Breaking News

Our Opinion

Our opinion: Expanding Act 54 won’t save rural fire departments

For the uninitiated, rural Pennsylvania has a growing issue with fire protection and EMS services. As our rural population drops, there are fewer volunteer firefighters available for fires and, more pointedly, 24-hour EMS response. As those who have been following the issue over the years know quite well, there is no single solution - particularly cheap ones. A state lawmaker is proposing to make a potential solution available to second-class townships across the state if they and their residents are willing to pay. Rep. Chris Pielli, D-West Chester, sponsored House Bill 393, ...

Editor’s corner: Grousing Democrats fail to find direction at top

Warren County and Pennsylvania have always had a balance when it comes to elections. Current Gov. Josh Shapiro is from the left, but during the 2024 Election, the state went right in backing President Donald Trump. In the U.S. Senate, there’s representation from Dave McCormick, a Republican ...

Our opinion: Conewango email mess avoidable

Felony charges filed last week against the former Conewango Township clerk should provide a lesson for area governments as they work to join the 21st century. The clerk set up the township’s email address that was used for township purposes like logging into Quickbooks to handle the township’s financial records and for communication with constituents. When the clerk was fired, for undisclosed reasons, she asked for and was given access to read the emails in the town Google mail account because she was using the address for personal reasons, too. The first mistake Conewango ...

Our opinion: Quick sale best for district, area

Some members of the Warren County School District Board are pushing for a quick sale of the Youngsville Middle/High School building. In our opinion it’s the right move. Board member John Wortman’s suggestion to pursue a quick sale of the Youngsville building came after a school board committee approved the sale of the former Sugar Grove Elementary School for $75,252 to Jay Groves and Brian Horner. Gary Weber, district superintendent, said the bid is 30% more than the highest bid received the last time bids were solicited to sell the building. The last thing either the school ...

Our opinion: A new hunting debate begins

Now that the great Sunday hunting debate appears to have been solved, some state lawmakers are ready to begin a new debate over the use of semiautomatic weapons to hunt big game in Pennsylvania. The state has long had a prohibition on the use of semi-automatic weapons for big game, with a similar ban for small game lifted less than a decade ago. It didn’t take long for a pair of lawmakers to introduce differing proposals for semiautomatic weapons for big game for opposition to quickly form against it. We can’t disagree with some of those reactions. We don’t think allowing the ...

Our opinion: Public notices must be accessible

Some state lawmakers seem to think they have come up with a way to modernize how local governing bodies get the word out about their meetings, pending actions, tax increases, new ordinances and other measures. But Senate Bill 194 — which resurrects the idea of putting public notices on governmental websites — is another way to keep the public in the dark because the idea begs the question: “Who’s going to see them there?” Public notices have long been published in the classified section of local printed newspapers. Those who follow local governments regularly monitor that ...