Breaking News

Editorials

Fiscal recklessness will have consequences

An analysis by Truth in Accounting on which The Center Square reported in the Feb. 10 edition of the Sun-Gazette finds that Philadelphia will overspend in the 2025/26 budget year by about $17,000 per taxpayer. As we note that this sort of budgeting is unsustainable, we do not want to single out Pennsylvania’s largest city. The budget proposal by Gov. Josh Shapiro, as we’ve repeatedly criticized in editorials the past two weeks, uses assumptions about future laws and the state’s “rainy day fund” to ramp up government spending — despite our Legislature’s clear and ...

Open talks with railroads important

As a railroad center, Altoona has lived with the prospect of train derailments for much of its history. Having lived with virtually all of the pluses and minuses of that industry for so long, including the knowledge of what their ancestors experienced during their lifetimes, people here go about their routines day in and day out without giving much thought to the dangers “built into” a rail operation in the community. Expressed more simply, people here do not shudder when a “monster” train consisting perhaps of nearly a hundred units is bearing down on their town. People ...

Unfair debates not part of budget process

Over the past year or so we’ve noted that the decision to tie the status of marijuana and skills games to the budget was unfair and counterproductive. The concerns we editorialized about were simple: These issues need thorough debate, on their own terms, with lawmakers considering the drawbacks and disadvantages, especially for either legalizing or decriminalizing marijuana. Concerns about how driving under the influence will be investigated and prosecuted, about the impact on workplaces and employers and how to mitigate unwanted effects, about what legal or decriminalized ...

State needs to tackle fraud

It took the threat of federal penalties to push Gov. Josh Shapiro into taking seriously the issue of SNAP errors in Pennsylvania. In our opinion the state has a bigger issue with Medicaid fraud — and it shouldn’t take the threat of federal action to get the state to take the fraud problems seriously. A Commonwealth Foundation report released recently said Pennsylvania charged more Medicaid fraud cases than any other state in 2024, with the state Attorney General’s office reporting $11.3 million in Medicaid fraud recoveries and $44 million in fraudulent charges. That same year, ...

Missing-person cases often must face hard truth

Watching Savannah Guthrie sit on a couch and look into a camera is nothing new. It is how many Americans start their day — with a cup of coffee and the “Today” show. But for two days this week, the usually upbeat host has not been interviewing others about their challenges. She has been holding the hands of her siblings and speaking about the disappearance of her mother. The attention is national. It is the kind of cultural moment people may one day recall the way they remember the white Bronco carrying O.J. Simpson down a California freeway or the rescue of nine trapped ...

You might be missing the love right in front of you

Valentine’s Day arrives every year with its cards, flowers, and expectations. It asks us, quietly and sometimes loudly, to measure love. Did you say the words? Did you buy the thing? Did you remember the date? For many people, that measuring stick is narrow. When love doesn’t show up in the form we expect, we’re tempted to believe it didn’t show up at all. That’s where we get it wrong. People express love in different ways, shaped by habit, upbringing, temperament, and experience. Some people are fluent with words. Others are not. Some say “I love you” easily and often. ...