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Our opinion: Bring transparency to Kibbey case

People have questions about the circumstances surrounding the resignation of Thomas Kibbey, former county chief detective. They’re not the only ones. Unfortunately it’s going to be some time before anyone gets any real answers. And, while Kibbey has been highly decorated during his time in law enforcement, we hope the Attorney General’s office doesn’t simply play the long game and slow play the investigation into Kibbey’s alleged misconduct. Trust in police has been on a downward trend for years across the country. Cases like Kibbey’s, if allowed to fester, will only ...

Our opinion: Encouraging children’s museum

The Kinzua Area Discovery Center has taken a major first step with the signing of papers to purchase land for the children’s museum at 4115 Market St., the site of the former Red Maple Inn. Eventually, the site will be transformed into an immersive indoor adventure where nature and imagination meet, with plans including an enchanted forest, winding river and animals. The center is being planned as an area to promote imagination, creativity, self-expression and family togetherness with playful learning, exploration, and engagement at every turn. It sounds great, and it’s ...

Editor's corner: Runaway spending keeps impacting education

Education comes at a high cost to taxpayers. And some are starting to speak up about it. According to the Commonwealth Foundation, Pennsylvania school districts increased overall revenue collected in 2023–24 to $23,000 per student, while expanding general fund reserves to $7.4 billion, ...

Rights, privileges can lead to nonsense

Judging from recent commentary, it seems the definitions of rights and privileges have been conflated in our political discourse. To start: A legal right is an action that an individual can take that cannot be legally infringed by other people or by the government. Natural rights for American citizens are defined in the second sentence of the Declaration, and are constitutionally protected by the Bill of Rights. Logically, one person’s rights cannot contradict another person’s Rights; else they cannot be considered rights. A privilege always requires infringement of one ...

View from Hickory Heights: Little things make big differences

It is strange, but sometimes little things make a big difference. I recently found a recipe for Sourdough Bread that sounded interesting. I have a recipe but the starter needs to be fed regularly. To be honest that makes it too difficult to keep going. This new recipe makes two batches of starter. Then you are done. I read through the recipe and decided to try it. I knew quite a bit about sourdough bread but of course not everything there is to know. I knew that you used glass or ceramic bowls. I also did not chance using anything but my wooden spoon to mix with. That being said, I ...

Our opinion: Aligning goals for state power

In 2022, Pennsylvania created PA Edge tax credits in an effort to boost the creation of new power supply in the state. The tax credits have never been used. Now, a bipartisan group of House members that include Republican Tom Mehaffe and Democrats John Inglis and Rob Matzie are trying to tweak the tax credit program to make it more useful to power providers, including a Reliable Energy Investment Tax Credit that would be applicable to any new energy facilities or expanded facilities with a minimum of 100 megawatts of new power. The tax credits would scale to the size of the project ...