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Opinion

Our opinion: Proposed ER bill ignores reality

Our Opinion

A bill being pushed by the American College of Emergency Physicians to require a board-certified or board-eligible physician be in a hospital emergency room at all times the Emergency Department is open has patients’ best interests at heart. That’s commendable. It’s also likely not realistic for rural hospitals that are closing due to decreasing patient volumes and expenses that are rising faster than revenues. At least three states - Indiana, South Carolina and Virginia - have signed on to bills similar to House Bill 2265, which was introduced in the Pennsylvania House of ...

Our opinion: Are microgrants best solution?

Our Opinion

The Warren County Chamber of Business and Industry is asking the city and county governments to contribute toward the creation of a small business microgrant program. The idea is worth pursuing. Many small businesses have difficulty accessing bank funding when they’re raising the capital needed, which is why many areas have some sort of small business assistance programs available. We have no doubt that many of those who reach out to the WCCBI are looking for funding, and we have no doubt that requests will likely be more than the $80,000 WCCBI is hoping to secure for the first ...

Readers Speak

Letters To Editor

Persistence for victims Dear Editor, For several years now, I have been troubled by the Jeffrey Epstein story — not because it was sensational, but because it never truly felt resolved. Too many questions were left unanswered. Too much silence followed. That is why the recent work of the United Nations, through independent experts appointed by the UN Human Rights Council, matters. Earlier this month, they began examining the Epstein files in a way that finally takes the scope of the harm seriously. What these experts describe confirms what many have long suspected: this was not ...

Other voices: Illegal war becoming new norm

Our Opinion

The killing of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, by a US-Israeli strike is a targeted assassination of a head of state. It also marks a grave escalation in a region already burdened with smouldering wars and fragile states. The consequences of the deliberate strike will reverberate across a Middle East marked by the aftershocks of foreign intervention. Revulsion against the hardline regime in Tehran, or the desire for a better future for the Iranian people, does not confer a legal justification. Force is lawful, under the UN charter, only in self-defence against an ...

Our opinion: Parking an unsolvable problem

Our Opinion

Parking is a hassle in small cities like Warren all around the country. Part of the reason for that is that it’s impossible to meet everyone’s parking needs all the time. Take, for example, Fred Watson, the owner of Fred’s Pet Shop who spoke during a recent City Council meeting about parking issues on the 200 block of Warren near his store. The block includes unmetered parking spaces that are being used for extended periods of time, meaning the spaces aren’t available for those who are trying to come to businesses on the 200 block. The store owner is requesting signs for ...

These birds have me completely puzzled

Local Commentaries

I’m a puzzler. I’ve tackled jigsaw puzzles, word puzzles and occasionally number puzzles since I was a kid. And oh, the happy, smug satisfaction it brings. I begin my day puzzling with my first cup of coffee. Every morning, I do three types of word puzzles on the computer. By the time I finish, my sleep-slit eyes are open, I’m vertical, and taking nourishment. Dear Richard refills my coffee cup. At bedtime, I do the newspaper puzzles. Then this Christmas, to my delight, my grandson, Malcolm, gave me a jigsaw puzzle. A gift I would be thrilled to get every year. This ...