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Opinion

Skill games keep small businesses open

Opinion

Trust me when I say I know what many lawmakers are thinking: “Let’s just get the skill games issue over with.” I felt the same way when I served in the Pennsylvania House. But today, as a former legislator and the owner of a family bar and restaurant, I see this issue very differently. During my time in office, I never wanted skill games in my Shamokin tavern. I wasn’t sure what I thought about them, whether they really were true games of skill, so I just decided I wouldn’t add them to my bar. Then COVID hit and everything changed. Anyone who doesn’t own a ...

Term limits encourage fresh thinking

Opinion

How much faith do Americans have in Congress? The answer should concern every Pennsylvanian, regardless of political party. According to a recent Gallup survey, only 9% of Americans say they have “a great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in Congress—the lowest level ever recorded. When the institution closest to the people commands the trust of fewer than one in ten Americans, it is a clear sign that something is fundamentally broken. Washington has become a place where too many politicians spend decades building careers instead of solving problems. The result is ...

We are paying the cost of war

Letters to the Editor

President Donald Trump does not want a peace treaty, to negotiate, or an agreement with Iran. He demands what he calls a deal which is his way of stating that Iran must do what he wishes them to do. Under Obama’s Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action negotiated in 2015, Iran agreed to reduce its nuclear program by capping enrichment at low levels, reshaping the Arak reactor so it could not produce weapons grade plutonium. Iran also agreed to dismantle or convert centrifuges and facilities into a peaceful nuclear program and allow an expanded IADA inspection and monitoring. Trump ended ...

Human verification essential

Editorials

Municipalities in this part of Pennsylvania generally feel insulated from the problems affecting big cities. For the most part that is true, especially regarding crime and the challenges — financial and otherwise — associated with providing needed municipal services. Even the issues of cities such as Altoona and Johnstown are of minor scope compared with those being dealt with by New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and Atlanta, for example. Municipalities large or small and those of any size in between have one thing in common, though, the need for an adequate amount of revenue to ...

Growth begins where comfort zone ends

Other Commentaries

My son was furious when I picked him up from day camp, slamming the door when he got in the car. He had been downgraded from a “yellow” swimmer to a “red” swimmer. He hadn’t forgotten how to swim. The YMCA had simply changed its policy. My son loves to swim. He likes donning goggles and swimming underwater, not to mention perfecting his handstand. But the YMCA had changed its safety rules, and rightfully so. The shallow end reaches 5 feet deep, and campers now have to be at least 5 feet tall to swim there without a life jacket unless they pass the swim test. My son is 4 feet, ...

Boys of Summer: Baseball to the rescue, again

Other Commentaries

At my age, I shouldn’t care so much whether the Boston Red Sox win or lose, let alone permit my daily mood to rise or fall accordingly. It’s only a game. It’s supposed to be a pastime (according to AI, something that “helps make the hours pass pleasantly when you are not working”), not an obsession. There are 162 games a year and letting your emotional state hinge on whether your favorite team scores more runs than the other team is obviously senseless. And yet. Generations of Americans have been swept up by the game. Children never forget their first trip to the ...