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Our opinion: Proposal gets its due diligence

We don’t know yet if a community-led proposal to develop the property at 231-237 Pennsylvania Avenue West makes economic sense or not. Judging from the most recent Warren Redevelopment Authority meeting, RDA board members aren’t sure either. But they’re willing to listen. It’s at the very least a very different tone after all the hubbub over the site for the past few years. Roughly a year after a senior housing project at the site fell apart, it looked like buildings at the site were going to be torn down before a new redevelopment proposal could be discussed. Steel vaults ...

Our opinion: Some resolutions for state

The year 2026 is upon us, and our state lawmakers and state officials should offer Pennsylvanians two resolutions — to reform our state’s government in ways that encourage rather than punish development and job creation, and to reduce state spending. Our region’s own lawmakers have respectable records of understanding both points. Unfortunately many others in Harrisburg fail to recognize the imperative nature of ensuring that working-age Pennsylvanians have plentiful opportunities to work, live and build lives. Many of the same politicians in Harrisburg — and unfortunately, ...

Our opinion: Broadband news is encouraging

Recent discussion of broadband expansion by the Warren County Commissioners is encouraging - but also a reminder of how far we still have to go. Michael Lyon, Warren County planning director, told Warren County Commissioners during a recent meeting that the Northwest Pennsylvania Regional Planning and Development Commission, of which Warren County is a member, was awarded around $90 million in federal BEAD (Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment) program funds. That money, combined with money previously awarded to Verizon, brings several million dollars into the region to build out ...

Editor’s corner: Region’s maternity care losses mirror U.S. trend

Warren General Hospital administrators were fully aware they had been bucking a national trend. As the number of rural hospitals across the United States began closing maternity units over the last decade, this facility was thinking primarily about care for its residents. “It’s important ...

Other views: Post-Maduro plan is lacking

How do you do regime change without changing the regime? That is the conundrum facing President Trump following his announcement that the United States would run the government of Venezuela “until such time as a proper transition can take place” — date TBD. Coming from a president who has mocked American military occupations in Iraq and Afghanistan, Trump’s declaration was almost as surprising as the lightening-strike operation itself, which led to the arrest of Venezuela’s autocratic president, Nicholas Maduro, on drug trafficking charges. Set aside for a moment very ...

Our opinion: Measuring county progress

The start of a new year is a good time to ask a question of those we elected in November or or who have been hired into new positions of importance — how do we judge success for the city of Warren and Warren County as a whole? Those who pay attention to what happens in the local halls of government know there will be no shortage of things to deal with in 2026 - riverfront development in Warren, a contentious school building in Youngsville, new and old events that seek to boost tourism and local businesses, the first year of new tax assessments following a year of anger over the ...