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Left again fails to find balance

Local Commentaries

In the 1990s President Bill Clinton laid off and or fired over 377,000 federal employees in an attempt to balance the budget (which he did) and to reduce government. He had bipartisan support and was not referred to as a dictator, a wanna be king, a racist and so on. The Republicans didn’t boohoo or bellyache because they didn’t get their way, they supported the president of the United States in what he was doing for the better of the country! In President Barack Obama’s time in office, he relieved 197 military officers in an attempt to align the Pentagon with his way of ...

Budget season offers hope for a new energy future

Local Commentaries

We know Pennsylvania’s budget season doesn’t quite get the same buzz as other seasons of the year. But this year, there’s reason to get excited about the state budget. Pennsylvanians have a real opportunity to see dramatic new investments in our commonwealth’s energy economy. Gov. Josh Shapiro’s proposed budget includes a plan to jumpstart economic growth through the energy sector, following federal commitments of up to $2 billion for clean hydrogen production and industrial decarbonization. While there may be differences in the details, one thing is clear: Democrats and ...

Our opinion: Two takes on tax policy

Our Opinion

The story of Republican tax policy in the Trump era is the contest between pro-growth ideas and anti-growth income redistribution. An example of both was on display in President Trump’s recent speech to Congress. The good idea was Trump’s proposal to let companies deduct the full cost of capital expenditures in the year they are made. Trump’s 2017 tax reform provided such “bonus depreciation,” which began to phase out in 2023 and is set to expire at the end of next year. Trump on Tuesday pitched extending full expensing retroactively to this January. “It was one of the ...

View from Hickory Heights: Anxiously waiting

Local Commentaries

As March came in like a lion, I anxiously wait for the signs of Spring that are so familiar. When the grandchildren were young, we went outside as soon as it was comfortable. By comfortable I mean we had to wear jackets, but we could comfortably sit outside to eat our lunch. Many lunches were enjoyed by the little café table that sits on the upper side of my porch. There were only two chairs, but we could pull up extra ones depending on who was there. Yes, we ate with our jackets on, but it was so nice to be outdoors enjoying sandwiches and chips. First, we would have a snack out ...

Always running just a little bit behind

Local Commentaries

We finished undressing the Christmas tree on Friday. Today, Monday, a kind friend helped us take it apart and bag it. Yes, I know. It’s March 10th as I write this. I hear this echo in my head, “You’re just getting your Christmas tree down? It’s Lent already!” I was annoyed when I heard on January 6th that “today is ‘official’ tree-taking-down day.” Who decided this? OK, OK, I remember Epiphany, the 12th day of Christmas from my childhood. It is the church’s end of the Christmas season, a nice tradition. My mother and I always tried to get our tree down and out ...

Our opinion: Cyber charter reform still needed

Our Opinion

A recent report from Auditor General Tim DeFoor confirms what we have long thought - the state simply must reform its method of funding cyber charter schools. DeFoor’s audit took a look at the budgets of five statewide cyber charters over a three-year period and found that revenue at those five cyber charters more than doubled to $898 million while the cyber charters’ savings grew by 144%. At the same time, here in Warren County, we’re going through the difficult process of closing two high schools because the Warren County School District can’t operate sustainably with the ...