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Our opinion: Torchlight shines through yet again

It certainly wasn’t easy for the United Fund of Warren County’s Torchlight Campaign to meet its $735,000 goal. The cost of living and doing business has gone up over the past year. As a county we deal with high poverty and a crippling loss of population that has led to some difficult choices over the past year for local governments and the agencies that work in our county to help people through tough times. Yet, once again, Warren County came through with the successful completion of the United Fund of Warren County’s 101st annual campaign. All of the $735,000 raised from ...

Editor’s corner: New York’s despair is getting desperate

Pennsylvania’s gubernatorial race is off to a cool start. Both incumbent Josh Shapiro and challenger Stacy Garrity are taking their shots at one another, but both seem to be holding back until the real campaign season begins later in the summer. To our north, it is a similar scenario as ...

Our opinion: Dementia training for EMS makes sense

Legislation being drafted to require EMS personnel to undergo training to help them better interact with those living with Alzheimer’s disease or other dementias makes sense, at first blush. Sen. Lynda Culver and House members Maureen Madden and Kyle Mullins are looking for Pennsylvania to join Virginia by requiring training to help EMS providers recognize cognitive impairment and communicate effectively during emergencies. While fire departments can take the training on their own under current law,, Culver, Madden and Mullins want to make the voluntary training a requirement. ...

Our opinion: A better way to pursue murals

In Chautauqua County, government grants pay for murals around the county. Here in Warren County that isn’t the case. The City Council recently approved plans for a 40-foot-wide by 44-foot-high mural to be painted on the east wall of the WestPANet building at 216 Pennsylvania Avenue West. The wall faces the roundabout at Pennsylvania Avenue West and Market Street. The mural that will soon adorn it will be created by artist Sara Aiello and will depict themes significant to the city’s heritage. The city will coordinate the effort, which will be funded through private ...

Our opinion: Take part in riverfront planning

Warren City Council members were quick last week to say one reason it hired Pashek/Larson Karle Architects to craft a new Allegheny Riverfront development master plan is the firm’s track record working with the city on projects in the past. The consultant is starting in a strong place after a recent public survey that generated roughly 40 potential ideas for further development along the river to go along with the first phase of work that is expected to begin soon. The master plan will take those ideas and refine them into realistic, buildable ideas with professional renderings that ...

Our opinion: District does well avoiding tax hike

There are sighs of relief being breathed around Warren County after last week’s Warren County School District Board of Education meeting. At least a few of those sighs are coming from school board members and administrators who, we’re sure, weren’t relishing explaining to residents that after closing two school buildings in 2025 that the district still wasn’t saving enough money to keep taxes at a manageable level for taxpayers. Some of those same taxpayers have found themselves hit with higher tax bills after the countywide property reassessment driven in part by the school ...