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Looking the other way Dear Editor, Monkey Mizaaru sees no evil. Monkey Kikazaru hears no evil. Monkey Iwazaru says no evil. Japanese children learn this early on, it’s part of their culture. It is viewed as a pathway to moral clarity by shunning the secular world based on Confucius teachings. We in the West, see this as Willful Ignorance. “Turn a blind eye,” “turn a deaf ear or eye,” “pay no mind,” and “what happens in Washington D. C. stays in D. C.” are not taught to our children as admirable traits. Our United States Senators and Representatives and Cabinet ...

Recognizing our heroes during the giving season

Local Commentaries

The month of December throughout our nation’s history has been a very active time for our military. We all know about the Day That Lives in Infamy, when the Japanese, unprovoked, attacked the islands of Hawaii decimating the Pacific Fleet of our Navy. We know about the siege of Bastogne in the European theater of WWII that lasted many days and showed the true tenacity of the American soldier, holding off overwhelming German forces in what became known as the Battle of the Bulge. During the Korean War, Lieutenant Colonel Raymond Davis against a superior Force led his Marine Battalion in ...

Our opinion: Believing in the magic of Christmas

Local Commentaries

In September 1897, 8-year-old Virginia O’Hanlon asked a now-famous question in a letter to the New York Sun. Is there a Santa Claus? Not only did the letter make young Virginia O’Hanlon a celebrity, but it prompted one of the famous newspaper editorials ever written with an answer to O’Hanlon’s question. It is reprinted today, a tradition our sister paper in Warren, Ohio, takes part in each year in part, the editorial page said, because it’s entirely possible that no one has answered the question better, nor has anyone better described the spirit of Christmas. The ...

Rounding Third: Years of fulfilling the dreams of Christmas

Local Commentaries

Marcy’s vacation week offers a holiday column excerpted from her book, Rounding Third … originally from 2006. Christmastime is pure nostalgia. Many of my holiday memories began with our children’s arrival. I will never forget the total exhaustion of falling into bed after filling the last stocking and cleaning up the toy construction evidence. The elves who visited our house weren’t super handy or organized. Depending on how successful last-minute wrapping and battery searches were, bedtime followed – during a lucky year at 2:00am. Often much later. I never felt as stringy ...

Our opinion: Changes to ARD long overdue

Our Opinion

It’s good to see, after the state’s budget showdown at the Slowdown Corral, that some items that are of importance to local residents are making their way through the state Legislature as the year comes to a close. One of those items is legislation to fix a court-created loophole in the ARD program. In case, Comm. v. Chichkin, a defendant had completed ARD for a first DUI but picked up a second a couple years later. For sentencing purposes, even though the defendant completed the ARD program, the second DUI was counted as a second DUI, which brought enhanced mandatory minimum ...

Our opinion: State’s fiscal challenges alarming

Our Opinion

Since all seats of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives and about half of those of the state Senate will be on the state’s 2026 election ballots, it’s safe to surmise that commonwealth residents need not fear a state income tax increase, no matter when the Legislature completes its work on a budget for the 2026-27 fiscal year. The purported deadline for completion of that budget is June 30, but it took the General Assembly more than four extra months beyond June 30 of this year for work on 2025-26’s $50 billion spending package to be finished. It was a mess for which the ...