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Step right up: Your guide to can’t-miss summer fairs

You can hear the season before you see it. A distant pop song on the breeze. The clang of a game bell. The sharp, sweet smell of funnel cake. In Mifflin County, fair season doesn’t so much begin as it blooms—one event spilling into the next, each with its own character, its own traditions, and its own pull on the community. This summer, the Embassy Fair’s bright lights and music once again fill Kish Park, marking the unofficial start of the fair season. And it’s only the first of many. From Reedsville to Newport to Port Royal and beyond, a circuit of fairs stretches out, giving ...

Don’t get ‘tick’ed off

Sunshine and warmer temperatures mean more time outside, but a pest about the size of a sesame seed can bring a halt to the summer fun and have a potentially lifelong impact. Lyme disease, transmitted by a tiny deer tick, can affect both humans and their furry friends. While ticks can attach themselves any time of the year, the warmer months are prime time to get bitten. Nearly half of the 16,605 tick bites that led to Lyme disease in the state occurred between June and August last year, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Health, which noted our state ranks first in the ...

Road work headaches affect us all

Difficulty navigating streets and roads due to major infrastructure replacement projects is not a situation unique to what Altoona currently is experiencing. That is true even though the Mountain City is more compact than some other cities of comparable size in Pennsylvania and beyond the Keystone State’s borders — some of those cities engaged in their own efforts at ridding themselves of deteriorated remnants of the past. Like what is happening here, it is not uncommon to hear stories about motorists and non-motorists elsewhere who are frustrated and angry about what is going ...

What other papers are saying: FAA must start to address worries

Until the midair collision that claimed 67 lives on Jan. 29 near the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, followed soon thereafter by a number of other incidents involving planes, some of those incidents also resulting in fatalities, members of the flying public generally had exuded great confidence regarding their safety while using that mode of travel. Now, however, many of those same travelers do not feel quite as secure, due to what has been happening during recent weeks on the air travel front. It is clear that the level of confidence that had existed in the past will not ...

Musk’s worthy DOGE spotlight and potential fiscal path forward

Last Wednesday night, the world’s wealthiest man announced that his sojourn in the nation’s capital is almost over. “As my scheduled time as a special government employee comes to an end, I would like to thank President (Donald Trump) for the opportunity to reduce wasteful spending,” Elon Musk posted to X, the social media platform he owns. While Musk was quick to add that “the (Department of Government Efficiency) mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government,” Musk’s departure will represent the effective end of DOGE as we ...

Honor veterans every day

It happens twice a year with predictable precision. In May, flags appear along streets and in cemeteries, fluttering in the late spring breeze. In November, parades form, speeches echo, and “Thank you for your service” returns to the national script. Memorial Day and Veterans Day give us a ritual—a way to say thank you, to remember. But for millions of veterans, service did not follow a holiday schedule. Their sacrifice did not pause between commemorations. The question is simple: should our gratitude be limited to two dates on a calendar? Memorial Day and Veterans Day have ...