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Fraud can be an early morning felon

The phone call came at 6:10. In the morning. I know there are people who are awake and have begun their day by 6:00 a.m., but I am not one of them. I especially didn’t like hearing the voice that was on the other end of the receiver last Friday. “This is the fraud department at Barclay’s Bank Mastercard. Is this Marcia O’Brien?” Oh, rats. Victimized? Again? And is it really the fraud department? I was waking up faster than I wanted. My red flags began flapping. “Yes, this is she.” I mumbled, trying to come to. It was one of those sleepless nights and I had hoped to ...

Is Warren Worx duplication?

I would like to add my comments to the current public discussion regarding the Warren Worx initiative. I live in the Warren community and welcome the thoughts behind what the WCCBI is attempting to do and it brings up a few questions. First, isn’t that what the Warren County Chamber of Business and Industry is supposed to be doing already? Aren’t they the entity to already address those job generating and business expanding opportunities in our area? Secondly, isn’t the Warren County Visitors Bureau supposed to be our marketing entity for the county? If so,then why are Jim ...

Taking a virtual tour

A piece on the news caught my attention last week. A teacher in Texas was featured for an activity that she did with her class. They took a day away from their studies and “visited” Mexico. She had travel documents for each student as well as a passport. The children were really enthused about their trip. My mind traveled back nearly forty years ago. I was teaching at a small school with only one of every grade there. We planned a day to explore the countries of the world. I chose France for the second grade. I took French in high school and I had a foreign exchange student from ...

Our opinion: Focus on youth, not timelines

Warren County School District board members did the right thing pushing a decision on restoring girls basketball at Sheffield High School until after this year’s season. The last thing anyone wants is thoughts of next season taking away from anyone’s commitment to the 2023-24 season. Board members will have a difficult decision when they do discuss the matter fully. Despite strong interest, Sheffield still has barely enough girls to field a varsity and junior varsity team. And, it will cost more to field a team at Sheffield rather than field a combined team at Warren Area High ...

Rounding Third … Exciting moments as curtain goes up

“Annie,” the musical, is coming to Erie. We probably won’t be buying tickets this time around, but “Annie” holds a special place in our family’s memory. My two grown children probably don’t often think back to their first theater experience, but I’ll never forget it. My son, Bart, was 5 years old on our first foray to Shea’s Buffalo theater. Alix, his big sister, was 9. We had purchased four front balcony tickets to make sure they could see well. The children were seated on either side of me. Separating them was always a good idea. When the theater lights dimmed ...

RGGI far from right fit for Pennsylvania

By Jon O’Brien The pandemic taught us about the domino effect of supply chains in our global economy, where one minor disruption can reverberate globally and significantly impact business costs everywhere. Pennsylvania can expect similar economic disruptions if our commonwealth joins the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). When the price of business increases, we, as consumers, will bear the brunt of these costly changes. As somebody who works closely with businesses and contractors, I’ve witnessed firsthand how recent inflation and tight labor markets have impacted ...