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Organizing all that wonderful ‘stuff’

Local Commentaries

I foolishly planned a yard sale. I even hornswoggled Dear Richard into the idea. I’m an idiot. For the past three or four years, we’ve been donating our worthy goods to worthy charities. Simple. Easy. Sensible. Then one day I found a bunch of little things I don’t use and put them in a box for donation. Thereafter, every time I was in a closet, a kitchen drawer, or the garage and found something useless, I’d add it to the box. Hmm. But planning a sale was overwhelming. A truly organized sale would require tackling our jam-packed garage, which was armpit deep in ...

Our opinion: State needs responsible budget

Our Opinion

Pennsylvania has reached the four-month mark without a state budget. The annual deadline for the state government’s spending plan is June 30. We believe it is inexcusable that our state is within hours of being four months overdue for passing a budget — but, as we editorialized this past summer, the proposal offered by Gov. Josh Shapiro was unrealistic. Shapiro has unsuccessfully pressed lawmakers for a $3.6 billion increase in spending. The proposal, in our estimation, does little to address court rulings that Pennsylvania’s system of funding public education does not comply ...

Our opinion: River cleanup efforts paying off

Our Opinion

We’re always amazed by the amount of debris taken out of the Allegheny River each year by a dedicated group of volunteers. This year is no different. David Snyder, who has helped lead the cleanup for each of its 17 years, said the 2025 cleanup drew 154 volunteers who donated 1,232 hours. The crews removed 1,500 pounds of recyclable metal, 40 tires and 28 cubic yards of garbage – enough to fill the bed of a standard pick-up truck nine times. Kudos to those volunteers who gave their time and effort to beautify one of our greatest natural assets. But Snyder’s recent report to ...

Our opinion: Take the time to vote Tuesday

Our Opinion

Tuesday is Election Day, with thousands of Warren County residents going to the polls to cast their ballot for township, borough, city and county offices. Precisely because no federal and few state offices are on the ballot this year, today’s election affects you more directly in your day to day existence than any other. These are the levels of government that provide the services that affect you every single day in one way or another through things like police and fire department staffing in the city, handling of neighborhood issues, animal control, road maintenance - including ...

Readers Speak

Letters To Editor

Closings were ‘wrong’ Dear Editor, This is in response to the recent editorial about re-electing Mary Passinger to the school board. One huge problem is that she and her supporters don’t realize they are wrong. The support for closing schools was not unanimous. These communities did not deserve this. Your opinion says we should not look at the past but focus on the future. I say how can we confidently vote for Passinger? She has been on the board for so long and her and her buddies’ record lead to the school closings. They did nothing to avoid this even when they said it was ...

Editor's corner: More electing to participate in early voting

Our Opinion

During last year’s presidential election, nearly 25% of Pennsylvania voters cast their ballot before the traditional Election Day. This begs a question: Should the state do more to promote early voting? For now, the option is limited. Registered voters have the option of applying for a mail ...