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Opinion

County could sell old prison to cut costs

Letters to the Editor

Is the Blair County Commission really interested in building the new prison as economically as possible? Then they will get the best price they can for the stone work that makes up the front of the Hollidaysburg prison. According to the generic AI, Americans spend $15B a year on “hardscape.” Put the building up for bid. The cache and provenance of these stones should be themselves a good head start on reducing the price of the new prison. Do they plan to save the antiquated part of the building for “historical” reasons? Put that idea up for a referendum and watch it get ...

Whatever became of shame?

Opinion

At first, it didn’t sound right. Someone must have miscalculated. How could there be so much fraud that has robbed taxpayers of billions of dollars without anyone seeming to notice? Worse, it appears they didn’t seem to care. Vice President JD Vance convened a meeting last Tuesday of his Task Force to Eliminate Fraud. Fifteen Republican attorneys general showed up. Almost two dozen Democrat attorneys general didn’t come, citing short notice. Their invitations went out on Friday, so they probably had a good excuse. Vance urged all of them to help in rooting out more fraud than has ...

No, Iran and China are not ‘winning’

Opinion

For years, much of the American media has operated under a peculiar assumption: that the best way to confront adversaries such as China and Iran is to accommodate them. If the United States applies pressure, the narrative quickly becomes that America is overextended, losing leverage, or somehow empowering its enemies. That narrative has resurfaced during President Donald Trump’s confrontation with Tehran and Beijing. According to outlets such as The New York Times and The Washington Post, both Iran and China are supposedly emerging stronger from the current conflict. It is a ...

Turnpike must consider users, weather in plan

Editorials

The two sides in the debate about whether the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission should construct a new section of roadway atop Allegheny Mountain and eliminate the existing Allegheny Mountain Tunnel might not be giving enough attention to what should be the most relevant consideration regarding the project proposal. That consideration is this: If the project were to be pursued by way of the commission’s preference to build new roadway and eliminate the tunnel, would the traveling public and the commercial drivers who use the toll road be subjected suddenly to a winter-weather ...

Take time to think of country, not party

Letters to the Editor

We are about to celebrate the 250th birthday of a country that was great and well respected by most of the world, at least, up until 2020. Since then, one man has succeeded in making this country nothing less than detested by that same world. If the Republican Party doesn’t soon open their eyes, get a backbone, and dump Trump, we’re going to be steadily down spiraling into a dictatorship. It’s already called “The Party of Trump.” He owns our federal law enforcement, the federal court system, the elected representatives and senators, the voting system, etc. He’s ...

Trump’s lawsuit akin to stealing

Letters to the Editor

When Donald Trump was campaigning, he said he wanted to release his tax returns like all previous presidential candidates have done, but that he couldn’t because it was being audited by the IRS. He promised to release his tax returns once the audit was completed. This was a double lie: being audited does not prevent tax returns from being released, and, in any case, he never released his tax returns. Those returns he had promised to release were subsequently leaked, and for that he has sued his own IRS for $10 billion. He is currently president, and it appears he has decided to ...