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In these times, safe driving even more important

The Juniata River Valley and surrounding communities have survived the noteworthy snowstorm that passed across the region about a week ago. We expect that in the coming days and weeks, the volumes of snow will melt and refreeze into icy conditions. More snow and sleet will further complicate winter commutes. Such is life in central Pennsylvania. We hope and encourage motorists to be mindful of conditions. We echo the advice of the state Department of Transportation, found on the department’s website: Slow down and increase following distance. Avoid sudden stops and starts. Beware ...

Canada should warm to Trump’s Arctic plans

Donald Trump’s Arctic strategy has been 500 years in the making. When Christopher Columbus set sail across the Atlantic in 1492, he intended to find a direct path from Europe to Asia. He didn’t, of course – but the first transatlantic explorer to sail under an English flag, John Cabot, tried again a few years later and became the first modern explorer to reach what is now Canada. The commercial potential of the Northwest Passage was obvious from the start, but even once explorers at last figured out how to thread their way through the Arctic’s ice and islands, there was no ...

Not keen on friend’s humor

Dear Annie: I’m a 73-year-old married woman, and my husband and I have a full social life. We regularly host other couples for happy hour, dinner and holidays. I enjoy it, and I’m grateful to have good friends at this stage of life. One friend in particular is a woman my age whom I’ve known for years. We generally get along well, which is why this has caught me off guard. Lately, she has started making comments about my height. I’m 5 feet, 1 inch tall, and she’s 5 feet, 3 inches, so it’s not as if there’s some dramatic difference. Yet in front of our friends, she calls me ...

‘Rugged Individualism’ leads to community

The most fertile soil for collectivism is isolation. During his inaugural address, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said, “We will replace the frigidity of rugged individualism with the warmth of collectivism.” Many people have skewered the second part of that statement -- and rightfully so. For those who’ve endured it, the warmth of collectivism feels like hell on earth. In the last century, communist regimes slaughtered more than 150 million people. Hundreds of millions more have suffered through scarcity and oppression. Collectivist regimes struggle to keep the lights on ...

The quiet climb of utility costs

Utility bills rarely arrive with drama. They come folded, routine, and quiet, tucked between grocery flyers and credit card offers. Most months, people glance at the total, sigh, and move on. That’s how rate increases tend to land here. One at a time. Separately. Easy to miss until they aren’t. Across Mifflin and Juniata counties, there’s been no single moment when utility costs exploded. What residents have experienced instead is something more subtle. Sewer rates climb in one township. Water billing structures shift in another. Electric supply prices are rising statewide. Plans ...

Campaign spending requires voters’ attention

Pennsylvania’s judicial-retention balloting last year was an eye-opener, but not because of which candidates’ retention bids were successful. Rather, what was remarkable — and troubling to many people of this commonwealth — was the total amount in cash and the value of other support dumped into the campaigns on behalf of those seeking the voters’ ballot-box approval. According to a Spotlight PA article, at least $18.7 million was poured into the state Supreme Court election, and the Keystone State’s 2025 retention races were deemed likely to be among the five most ...