Breaking News

Opinion

Other voices: Streamline FDA’s cumbersome regulatory process

Our Opinion

Good news strikes from an unlikely source. On Thursday the Food and Drug Administration approved Replimune’s immunotherapy for metastatic melanoma, a day after it green-lighted mFlusiva, Moderna’s mRNA flu vaccine. The shame is that both might have been available sooner but for regulatory delays, which hurt both patients and American innovation. Replimune has been working on its RP1 immunotherapy for a decade but got caught in the FDA cross-hairs at the last stretch. FDA review staff recommended approval after its late-stage trial showed that a third of patients whose disease had ...

Don’t mourn the falling SNAP rolls in nation

Local Commentaries

When Congress passed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) last summer, more than 42 million, or one in eight, Americans were on the food stamp program. Since then, that number has fallen by 5 million. Is this trend “incredibly alarming” and “unconscionable,” as Democratic lawmakers have claimed? Only if you assume that fewer people receiving food stamps is inherently a bad thing. Much of SNAP’s enrollment decline reflects states unwinding pandemic-era waivers and eligibility rules that kept caseloads elevated. It can also mean that people capable of work are finding jobs, or ...

Our opinion: Tough choices with lower enrollments

Our Opinion

Last month, the numbers were not promising. With classes starting on Tuesday for the Warren County School District, kindergarten enrollment seemed a bit disappointing. As of the July meeting, the district had about 150 kindergarten students registered. Enrollment by school included: -- Warren Area Elementary Center, 71 students. -- Eisenhower Elementary, 43 students. -- Sheffield Elementary, 21 students. -- Youngsville Elementary Middle School, 19 students. Administrators, at the time, noted the figures do not include every family currently in the registration process. ...

Is that nasty smell really a skunk?

Local Commentaries

An attentive reader of The Post-Journal responded to my column about the nighttime marauders on our deck — the nocturnal animals. I mentioned that some friends in Russell, Pennsylvania, were being overwhelmed by skunks, and entire neighborhoods there reeked. Whoa — I had never noticed that ...

Our opinion: Adding insult to literal injury

Our Opinion

Charges filed recently against four home care workers at a Conewango Township facility add insult to literal injury - and should be a reminder to home care workers throughout the state that the forms they fill out during each shift carry real weight. Two supervisors and two workers face varying degrees of charges related to signing time sheets that said the workers had provided care for a man who later passed away, in part, from an alleged lack of the same care the workers said they had provided. All four of the workers said the unnamed man refused help and treatment, but the state ...

Our opinion: Energy development still needed

Our Opinion

“In any business, you need to understand the rules of the road and what is expected so you can develop a business plan," an industry leader told the Williamsport Sun-Gazette. We believe that James D. Welty, president of the Marcellus Shale Coalition, is correct to be concerned about changes or revisions to the regulations that provide oversight to the natural gas industry fueling uncertainty and discouraging investment. We believe the United States and the world need energy development here in Pennsylvania -- including natural gas development. This is not to say there should not ...