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Funding cuts hit on freedom of speech

Letters to the Editor

It felt like a punch in the gut when President Donald Trump cut all funding from the VOA (Voice of America). The VOA has been sending our news all around the world for over 80 years and they didn’t dress us up in our Sunday best when we erred. It didn’t matter if a Democrat or Republican was in the White House. VOA kept broadcasting the truth. It’s the only news many countries were able to get that wasn’t their countries’ propaganda. They heard the truth about their own countries, too. Now all funding has been cut from NPR (National Public Radio) and PBS (Public ...

Credit for Caring Act critical legislation

Letters to the Editor

I am writing to thank Rep. John Joyce for supporting Alzheimer’s legislation last year, which led to three vital pieces of legislation passing. I also urge the congressman to cosponsor the Credit for Caring Act (H.R. 2036), a critical piece of legislation that would provide essential financial relief to millions of unpaid family caregivers. Despite their invaluable contributions, many caregivers face severe financial hardships, with over 40% having annual household incomes below $50,000 and bearing out-of-pocket costs exceeding $10,000 per year. The Credit for Caring Act ...

Road work headaches affect us all

Editorials

Difficulty navigating streets and roads due to major infrastructure replacement projects is not a situation unique to what Altoona currently is experiencing. That is true even though the Mountain City is more compact than some other cities of comparable size in Pennsylvania and beyond the Keystone State’s borders — some of those cities engaged in their own efforts at ridding themselves of deteriorated remnants of the past. Like what is happening here, it is not uncommon to hear stories about motorists and non-motorists elsewhere who are frustrated and angry about what is going ...

Bill makes it easier to get gun silencers

Letters to the Editor

President Donald Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill passed out of the U.S. House the other day and is headed for the U.S. Senate. I have a gripe with that bill. Do you remember where you were Dec. 17, 2012? I remember where I was, and will remember forever. Dec. 17 was the Monday after the Friday school shooting at Sandy Hook with 26 deaths. I was consulting in a first-grade classroom (same as Sandy Hook) with 20 precious little children (same as Sandy Hook) in one of our local elementary schools. I repeatedly stepped out of the room so those children didn’t see me weep, because ...

Memorial Day isn’t a day for fireworks

Letters to the Editor

Fireworks on Memorial Day weekend are a display of ignorance. The holiday was originally named Decoration Day to honor the gravesites of those who sacrificed their lives defending our country. Explosions of fireworks do not honor them. Instead they recreate the sounds of war that killed so many of our men and women in uniform. We have many local combat veterans with PTSD. It is bad enough that they must suffer fireworks through long extended July 4th holidays. Setting them off on Memorial Day weekend is disrespectful. Lee Appleman Altoona

Feeling powerless to make a difference

Letters to the Editor

I am sliding into the dismals again. Stuff you really can’t write about like the faces of the gaunt and starving children in Gaza. How have we gotten to the point where you cannot raise humanitarian concerns without being labeled antisemitic? How can we turn a blind eye to what sure as heck looks like genocide? And then watching women losing rights. Problems registering to vote and get a REAL ID to fly through the guise of immigration enforcement. Loss of government jobs through the selective discharges of women from positions of authority, especially women of color, by ...