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Families don’t always look the same. Sometimes they are small and nuclear. Sometimes they are blended from remarriage. Sometimes they are extended with grandparents or grandchildren. And for many people, families include animals. According to Forbes, 66 percent of American households include pets. That’s almost 87 million families. Most pets are dogs in about 65 million households. There are 46.5 million homes with cats — and the math tells us there are plenty of people who have both. For many people, these furry family members are just as important as the ones they married ...

The Barista Proletariat wins in New York

Zohran Mamdani’s lead in first choices in New York City’s ranked-choice mayoral primary, and his inevitable victory when second, third, fourth and fifth choices of trailing candidates are allocated to candidates voters ranked lower, mean that he’ll be the Democratic nominee for mayor of the nation’s largest city and the likely winner of the general election in November. Mamdani, 33, is a three-term state assemblyman who calls himself a democratic socialist. He has backed a rent freeze, city-run grocery stores, free buses, putting homeless service centers in the subways, a $30 ...

Protecting our children and ourselves at pools and beaches

Children line up at the edge of the pool, shrieking, feet pounding the concrete as they race toward the cool blue water. Parents relax on folding chairs, scanning their phones, voices drifting above the hum of a summer afternoon. At the lake, teenagers kick off shoes and sprint for the shallows. Downstream, anglers call out warnings as boats drift by. Every summer, water draws us back—reminding us of the freedom, the risk, and the responsibility it brings. That draw is as old as the Juniata River itself. In the Juniata River Valley and across Pennsylvania, families fill community ...

Higher ed may price itself out of reach

Picture this: An eager 18-year-old heads to a car lot in search of his first set of wheels. He sees a moderately priced used car that has low mileage and is in good condition. It’s a steal at $10,000. Heading into the dealership’s business office, he’s practically giddy. With nothing to put down, he sits down in a chair and asks to finance the entire cost. Much to his chagrin, he’s laughed out of the office. Now picture a different scenario involving the same eager 18-year-old: After hours of research, he settles on the college he’d like to attend. As with the car, he ...

Optimism over airport rewarding

Optimism already is paying off for the Altoona-Blair County Airport. It is important that there be no interruption in it, going forward. Last July, officials in charge of the local air facility — specifically, the Altoona-Blair County Airport Authority — were knee-deep in planning for redirecting the airport’s 30-passenger jet service away from Philadelphia International Airport, which increasingly had been judged an inconvenience to most Blair-based air travelers, from a directional standpoint. Now, the optimism that was the foundation for that successful move, effective last ...

Ohio is a leader when it comes to election integrity

Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose has been working steadily to provide guidance meant to increase security for our elections. He has so far provided six security directives to county boards of elections. Most recently was a set of requirements to configure networks, firewalls, vulnerability assessment tools and equipment with the most recent approved security updates; complete monthly cybersecurity checklists to ensure protection from malicious threats; a county-specific security audit led by his office’s chief information security officer and cybersecurity team; and compliance ...