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Our opinion: Marijuana legalization shouldn’t be a budget issue

Our Opinion

Gov. Josh Shapiro’s 2025-26 budget includes revenue from the legalization of marijuana. As state lawmakers debate marijuana legalization, they should not think one bit about the $1.3 billion Shapiro projects the state could receive in tax revenue in the first five years after the legalization of recreational marijuana is approved. The argument is the additional tax revenue generated by legalized marijuana will help close the state’s structural budget deficit. We don’t doubt there’s a market, even here in Warren County, given the number of arrests we see of people coming ...

Big Julie wuz one of a kind

Local Commentaries

I was standing in the checkout line at a Country Fair in Erie when I heard the big tough man’s voice behind me. He was on the phone. “You tell doze guys I’m gonna take care-a dem poysinally when I get back.” He added profanity for emphasis. I hadn’t heard an accent like that – delivered in a threatening, gravelly voice – in over 50 years. But I didn’t have to dig too deep for the memory. The big tough guy with the rough-neighborhood New York accent was unforgettable. His name was Big Julie. Whadda a package he was. I was a stewardess based at New York’s Kennedy ...

Our opinion: District passes first merger test

Our Opinion

We knew closing two high schools in Warren County would make financial sense. The unknown in this equation was whether or not the closure of Youngsville and Sheffield would mean a higher-quality education for county high school students. At first glance, it does For the 2025-26 school year, based on student requests and staffing considerations, the district plans to offer 101 courses at Eisenhower and 115 courses at Warren Area High School, all meeting the 12-student minimum enrollment. Eisenhower will offer 80.2% of the courses available in the district’s catalogue while ...

Our opinion: County keeps close eye on tax base

Our Opinion

It can be hard for some to realize why they should care about state legislation that could make it easier for the state Game Commission to purchase land. After all, isn’t making more land available for sportsmen or conservation efforts a good thing? Generally, it is. But county, school and even city officials have good reason to be wary of making it easier for the game commission to purchase land more easily. Rep. Mandy Steele, D-Cheswick, is circulating a co-sponsorship memorandum seeking support for legislation she is drafting that will lift the cap on the purchase price the ...

Our opinion: Fight gives sports a black eye

Our Opinion

With coverage from Sports Illustrated, NBC, Fox, CBS, TMZ and USA Today, two communities in Pennsylvania are famous. Oh, wait. Wrong word. They’re infamous. With minutes to go in a PIAA boys basketball playoff game and Uniontown battling to mount a comeback against Meadville Area High School, a fight broke out in the stands. Then it spilled onto the court, where more fans and some players joined in. Now seven people are facing either charges or citations, among them a member of Uniontown’s team who was cited for disorderly conduct and an adult fan from Uniontown who was ...

Local Commentaries

We hear the words, “I don’t vote because it won’t count.” Every United States citizen has the right to vote to preserve our democracy, and has a right to feel that their vote counts. How your vote for president counts is decided by the way the state legislature translates actual vote tallies into electoral votes. Electoral votes are apportioned to each state by population -- Pennsylvania has 19 electoral votes. Each state’s legislature can decide how its electoral votes are cast in the presidential election. Some states, including this one, declare all their Electoral College ...