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Our opinion: Keeping focus on riverfront

Development of the Allegheny River in the city limits has been a hot topic over the past few years. On Wednesday, city residents got a chance to take a look at the latest iteration of development plans and, more importantly, an opportunity to give feedback before work begins in earnest later this year. There was a brief presentation updating the public on the details and reasonable timelines for the various phases of the development. The first area - and closest to construction - will focus on installing a boat ramp to facilitate easy access to the Allegheny River. A floating dock ...

Our opinion: A necessary, needed choice

Warren County School District board members have made the right decision to close two Sheffield and Youngsville high schools. It wasn’t an easy decision. Board members surely knew their decision wouldn’t be popular. They’ve heard the arguments. They listened to the impassioned pleas to keep the schools open. But a year after taking a half-step by sending some Sheffield students to Warren Area High School for core classes and then busing them back to Warren when they are done with those courses, the board decided it was time to take the plunge. People are upset. That’s ...

Our opinion: Seeking transparency in campaigns

We can understand the concern and even apprehension by news that spending on Pennsylvania’s 2024 political campaigns was dominated by a small number of donors. We understand the fears and worries that our politics can become beholden to a small number of influential parties, serving their needs and not the needs of the middle class or of our rural communities. But we must caution that past efforts to curb this perceived influence have carried their own risks. We believe we should live in a free society, exercising our God-given rights as we see fit. And the right to argue the ...

Our opinion: Partaking in Parton’s legacy

Saturday brings an opportunity for parents and children to immerse themselves in a story - and to help hundreds of Warren County children do so throughout the year. We’re talking, of course, about the Jefferson Defrees Family Center’s annual storybook breakfast at 9 a.m. Saturday at the center, 207 Second Ave., Warren. There are a lot of literacy initiatives in Warren County. Ruby Wiles, founder and director of Allegheny Creations and Free Books for Kids Town, a non-profit whose mission is children’s literacy and education, hosts several events throughout the year, all with ...

Other voices: Homeless boom appears in the blue states

In case you missed the pre-holiday news dump, the Department of Housing and Urban Development reported that homelessness this year hit a record. Add this to President Biden’s regrettable legacies, though it’s notable that progressive states accounted for most of the increase. HUD’s annual point-in-time survey found that the number of homeless increased 18% this year and 36% since 2019. Local governments and nonprofits in January counted some 771,480 living in public spaces, shelters or other temporary government-funded housing. Yet the report essentially absolves federal policies ...

Our Opinion: Decision about weight loss drugs not easy

Americans elect their leaders on the premise that those individuals will be capable of making the right decisions on difficult, as well as easy, issues. An issue on which members of Congress might have to render a decision, possibly in the early weeks of the new legislative session, is the kind of topic that could generate opposition and trigger anger, no matter how the decision making shakes out. The issue is whether Medicare and Medicaid should pay for popular anti-obesity drugs for many more Americans than those already eligible for that benefit. The Biden administration ...