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President’s pay raise makes PSU woes hard to take

Penn State is having money trouble. Just ask. The administration will tell you. “The challenges we face — declining enrollments, demographic shifts and financial pressures — are not unique to Penn State, but they require us to make difficult choices,” President Neeli Bendapudi wrote in a February message. That was when she announced that some branch campuses could be shuttered. Three months later, with no plansfor the campuses’ future, the decisionwas made and rubber-stamped by the trustees. Among those closing would be New Kensington and Fayette. But that’s not all. ...

ABC had enough of Kimmel’s ‘comedy’

ABC stunned the media world on Wednesday by announcing they were suspending “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” indefinitely after several ABC station groups withdrew their support for the show. It was a similar shock to CBS setting a cancellation date for “Late Show with Stephen Colbert.” The Left went into conniption fits, grieving both festivals of partisan propaganda. We heard a thousand cries of the “First Amendment” being despoiled and the old reliable screech about President Donald Trump’s “authoritarian playbook.” ABC’s George Stephanopoulos mourned the assault on ...

Kirk possessed power of being a converter

Charlie Kirk has been called many things, including an influencer, especially of young people. A better label might be “converter.” The power to speak truth in a way that changes a political mindset is better than influencer. Kirk possessed that power which led to his murder by a 22-year-old man who wanted to rob him of it. Written on one of the shells recovered at the scene was “Hey fascist! Catch!” Among the many videos of Kirk debating students who disagreed with his conservative philosophy and Christian faith was a young man who asked about some of what he called ...

Trent Hidlay’s epic comeback inspires a county

It started with the crowd in Zagreb roaring as a young man from Mifflin County, raised on hard wrestling mats and the honest encouragement of neighbors, facing a wall that looked too high to climb. Down 10-2 in the World Freestyle Wrestling final at 92 kilograms, Trent Hidlay stared across the mat at Amanula Gadzhimagomedov of Russia—a name fit for the record books, a foe most would call unbeatable at that point. But this story wasn’t about Russia or world rankings. It was about the kind of grit our county has always known, the sort you find in farm fields before sunrise or in ...

Reminder about transparency necessary

Events in two school districts in Lycoming County recently have left us concerned. When Loyalsock Township School District recognized the need to lock down a campus and have armed state police patrolling its perimeters, we unfortunately found the district and the state police to be reticent with information. We respect that Loyalsock Township School District took the necessary steps for safety and to keep parents aware of the situation — but many people live around the school in question and due to the difficulty in getting thorough, comprehensive information from either the dis- ...

Can’t we all just get along?

Imagine sitting at an outdoor concert, enjoying the evening’s warm summer breeze, your attention fixed on the musical act performing on stage. Your favorite artist starts the second song of his set, and you begin to sing along. Suddenly, out of nowhere, an object is hurled in your direction, striking you in the back of the head and knocking you unconscious. You awaken a few seconds later to searing pain as security guards and other strangers gather around. As unbelievable as it sounds, that hypothetical scenario can – and did – happen, to Michael Mollenkopf, at the recent Jason ...