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Take the high road

We’ve all been there. Whether blinded by the high beams of a tailgating vehicle or unexpectedly cut off by another, the unexpected maneuvers that occur on short jaunts to the grocery or long drives to the beach are enough to provoke even the most even-tempered among us to raise a shaking fist in frustration. But road rage incidents appear to have accelerated beyond the occasional rude gesture or honk of a horn. Last week, a South Strabane Township driver was jailed after he was accused of assaulting a woman who apparently had been following him with her vehicle’s high beams on. ...

Inflation will be factor in election

Eye-opening at the top of the Wall Street Journal’s April 11-12 edition was the headline “Inflation hits two-year high.” Reporting that consumer prices jumped 3.3% in March from a year earlier, the largest increase in two years, the Journal said the April 10 inflation report from the U.S. Labor Department “was in line with the expectations of economists surveyed” by the newspaper “but the March reading was much hotter than February’s gain of 2.4%” The Journal continued: “The report is the first to capture the impact of the Iran war on inflation.” The Journal ...

911 dispatchers are unseen first responders

When the worst happens, we rely on the people who answer the call to be there. We need the police to stand between us and violence. We need firefighters to walk into flames. We need paramedics and emergency medical technicians to stop the bleeding. But while those are the first responders we see, we cannot forget the ones who actually answer the call. A bill before the Pennsylvania Senate would recognize that reality. House Bill 453 would reclassify 911 dispatchers as first responders. Why does that matter? Is putting dispatchers in a particular occupational box that important? It ...

Rural county promotes agriculture

When the average city dweller thinks of agriculture and farm life, they likely conjure up a bucolic, timeless scene of the farmer toiling in the fields using tools invented long ago. But in Frederick County, when you think of agriculture, you really should be thinking about innovation and experimentation. That is the reality of farm life in the 21st century here. The county government is aware of the change, and it is making the speed of change even faster, by offering cash grants to farmers seeking to innovate. It is a successful program, at minimal cost to the taxpayers. The grant ...

Water ran short, but compassion shouldn’t

When a tractor-trailer crashed into the Laurel Creek Reservoir on Friday — the same reservoir that supplies drinking water to much of Mifflin County — people across the area felt it almost immediately. For a full weekend, residents were told not to use their tap water. Restaurants closed or scaled back. Businesses adjusted on the fly. Families filled whatever containers they could and before long, store shelves at places like Walmart were picked clean of bottled water. It was disruptive. There’s no way around that. But that disruption shouldn’t be the only way we look at ...

At-home distilleries see win in court

Judges occasionally declare federal laws unconstitutional. But usually when a law passed by Congress has been on the books for more than 150 years, it’s in the clear. Not so for the federal ban on homemade whiskey, vodka and gin. Last week, an appeals court invalidated a federal law dating to 1868 that criminalizes at-home distilleries. The spirited ruling is a boon to small-time liquor hobbyists and entrepreneurs — but also an important statement on the limits of the federal government’s taxing power. Congress imposed the ban as a companion to legislation taxing alcohol and ...