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Everyday Americans are tortured by bureaucrats

Americans like licenses. People think they make us safer. We license drivers. We license dogs. But most government licensing is useless. Or harmful. It limits competition, raises costs, leaves consumers with fewer choices and blocks opportunity for people who want to work. Michelle Freenor, a tour guide in Savannah, Ga., gets good reviews from customers. But her business almost didn’t get off the ground because local politicians said, “No one can be a tour guide without first getting a government license!” Bill Durrence, a Savannah alderman at the time, told me why it’s ...

Local law enforcement made a summer night into something more

They came with their families, friends, and neighbors, and for one night, Kish Park felt like the unofficial center of the county. The helicopters touched down on schedule, fire trucks gleamed in the fading sun, and the smell of grilled hot dogs drifted through the crowd. National Night Out 2025 unfolded as more than a date on the calendar — it became a genuine gathering of the community, shaped in large part by the commitment of local police. If you were at the park on Tuesday, you saw the work up close. Officers from Mifflin County Regional, Granville, Derry Township, and ...

Public notices must remain accessible

Some state lawmakers seem to think they have come up with a way to modernize how local governing bodies get the word out about their meetings, pending actions, tax increases, new ordinances and other measures. But Senate Bill 194 — which resurrects the idea of putting public notices on governmental websites — is another way to keep the public in the dark because the idea begs the question: “Who’s going to see them there?” Public notices have long been published in the classified section of local printed newspapers. Those who follow local governments regularly monitor ...

Criminal caper reminiscent of comedy films

In a “plucky” caper reminiscent of the comedy, “The Apple Dumpling Gang,” featuring Tim Conway and Don Knotts as two bumbling outlaws, four people were charged in a failed attempt to fire a drug-filled crossbow arrow into the Fayette County jail. The caper was foiled after the “sharpshooter” missed the target – a window covered with titanium mesh – and landed on the ground below. Jail staff discovered the arrow June 6 near the southeast wall of the building. Police cut open the arrow to find cocaine-stuffed rubber gloves inside the shaft. It would appear the ...

What’s next for closing Penn State campus sites?

In two years, there will be no Nittany Lions on the Penn State campuses in New Kensington or Fayette County. What will be there remains to be seen. In May, Penn State trustees voted to follow the recommendations of President Neeli Bendapudi’s administration and close seven Commonwealth campuses at the end of Spring semester 2027. The announcement that some campuses might close was made in late February. The final vote came three months later with DuBois, Mont Alto, Shenango, Wilkes-Barre and York rounding out the list. It has now been more than two months since the campuses ...

Another mass shooting, another bogus rationale

I have a pet peeve about news coverage of mass murder. When the story breaks, cable news anchors report, as they first did last week in Midtown Manhattan, that the killer’s motives were unknown. What do mass shooters’ motives matter? When killers leave notes to explain their brutality, they leave self-aggrandizing excuses for snuffing out the lives of good people who deserved to go home to their families. The victims’ untimely deaths are set aside, while the killer’s twisted grievances get oxygen. So what do we know about shooter Shane Tamura of Las Vegas, who took his own ...