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Opinion

New pet emergency team lauded

Editorials

Altoona’s Salvation Army Worship and Service Center has made a meaningful commitment by way of its decision to expand its already laudable work agenda. The new agenda item centers on the area’s animal population, specifically during emergency circumstances. All area emergency services should open themselves to what the local Salvation Army unit wants to do and begin a positive working relationship — a partnership — as soon as possible. Developing that relationship should be easy, and that cooperative agenda should be encouraged enthusiastically by area residents, whether or ...

Enforce current e-bike rules

Letters to the Editor

As the mother of two boys, I read your June editorial “E-bike crackdown welcome” with a strong sense of shared concern. You accurately highlighted scenarios that haunt local parents daily — riders losing control of their speed, collisions with vehicles, and the tragic potential for innocent motorists to be injured or deeply traumatized. These are not hypothetical fears; they are clear and present dangers on our local streets because age restrictions and vehicle-type laws are being largely ignored. Pennsylvania law states riders must be at least 16 years old to operate these ...

Voting should be accessible to all

Letters to the Editor

Recently, in a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court voted to uphold a Mississippi state law that allows for mail-in/absentee ballots to be counted after election day IF they were mailed on or before the state specific deadlines. This ruling ensures that the maximum number of citizens have their voices heard. Especially for those in the military or working abroad. Many states require that counting mail-in ballots can only start on election day. Only having one day to count these ballots would be a tight window. Now, factor in complications like if someone made a bomb threat to your elections ...

Debate heats up over air conditioning

Opinion

Europe is now the fastest heating continent, and Paris is suffering greatly under 100-plus Fahrenheit temperatures. That has inspired some conservative Americans to politicize the French aversion to air conditioning. In return, many in France are blaming Americans’ burning of planet-warming fossil fuels to power their ACs. Whose voice hits the high note? Both, really. The Wall Street Journal holds that the easy answer for France is to install air conditioners. It got all huffy when Paris Deputy Mayor Audrey Pulvar remarked, “As the second-largest emitter of greenhouse gases in ...

Principles lost could stymie US

Opinion

Two hundred and 50 years ago, self-evident truths meant something. Today, for some, things appear far less self-evident and truth has become subjective. Freedom from tyranny was the object of the Declaration of Independence. Today, freedom has been transformed into license, the right to do whatever one pleases and to pressure the wider culture to accept it. The Founders could define right from wrong, just as the ancients did. John Adams wrote about the Constitution, upon which the Declaration of Independence was the foundation: “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and ...

Vote to restrict president was wrong

Letters to the Editor

Who in our national legislature voted to prove the Iranians right in their estimation that they could outlast us? That vote to restrict the president did just that and made it more difficult to end the war by military action or negotiation. It is one of the most ridiculous actions by a government since Neville Chamberlain stepped off a plane waving a useless scrap of paper. We seem not to have learned that one cannot negotiate with dictators because they are answerable to no one. As far as keeping Iran from nuclear weapons, they seem to have forgotten the unsuccessful negotiations ...