Breaking News

Our Opinion

Our opinion: Enough with sales-tax holidays

Last week, we made note of 19 bills sponsored by state House Republicans proposing sales tax holidays on everything from gas to soccer gear. We didn’t disagree with the idea of a gas tax holiday, in part because Warren County’s gas prices were already too high compared to the rest of the state even before the war on Iran sent gas prices skyrocketing. That particular sales tax holiday can help millions of Pennsylvania residents and should, in our opinion, be seriously considered by lawmakers from both parties. But many of the other sales tax holidays proposed are too narrow, and ...

Other voices: Voter list is an overreaction

Can the President order the U.S. Postal Service not to deliver mail he doesn’t like? Add this to the list of, er, innovative questions that President Trump is posing to the courts. On (March 31) he signed an executive action to create a federal list of people pre-approved to vote by mail, while telling the USPS to refuse to deliver ballots from anybody who isn’t on it. Democrats have already filed lawsuits, saying Mr. Trump’s plan tramples on the authority over elections that the Constitution gives to the 50 states. The USPS is an independent agency, and the Postmaster General is ...

Our opinion: Unhealthy behavior not illegal

State Sen. Gene Yaw, R-Williamsport, isn’t wrong for wanting to stop people from smoking when children under the age of 12 are in a car. No study has found that cigarette smoke or e-cigarette vapor are good for anyone, much less young children. But there is a line between actions being unhealthy and actions being illegal that Yaw’s proposal ignores - to its detriment. To be fair, we haven’t seen legislative language yet, simply a co-sponsorship memorandum. But we have a hard time believing that Yaw’s proposal can be enforced at all. We don’t have enough police officers ...

Our opinion: Boost skilled trades numbers

Republicans and Democrats in the state Legislature agree there is a looming shortage of skilled trades workers in the commonwealth. The question is what to do about it. Rep. Marla Brown, R-Lawrence, wants to expose more high school students to the trades by requiring shop classes in sixth through 12th grades. Brown introduced her co-sponsorship memorandum for legislation she’s drafting in late March after a March 18 House Republican Policy Committee hearing hosted by Rep. David H. Rowe, R-Snyder, and Brown to examine strategies to strengthen workforce development in the skilled ...

Our opinion: Forest Service shift could benefit county

We won’t pretend to be experts on the U.S. Forest Service or forest management. Only time will tell if President Donald Trump’s move to reorganize the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) agencies that include the U.S. Forest Service, reduce bureaucracy, and place more employees outside Washington, D.C. is a good move or a bad move. But bringing more Forest Service staff to Warren County as the county becomes a headquarters for the Mid-Atlantic states and New England, a region that covers 12 states, can only be a positive development locally. We are a region that has been ...

Our opinion: A weak response on maternal care

Gov. Josh Shapiro’s Healthy Moms, Vibrant Futures’ Maternal Health Strategic Action Plan sounds like a real step forward in helping expectant mothers in rural areas. Perhaps it’s unfair to expect a problem that has metastasized over the past two decades to be fixed quickly, but in our view Shapiro’s plan doesn’t seem likely to accomplish much in its first year. And that’s too bad, because there are some 175 soon-to-be mothers in Warren County who we think deserve better. The plan has several components, but given the recent closure of Warren General Hospital’s ...