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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 ...

Pushing public notices to government websites a bad move

Legislation in the Pennsylvania Senate risks allowing local governments to operate in the shadows, leaving taxpayers unaware of decisions affecting their pocketbooks, their communities and their quality of life. State Senate Bill 194, sponsored by Sen. Doug Mastriano (R-Adams/Franklin), would allow school districts and municipal and county governments the option of posting meeting and other legally required public notices on their websites instead of publishing them in newspapers, the trusted source of public notices for generations. Proponents of SB 194 believe the bill offers a ...

It’s time to clean up the WNBA

Women’s basketball should dispel the tired platitude that the world would be a much kinder place if women ran it. I just watched yet another video of WNBA player Caitlin Clark on the receiving end of inappropriately violent behavior during a game. This time, Clark’s team, the Indiana Fever, was playing the Connecticut Sun. The Fever were up 10 points, and Clark was in possession of the ball when she was poked in the eye by the Sun’s Jacy Sheldon. As Clark was recoiling away from the jab, Sheldon deliberately bumped her, and then Sheldon’s teammate Marina Mabrey shoved Clark to ...