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Is a police state coming?

Letters to the Editor

I was recently in Egypt to see the antiquities. I was shocked at the obvious police presence. There were military men in white, police in fatigues and uniforms and armed men in suits always present and accompanying us when we ventured off the bus or ship. Very unsettling. Here you see the state trooper or the local cop infrequently and feel no threat. They are generally known, local people. I am horrified to see that changing. Not yet here in rural, central Pennsylvania, but troops are being sent to cities and armed military and ICE and masked unknowns are roaming the streets with ...

Death penalty must be based on evidence

Editorials

The death penalty is divisive. Support for and opposition to it is not as easy as political party or position. It is all over the map. There are people with firmly held convictions about crime and law enforcement who draw a line when it comes to capital punishment. There are very mild-­mannered, gentle people who believe vehemently in the biblical justice of an eye for an eye. Regardless of support or opposition, most people would probably agree that it is a complicated question. It is not as easy as checking a box. Capital punishment may be the most nuanced issue in criminal law. ...

Experience, age are not the same

Other Commentaries

Democrat Janet Mills, governor of Maine, is running against Susan Collins, the state’s Republican senator since 1997. An established political figure would be running against another established political figure, yet the current reportage for Mills tends to start off with “77-year-old Janet Mills.” Collins happens to be 72. The Democratic Party is grappling with tensions between its senior leaders and younger challengers who want to replace them — worth a conversation. But to hear the lefties complain that Democratic powerbrokers are too old doesn’t quite mesh with their ...

City’s success needs new map of resources

Editorials

With Altoona’s Kress Building now an officially completed component of the city’s downtown renaissance landscape, the city can look back with pride regarding what has been completed so far while continuing to look for new positive targets to pursue. Kress and, before it, the once dilapidated former McCrory Building, are excellent examples of what can be done, without succumbing to time’s — and also, unfortunately, neglect’s — undermining of once-proud structures that were among the dominant central points of when downtowns, not adjacent or not-so-adjacent suburbs, exercised ...

PSU cares more for coaching than campuses

Editorials

Penn State has firmly held priorities. But are they the ones the university wants people to believe? The football team came into the season with the highest rank it has ever held to start the year; it was No. 2, right behind Texas and ahead of longtime rival Ohio State. After a 2024-25 season that was among the best of the post-Joe Paterno years, it seemed like validation of James Franklin as head coach. In five weeks, that fell apart with a home loss to Oregon. Years of grumbling about losses of big games intensified with calls to can the coach. Two weeks and two losses to unranked ...

Gerrymandering is elephant In the room

Letters to the Editor

Gerrymandering like an elephant in the room needs to be removed from the Pennsylvania Legislature. But, to do so will take the grit and might of Pennsylvania’s citizens to get the job done. House Bill 31 and Senate Bill 131 have been in each chamber’s State Government committees and need cosponsors to bring them out for a vote. Ending Gerrymandering in PA is a multistep process requiring amendment to the PA Constitution that will provide by law for an Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission. Such a commission through scrupulous structuring for balance, transparency ...