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Impact fee just part of gas industry’s success

$6.9 million. Lycoming County and its municipalities are yet again benefitting from the natural gas impact fee. This year’s $6.9 million disbursement brings the total, since the fee was enacted, to about $134.5 million. The projects on which that money has and will be spent would otherwise require county and municipal governments to dip into tax revenue — whether by diverting it from other necessary expenses or by raising taxes — or postpone or reject some of the projects altogether — projects that help improve the quality of life in our region. Our position on the ...

Work on derailment needs to continue

An Associated Press article about the Feb. 3, 2023, Norfolk Southern train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, said the accident prompted a national reckoning with rail safety and calls for reform, although proposals for new industry rules stalled in Congress. Unfortunately, though, with each new development related to the 2023 accident, that well-intentioned reckoning still underway seems farther from completion than it was just days before. A new development provided ample testimony to that. A specialized plane equipped with advanced sensors that the government deploys to ...

Families don’t always look the same. Sometimes they are small and nuclear. Sometimes they are blended from remarriage. Sometimes they are extended with grandparents or grandchildren. And for many people, families include animals. According to Forbes, 66 percent of American households include pets. That’s almost 87 million families. Most pets are dogs in about 65 million households. There are 46.5 million homes with cats — and the math tells us there are plenty of people who have both. For many people, these furry family members are just as important as the ones they married ...

The Barista Proletariat wins in New York

Zohran Mamdani’s lead in first choices in New York City’s ranked-choice mayoral primary, and his inevitable victory when second, third, fourth and fifth choices of trailing candidates are allocated to candidates voters ranked lower, mean that he’ll be the Democratic nominee for mayor of the nation’s largest city and the likely winner of the general election in November. Mamdani, 33, is a three-term state assemblyman who calls himself a democratic socialist. He has backed a rent freeze, city-run grocery stores, free buses, putting homeless service centers in the subways, a $30 ...

Protecting our children and ourselves at pools and beaches

Children line up at the edge of the pool, shrieking, feet pounding the concrete as they race toward the cool blue water. Parents relax on folding chairs, scanning their phones, voices drifting above the hum of a summer afternoon. At the lake, teenagers kick off shoes and sprint for the shallows. Downstream, anglers call out warnings as boats drift by. Every summer, water draws us back—reminding us of the freedom, the risk, and the responsibility it brings. That draw is as old as the Juniata River itself. In the Juniata River Valley and across Pennsylvania, families fill community ...

Higher ed may price itself out of reach

Picture this: An eager 18-year-old heads to a car lot in search of his first set of wheels. He sees a moderately priced used car that has low mileage and is in good condition. It’s a steal at $10,000. Heading into the dealership’s business office, he’s practically giddy. With nothing to put down, he sits down in a chair and asks to finance the entire cost. Much to his chagrin, he’s laughed out of the office. Now picture a different scenario involving the same eager 18-year-old: After hours of research, he settles on the college he’d like to attend. As with the car, he ...