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Opinion

Our opinion: Part-timers preferable to less legislature

Our Opinion

There’s been talk of shrinking the state Legislature for years, and we’re sure that talk will continue for years to come given that Pennsylvania’s statehouse is the largest in the nation. Pennsylvania is one of 10 states that has a full-time legislature, and its 253-member legislature is the largest in the country. While the General Assembly meets nearly every month of the year in Harrisburg, the legislature takes lengthy recesses and votes a few times a month. Actual session days are about the same as states with part-time legislatures like New York, though some legislative ...

Readers Speak

Letters To Editor

Going again to the wells Dear Editor, The recent Times Observer editorial on orphaned oil and gas wells unfairly blames today’s conventional oil and gas operators — many of which live and work in Warren County. Most of Pennsylvania’s estimated 200,000-plus orphaned wells were drilled long before modern regulations existed. The 200,000-plus orphaned wells are the responsibility of a bygone era, not today’s operators who work under strict state oversight, bonding requirements, and reporting rules. In fact, PA’s modern conventional oil and gas industry has plugged tens of ...

View from Hickory Heights: Camping memories

Local Commentaries

Last week when I wrote about making coffee with lemon water it reminded me of the times when the family camped and had campfires. The campfires came first. Often, we went up on our hill. There was a spot where the trees opened up into a nice spot for a campfire. I remember when Todd had a friend come with animals for him to treat and we went up on the hill for a fire. What a nice evening. At that point we all came down to go to bed. The children camped with friends up on the hill too. They came down for breakfast. I recall one morning when I made pancakes because that was all I had ...

Speed demon no more with chores

Local Commentaries

Speed demon no more with chores Last week, I wrote about travel, the gift of a lifetime. This week, we’re time traveling, and I don’t mean science fiction. This involves the cold, hard facts about time flying at warp speed. And I’m mad about it. Just when we finally need life to slow down – so we can keep up – time revs its engine and almost takes off without us. The nerve of Mother Nature. Most days I think of her as wondrously talented. But now, there are times when she is downright mean. Take birthdays for example. When I was a kid, weeks crawled slowly to my ...

Our opinion: Restore fairness to camera law

Our Opinion

There is nothing inherently wrong with using stop-arm cameras on school buses. We have seen, both locally and across the state, that too many drivers either don’t know the rules of the road designed to keep children safe while they’re on school buses or simply don’t care about those rules and disregard them. It’s important to keep children safe while they’re on the bus and while they’re getting on and off the bus. In our opinion the stop-arm cameras provide a valuable service. But it’s equally important that the stop-arm cameras be fair to drivers. And right now ...

Our opinion: Water show makes a big splash

Our Opinion

County residents have the opportunity to send the summer of 2025 out in style with Kinzua Rocks The Wake, scheduled for Labor Day weekend at Kinzua Beach. The weekend will include water stunt shows and a flurry of tribute bands to Kinzua Beach for three days of water stunt shows and concerts. Water skiing performances will alternate with Ski Extreme’s freestyle jet ski and flyboarding stunts from Wisconsin. Ski extreme specializes in jaw-dropping flips and spins on jet skis, as well as flyboarding, a relatively new extreme water sport that involves a water-propelled board attached ...