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Who deserves trust in Lakemont feud?

Letters to the Editor

Blair County residents should consider a few things about the feud between the Blair County Commissioners and the Lakemont Partnership. On the one hand, we have the Devorris family, as leaders of the park, who have been one of the biggest philanthropic families in the surrounding area. This is a family who has saved many jobs in the area, and has made Blair County a better place to live by their investments in housing, entertainment and education. Now let’s analyze the county commissioners. One of the first acts after their recent election was the firing of the county solicitor ...

Lawmakers need to eliminate corruption

Letters to the Editor

Throughout the budget process in Pennsylvania, the worst difficulty was finding ways to pay for programs and meet fiscal obligations. I have a wild, off-the-wall, crazy solution. Imagine (I hope the reader has a fantastic imagination) if our public servants eliminated corruption in government. We are the sixth most corrupt state (Google it) in the nation, and our state representatives and senators turn their heads and ignore it. Corruption is a dirty word; we haven’t even heard it mentioned in a campaign speech in decades. But think of the money that would be available if ...

It’s time for cameras in Pa. courts

Editorials

Those who follow news reports of criminal cases have likely seen photographs and/or video captured during out-of-state court proceedings and wondered why they don’t see similar scenes from inside Pennsylvania’s courtrooms. The short answer is: Pennsylvania Rules of Criminal Procedure Rule 112 prohibits cameras in courtrooms. The longer answer begins: Pennsylvania is only one of five states in the nation with very rigid restrictions that need to be updated for the sake of transparency and accountability. During the recent preliminary hearing held in Manhattan for Luigi Mangione, ...

Lawmakers need to answer tough questions

Editorials

Pennsylvania lawmakers’ immediate first order of business after giving approval to a 2025-26 state budget — more than four months after the June 30 budget deadline — should have been approval of a process to repay counties and school districts for their interest costs necessitated by the budget impasse. For the benefit of anyone who has forgotten, lawmakers’ budget irresponsibility necessitated borrowing by counties, school districts and others in order to continue operating until legislators abandoned their political game-playing at others’ expense. Actually, the only ...

Farmers oppose Cambria tax increase

Opinion

On behalf of the Cambria County Farm Bureau Board of Directors, I am writing to strongly oppose the Cambria County Commissioner’s proposed tax increase of 6.75 mills, from the current 30 mills to 36.75. (5.5 mills to go to the general fund and 1.25 mills to debt service. The Cambria County Farm Bureau has over 480 member families, and they cannot afford a tax increase of this size. I have already expressed our displeasure with the Commissioner’s decision to them. All three are Farm Bureau members, and friends of mine. I appreciate their memberships and friendship. Farmers are ...

Schmitt’s record will be remembered

Letters to the Editor

As Pennsylvania state Rep. Lou Schmitt concludes his service in Harrisburg to we the people, I believe that he deserves commendation for his wonderful tenure. Act 99 of 2022 protected our police officers by creating new criminal offenses for assaulting law enforcement officers with bodily fluids like saliva, with penalties that increase if the fluids are from someone with a communicable disease. In addition to new laws that protect, he also repealed antiquated laws with Act 96 of 2019. The act repealed an act from 1929 which “authorized municipalities other than townships to ...