvania, have also racked up failures — and possibly none are more galling than the chaos confronting Pennsylvanians trying to get unemployment ...

GOP blockage of gun storage puts kids at risk

March 5, 2021

How were the kids able to access a gun? That is one of the first questions that comes to mind after hearing about last month’s tragic death of Nyssa Davis — a 9-year-old girl who was shot in the head in her North Philadelphia home while playing unsupervised with her 12-year-old brother and 5-year-old cousin. Nyssa’s father, who illegally possessed the gun, was arrested and charged with involuntary manslaughter, and so was her brother. A fraction of a second and a family ruined. Whatever the legal status of the gun, this particular tragedy could have been prevented with one ...

Fill county election spots before too late

March 4, 2021

The collection, counting and certification of votes has usually generated little rancor or controversy in Luzerne County. Then came the epochal year of 2020, with a handful of mail-in ballots mistakenly discarded by the county Bureau of Elections, dueling demonstrations outside the bureau’s offices and the two GOP members of the Election Board pointlessly voting against the normally pro-forma certification of the Nov. 3 results. Now, with the May 18 primary looming, the county’s voting apparatus appears unfocused and ill-prepared. The Election Bureau has lacked a director since ...