Breaking News

Opinion

E-bike crackdown welcome

Editorials

The June 12 Mirror front-page headline “E-bikes, vandalism spurring concerns in Duncansville” was an appropriate Page 1 introduction to the article to which it referred. However, the appropriate headline for an opinion page editorial related to that article requires more bluntness: “E-bikes, vandalism demanding persistent action in Duncansville” — and, actually, in every other community experiencing the same problems. If the proverbial blind eye is employed in relation to the problems in question, in Blair or anywhere else, the problems have the likelihood of worsening. ...

Notice the crops

Letters to the Editor

Out my back door are hundreds of acres of fields which annually grow corn and soybeans. Alternating fields of soybeans and corn. Right now every corn field has been planted while grass covers the soybean fields. Meaning our farmers income is likely now cut in half. Not too difficult to assume there is no market for U.S. soybeans, as Brazil is now the top exporter of soybeans to China thanks to Trump’s tariffs. It also means that the big corporate farms are getting a lot of our tax dollars as subsidies to offset these losses, but not our smaller family farms. Across the ...

Are we doomed to repeat history?

Letters to the Editor

In A Christmas Carol, the third spectre shows Ebeneezer Scrooge his miserable future, the consequence of his misanthropy and greed. Scrooge posited the critical query; “Are these the shadows of the things which Will be, or are they the shadows of the things that May be, only?” David French’s NY Times dire opinion piece on May 31, 2026, harkens to this existential question. Today, American populist demagogues persuade the vulnerable that democracy, decency and constructive compromise are weakness; tyranny, cynicism and brutality are strength. Ignorance of historical consequences ...

Loneliness: People really do need people

Opinion

Ashley, North Dakota, is a small farming town where the local diet leans hard on sausage, deep-fried chicken and strudel. It has something of a medical center, but the nearest trauma hospital able to handle the most serious injuries is almost four hours away in Fargo. Yet the elders in McIntosh County, with Ashley as its county seat, frequently live into their 90s, and sometimes beyond. It had the highest proportion of people 85 and older in the country. Doesn’t make sense until you see why it does. Stress levels are low. The farmers pursue a lifetime of physical exercise. When ...

The invisible forces that keep doors open

Opinion

We’re not southern enough to be yes, ma’am or no, sir, but I try to nudge manners into my kids’ daily interactions with strangers. Today, I nudged him when I saw two women cross the parking lot and asked him to open the restaurant door. One of the women was older and one much younger, maybe a grandmother and granddaughter. The younger one smiled at him and said thank you as she walked through. The older one didn’t acknowledge him at all. At the table, my mom called it entitlement, but that didn’t feel right. It’s more that some people grow accustomed to moving through the ...

Insurance holders should read fine print

Editorials

Thousands of insurance policies are bought each day in America, and the people who have purchased those policies usually feel some semblance of peace of mind, believing they will be protected if they are victimized by an event such as an accident, fire or weather disaster, including a hurricane or flood. After completing the purchase, most of the new policyholders most likely tuck away the policy in a safe place, determined that they’ll read it “when they have the opportunity to sit down with it” — an opportunity window that, for many, never becomes available amid the hustle ...