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Local athletes close to representing the US

As the Olympic flame ignites in Paris, a spark of pride burns brightly in Mifflin County. The 2024 Summer Games mark a milestone for our community, with two local athletes coming tantalizingly close to representing the United States on the world stage. Skylar Ciccolini, a name familiar to many in Lewistown, showcased her prowess in the women’s javelin at the Olympic trials. The former Mifflin County High School standout hurled her way to a tenth-place finish, demonstrating the fruits of years of dedication and training. While narrowly missing the cut for Team USA, Ciccolini’s ...

Medicare needs to offer explanation

At the time when Congress launched the Medicare Advantage program concept several decades ago, the theory in place was insurers would make Medicare more efficient, have an incentive to keep patients healthier and probably save money for the government in the process. Those at the forefront of promoting the concept at that time probably never in their wildest dreams anticipated that one day a major, well-respected national newspaper would have on its front page the headline “Medicare paid $50 billion to insurers for untreated ills.” Yet that was the headline in the July 9 edition ...

Remember a hero

There is an adage, popularized by children’s TV show host Fred Rogers: “When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’ ” When a would-be assassin attempted to take the life of former president and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump a week ago in Butler Township, the community in western Pennsylvania tragically lost the life of one such helper. “Corey Comperatore’s quick decision to use his body as a shield against the bullets flying toward his wife and ...

Carbon capture bill a step in right direction

State Sen. Gene Yaw’s legislation for state oversight of “carbon capture” technology is an important step in the right direction. As Yaw said, according to a report in Monday’s edition of the Sun-Gazette, “it’s a pragmatic solution to a problem we all want to solve — reducing our carbon emissions without crippling the reliability of our existing power grid.” We acknowledge that much work must be done for carbon capture and sequestration to be viable. Technologies need to be further developed and improved. But, as our editorial board has noted often, the same can be ...

Cuts to backlog a good first step — but more needs done

We are glad the state Department of Environmental Protection has significantly cut its backlog of applicants awaiting permits. We also believe more needs to be done. As The Center Square’s Anthony Hennen reported in Thursday’s edition of the Sun-Gazette, from December of 2023 to the end of June, DEP reduced the number of cases awaiting permits from about 2,000 to 970. “It was our goal early in 2024 to reduce that backlog by 10% each month. We’re hovering very close to that, but we still have a long way to go,” John Ryder, deputy secretary for DEP field operations said, ...

Allegations against railroad troubling

The National Transportation Safety Board’s allegation that Norfolk Southern repeatedly tried to interfere with the investigation of the Feb. 3, 2023, Norfolk derailment on the outskirts of East Palestine, Ohio, near Ohio’s border with Pennsylvania, is the latest development in the rail company’s roller-coaster-like experience since the accident. The railroad’s image was dealt a huge blow — immediately and understandably — the moment the derailment occurred and during the days, weeks and months afterward regarding some decisions that were made about how to respond to it and ...