Breaking News

Opinion

Readers Speak

Letters To Editor

Putting U.S. in peril Dear Editor, Moral courage is the ability to do the right thing even when it is hard. Those who fight for their beliefs are terrified of the opposition. But they have something stronger than their fear: their belief in equality, justice, and compassion. The first step in activating moral courage is noticing that we are failing to honor our beliefs. The next step is deciding what we can do to remedy the situation. Perhaps an example from history will help. In April 1940 the German fascist troops invaded Norway. What happened then is much like what is ...

Our opinion: Deficits, energy still a priority

Our Opinion

As time passes, the excesses of President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act become more and more clear. Recent analysis by the Competitive Enterprise Institute confirms that the cost projections for the law when it was passed were woefully — perhaps even deliberately — inadequate. The institute’s studying of the costs places its expense to the American taxpaying public at between $936 billion and $1.97 trillion over 10 years and between $2.04 trillion and $4.67 trillion by the year 2050. For a nation already struggling with a national debt of $34 trillion, we believe this ...

Simple games

Local Commentaries

Today I would like to try an experiment. Before you read this get a piece of paper and write down all of the simple games that you can think of. Many of them require a minimum of equipment. After you have made your list, then read and compare. First, I begin with a tag. There are all types of tags. One of my favorites is freeze tag. Someone calls out the word “freeze” and you have to stop right where you are and in whatever pose you are in. the person who is “it” may take three steps. If they can touch someone, then they are it. If not, it starts all over again. My children ...

Easter week is for the Eggs-citement

Local Commentaries

Next week should be the big egg week, the week the chickens work overtime. But if I am to believe all the bird-flu news, these haggard hens have already been on time and a half – the struggling survivors of the national virus. They should probably create a hens’ union and demand to be paid for piecework. And if I were one of those hard-working hens, I’d be furious that all the credit for my Easter week output goes to a giant pink rabbit. I wonder how that started anyway – the holiday candy and eggs being delivered by the Easter Bunny? I guess it’s not practical to apply ...

Our opinion: Crisis needs funds, not position

Our Opinion

There aren’t many state legislators more engaged in the issues surrounding rural EMS services than Rep. Martin Causer. The Bradford-area Republican is frequently part of rural EMS task force meetings and is asking for support for legislation he is drafting that would create an independent Office of EMS Commissioner to operate within the state Health Department. The idea is one that Causer recently discussed during an EMS Task Force meeting he hosted in McKean County recently. Causer thinks creating the state office, which would require the state EMS commissioner to have a ...

Our opinion: More proof to let the status quo go

Our Opinion

After listening to the community plead for the status quo in high school education over the past couple of years, we decided to take a look at how our students have been doing under the status quo. The results were sobering, to be quite honest. Some were sobering despite not being surprising, like the decreasing number of high school juniors taking the Keystone Exams across the county. The county’s overall junior class has decreased from 347 students in 2014-15 to 255 in 2023-24, with none of the four high schools seeing a growth in the number of test-taking students. The ...