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Our opinion: State needs to ban ‘gas station heroin’

The colorful packaging bears trippy names like ZaZa, Neptune’s Fix, Pegasus and Purple Magic. Sold as an elixir or in pill form, the products promise feelings of “euphoria,” “happiness” and “bliss,” and are marketed to grab the attention – and cash – of young and old consumers alike. What the labels don’t disclose is that the main ingredient, tianeptine, is a highly addictive substance, and in high doses can mimic the effects of opioids, causing seizures, cardiac arrest, respiratory issues and ultimately death. Unregulated, it’s being sold as a “dietary ...

Our opinion: Make Warren Gives even bigger this year

Warren Gives has grown by leaps and bounds since its inception in 2013. Giving has increased from $146,000 in 2013 for the benefit of 87 charitable causes, to a record breaking amount of over $1,000,000 to 110 charitable causes that serve Warren County residents. That’s pretty impressive when you consider our population has decreased. It means the community continues to dig deep to support a growing non-profit community that works on behalf of everyone from children to senior citizens and a wide range of worthy public purposes. None of this would be possible without the public, ...

Other voices: Congress must stop redistricting abuse

Florida was supposed to be the finale of this year’s race to the bottom on redistricting. Yet a cacophonous encore is now playing across the South after a Supreme Court ruling last week. The GOP started it in Texas last summer. A back-and-forth ensued, with Democrats redrawing maps in California and Virginia while Republicans did so in Missouri, North Carolina and Ohio. Simultaneously, a long-running constitutional dispute over the Voting Rights Act came to a head last week when the high court limited the consideration of race while designing districts in Louisiana v. ...

Our opinion: Bullying bill leaves too much to imagination

We like the idea behind Rep. Jennifer O’Mara’s bill that would require schools to notify parents if their child has been bullied at school. Too many parents find out about incidents in school after the fact from their child, if they hear about them at all. That’s because, unless you’re reenacting your favorite episode of Colombo, getting children to talk substantively about their day is about as useful as talking to a brick wall. It’s not uncommon for parents to find out about bullying only after months of behavior that should have been stopped when they started. The problem ...

Our opinion: Remembering a record holder

Records are made to be broken, as the old saying goes. But records are also made to preserve the memories of former record holders. That one's our own thought, but it held true as we thought about Leyton Salvatore, a Warren Area High School sophomore who broke the school's 800-meter record by more than 2 full seconds during Friday's Altoona Invitational. It's quite a feat for Salvatore, especially considering the sophomore has two more years to compete. As we celebrate Leyton’s accomplishment, it’s a good time to take a look back at the athlete who used to hold the 800-meter ...

Our opinion: Put the phone down when driving

Imagine driving 55 miles per hour with your eyes closed for five seconds – the equivalent of the length of a football field. Sounds terrifying, doesn’t it? Now, imagine reading or sending a text message while behind the wheel. The five seconds spent looking at your cellphone and not the roadway carry the same potential for tragedy as driving a speeding car with your eyes shut, says the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. And that is equally terrifying. Not only that, it also happens to be illegal to use a phone or hand-held device while driving, per Paul ...