Breaking News

Editorials

International aid hurts poor nations’ economies

It’s impossible to overstate the impact Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency are having on American government – and the public’s knowledge about what’s really being done with our money. Nowhere is that more evident than the erupting scandal involving the United States Agency for International Development, which Musk and DOGE have exposed as little more than a front for funneling billions of American taxpayer dollars to absurd projects favored by Democrats and other leftists. The revelations of USAID’s profligacy and lack of accountability are coming so fast ...

PSU should be transparent in budget woes

Editor’s note: The Spotlight PA article referenced below was published in the Thursday, Feb. 6 edition of The Sentinel. Imagine what people of Johnstown would be thinking and feeling if the University of Pittsburgh were to arouse speculation that some of its branch campuses might be targeted for possible closing — and If the university were remaining tight-lipped about which campuses were in danger of being shuttered. It is reasonable to believe that community and businesses leaders would be mobilizing to meet with university leaders to try to ascertain as much information as ...

Communities could benefit from having social workers with police departments

In June 2020, at the height of the furor surrounding the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer, a column on the website Medium was headlined, “We don’t need cops to become social workers.” That’s true. But there’s absolutely nothing wrong with bringing social workers into police departments to work alongside police on the difficult issues and incidents they confront every day. And a growing number of communities are realizing the value of having social workers in their police departments. Peters Township is the latest. Its council is poised to hire its ...

New treasury secretary has right ideas

We congratulate Scott Bessent on his confirmation as the United States’ next secretary of the treasury, and believe he has outlined a philosophy that can help America get back on track. Some specific issues on which we are buoyed by his confirmation include the minimum wage, the national debt and spending deficit and America’s regulatory climate. While in the past we have been, and remain, open to the possibility that a small increase in the federal minimum wage could be warranted, we always have urged lawmakers to be cautious about the detrimental impact too large of an increase ...

Pharmacy benefit practices need to be reformed

In 2021, the FDA approved a new insulin drug, Semglee, that was interchangeable with a brand-name insulin called Lantus. Lantus cost $292 for a 30-day supply. Drugmaker Viatris launched two versions of its drug — Semglee cost $269 and a generic version cost $99 for the same amount, according to the Biosimilars Council. Now, in a rational world, insurers would immediately switch to the generic drug so patients with diabetes could save money. Instead, pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) — which determine what drugs insurers cover under what terms — wouldn’t put the unbranded drug ...

It isn’t just Trump – it’s American voters, and it’s actually bipartisan

The anti-Trump media seems partially paralyzed following President Donald Trump’s reelection last November and particularly since his inauguration on Jan. 20. The president has been moving at lightning speed to implement the policies on which he and Vice President JD Vance ran and won not only a victory within the Electoral College but also in the so-called popular vote – the first time a Republican has done so since 2004. But election vote tallies don’t tell the whole story. Trump 2.0 is a manifestation of monumental changes in American political alliances. Like his second ...