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Reducing the harm of opioids

New Department of Health data released this week shows opioid-related overdose deaths in Vermont have decreased for the first time since 2019. According to the annual Fatal Overdose Report, 231 Vermonters died of opioid-related overdoses in 2023, a 5% drop from 244 in 2022. The report includes a caveat that the data is preliminary and there are 15 pending death certificates, so the final figure could still change. Ninety percent of all drug overdose fatalities in Vermont involved opioids, the report states, noting fentanyl accounted for 95% of opioid fatalities last year. Xylazine, ...

How to keep local graduates in Juniata Valley

If there’s a common theme that’s shared by the education and business communities, it’s how to keep local graduates working in the Juniata Valley. There were two examples this week of how to do exactly that with Free Wheeling Day, sponsored by the Juniata River Valley Chamber of Commerce, and Signing Day at the Mifflin County Academy of Science and Technology. Free Wheeling Day allowed elementary school students to learn about the different careers in law enforcement and the medical fields, including emergency medical services and hospital care. Officers served as the ...

America needs accountability on inflation, national debt

President Joe Biden recently visited Sturtevant, Wisconsin, to speak at the site of a future Microsoft data center. As the Associated Press reported in Thursday’s edition of the Sun-Gazette, the project is expected to create about 2,000 jobs. We understand that any president running for reelection will tout the successes in job creation seen during his or her administration. And the job market has been a bright spot in Biden’s tenure. But voters have no reason to accept a failure to address and correct the many shortcomings that exist along with that low unemployment rate. As ...

Mother’s Day and annual Kid Connection event come together

The notion that Mother’s Day falls on the same weekend as the annual Kid Connection is arguably the best type of coincidence. Youngsters ages 2-12 have the opportunity from 9 a.m.-2 p.m. today to spend bonding with mom over events like Kid Karaoke and milkshakes in downtown Lewistown. The free event offers resources to help connect families with support agencies, according to Cassandra Goss, chairperson for Kid Connection. The event, Goss explained, has become a staple in Mifflin County. We hope that parents will take this as an opportunity to share stories about when they were ...

Governor’s secrecy is unacceptable

Gov. Josh Shapiro continues to shroud his conduct — the business of taxpaying Pennsylvanians — in an unacceptable level of secrecy. As a Spotlight PA report in this past weekend’s edition of the Sun-Gazette noted, in the previous year Pennsylvania’s governor accepted about $12,000 in tickets to sports events from a nonprofit organization, Team PA. The nonprofit refuses to disclose who its donors are. As Spotlight PA’s reporters Stephen Caruso and Angela Couloumbis succinctly put it, “the secrecy leaves taxpayers in the dark about who underwrites the outings and what ...

Lawmakers do right on stalking law

As technology continues to change, our laws and our sense of justice must adapt to meet the new technological landscape. One such aspect of that evolution is the use of devices by predators to secretly track the locations of the victims — particularly women — that they are stalking. “Whether it’s a creep at the bar or an angry ex-partner, this is a new avenue that they can use to non-consensually track somebody without their knowledge,” Adam Dodge, CEO of digital safety education company EndTAB and a member of the World Economic Forum’s Digital Justice Advisory Committee, ...