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EPA’s work in derailment far from done

Editorials

An Associated Press article about the Feb. 3, 2023, Norfolk Southern train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, said the accident prompted a national reckoning with rail safety and calls for reform, although proposals for new industry rules stalled in Congress. Unfortunately, though, with each new development related to the 2023 accident, that well-intentioned reckoning still underway seems farther from completion than it was just days before. A new development, reported in the June 4 Mirror, provided ample testimony to that. According to that article, a specialized plane equipped with ...

War is at home instead of abroad

Letters to the Editor

Remember the 1997 film, “Wag the Dog?” Many trends from the 1990s are in style and the movie has become real life. Only the war is at home instead of abroad. First there are the problems to distract from. People realize the multi-trillion debt-inflating cruelty of the Big Beautiful Bill, calling Senators to defeat it. President Donald Trump and his billionaire buddy, Elon, broke up. Courts and voters recognize the damage caused by disorganized tariffs, ICE, funding cuts and firings. Then, as support drops, ICE raids have dramatically increased in Los Angeles and other cities. ...

Baby Agnes mystery needs to be solved

Editorials

The possibility exists that someone — or some persons — in Blair County or somewhere else in the region might be feeling much anxiety or outright fear today as a result of an announcement last week by this county’s coroner and the Pennsylvania State Police. For the benefit of anyone who might have missed the announcement, Coroner Ray Benton and the state police revealed that the unidentified partial remains of a child found deceased on Feb. 5, 1987, in a wooded area between Pinecroft and Bellwood had been exhumed on June 10 with the purpose of attempting to obtain DNA ...

Intimidation felt at No Kings march

Letters to the Editor

I was at the No Kings March on Saturday and in Monday’s paper they had an article about the march and mentioned a man carrying an AR15 Rifle. He said it was for protection in case something happened. I also witnessed five men lined up in front of a hardware store on the walk holding AR15 rifles. I think they were there to intimidate us. Also, can you believe that it wasn’t an illegal immigrant that shot and killed a senator and her husband and wounded another senator and his wife? Instead, it was an American-born citizen. I see they caught him so if he is convicted I wonder if ...

School districts need to focus on education

Letters to the Editor

In a recent Mirror political cartoon, one gentleman lamented that the teacher shortage wouldn’t be happening if we valued teachers more. His companion retorted that there wouldn’t be a shortage if we valued education more. Such words ring loud and clear today. From the actions of the Trump administration’s cuts in education services and the elimination of the Education Department, our federal leaders are demonstrating the lack of value they place on education. They care less about educating our youth than they do on making tax cuts. Locally, our school boards have acted ...

Trust between parents, kids most important

Editorials

Julie Jargon’s Family & Tech column on the Personal Journal page of the June 9 Wall Street Journal focused on “sextortion” scams involving Apple Messages that ended in tragedy. She wrote that in 2024, more than 5,000 sextortion cases were reported by the public to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and to Thorn, a child-safety nonprofit. But it was the individual tragedies that she recounted and the photos of the victims that accompanied the article that proved the horrific nature of what occurred. The article and photos also provided the realization that ...