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Drilling in Alaska right step for affordable energy

We are reassured by the White House’s decision to finalize plans to permit more oil and gas exploration in Alaska’s North Slope. Our editorial board has frequently warned the public that the hostility to conventional sources of energy would leave our region and our nation without the affordable energy necessary for our workplaces and families. We can see evidence of that at this time in the likelihood of higher utility bills. The proposal would allow lease sales on a 1.5 million-acre tract — for context, Alaska comprises 365 million acres. “It is encouraging to see ...

Trump, Gaza and the U.N. Security Council

Maybe the United Nations isn’t as useless as it so often shows. Last week, the Security Council endorsed President Trump’s 20-point peace plan for Gaza, ratifying for the first time the requirements that Hamas disarm and Gaza be demilitarized. The resolution passed 13–0, with Russia and China abstaining. It’s a setback for the terrorists. Many had worried that the U.S. jaunt to the Security Council would come at the price of bending the peace plan’s terms for Hamas or adding anti-Israel terms. Would France’s Emmanuel Macron elbow his way into the deal’s ...

Saving black-footed Ferret takes a village, and a Prairie Dog town

The black-footed ferret exhibit at American Prairie’s National Discovery Center in Lewistown, Mont., just opened to the public on Nov. 14. When I went to Montana in September to visit American Prairie, their newest ambassador had just arrived from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s National Black-Footed Ferret Conservation Center in Colorado, and I got to see it. Black-footed ferrets are one of North America’s most endangered mammals, so they are bred and prepared for reintroduction through a National Black-Footed Ferret Recovery Program. In addition to the Colorado Center, ...

Affordability? Move to a ‘Red State.’

The buzzword of the month is “affordability,” and based on the election results from New York, New Jersey and Virginia, voters think that’s declining. Democrats think they’ve found a winning issue here to win back the hearts and minds of voters after the Trump sweep last year. It’s true that people are angry about prices. Steaks and hamburgers are more expensive than ever. So are coffee and rents and medical care. Many Americans are about to see a 10%-20% increase in their health care premiums starting in January. But who’s to blame? President Donald Trump said he would ...

In a year of noise, Thanksgiving still speaks softly

Thanksgiving has a way of slowing the world down, if only for a day. It’s the pause between what we’ve endured and what’s to come, a brief breath before the rush of the holidays and the churn of another year. It’s easy to get caught in the cycle of what’s wrong because there’s plenty to choose from. But the beauty of Thanksgiving lies in its quiet defiance of all that noise. It asks us to look up from the chaos, to notice what remains: the steady breath of life, the warmth of a kitchen, the faces that still gather around us. Gratitude isn’t denial. It doesn’t ignore ...

Airport’s success is gift to region

Count the Altoona-Blair County Airport as an early holiday gift-giver to this region, as well as to potentially many more places far beyond. The gift it has provided — this month, well before the placing of traditional holiday gifts under Christmas trees — is the great news about increased passenger numbers already recorded plus predictions that those upbeat numbers will be topped in coming months and, hopefully, beyond. Besides the numbers themselves, though, part of the gift to people who fly into and out of the airport is added confidence that the local air service upon which ...