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Presidential debate is needed

Is President Biden going to debate Donald Trump as the November election nears? “I am. Somewhere. I don’t know when,” Mr. Biden said Friday in an interview with Howard Stern. “I’m happy to debate him.” Nice to hear, though we’ll believe it when we see it. If the 81-year-old President wants to skip the stage this fall, Mr. Trump’s refusal to debate his GOP primary opponents has handed Mr. Biden an easy excuse. Now Mr. Trump, who for the record is 77, is demanding to debate early and often, because he wants to suggest that Mr. Biden isn’t up to taking hard ...

Eradicating blight can boost quality of life, economic development

Let’s say you’re house hunting, and you find a property that seems to check off all the boxes. Enough space, the roof is solid and so are the heating and cooling systems. And the price is reasonable. There’s one catch, though. The house across the street has long been abandoned. Its paint is peeling, yellowed curtains wave in broken windows, the grass is knee-high and someone has spray painted an obscenity on a side wall. You assume that the house is a year-round domicile of a whole variety of rodents. With that, you decide to keep on looking. That illustrates the ...

LNG permit ban simply unreasonable

As Dave Callahan, president of the Marcellus Shale Coalition, noted in an op-ed column in Thursday’s Sun-Gazette, the natural gas industry creates “good-paying energy jobs in towns and communities across the commonwealth” and plays “a critical role in promoting U.S. energy independence.” But as Callahan noted this, he also noted that these are not his words — the quotes instead come from Pennsylvania’s two Democratic senators, Sen. Bob Casey, D-Scranton, and Sen. John Fetterman, D-Braddock. Callahan is correct that support for this vital industry has an important ...

‘The Golden Bachelor’ split is no surprise

In the same way that Captain Louis Renault was shocked to find gambling going on at Rick Blaine’s cafe in the movie classic “Casablanca,” many observers were also “shocked” at the news last week that the marriage of ABC-TV’s “Golden Bachelor” had floundered after only three months. Gerry Turner and Theresa Nist, the seventy-something couple who wed after “The Golden Bachelor” in January, announced their split on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” and now gossip columnists are working overtime trying to figure out what went wrong. A columnist for the Los Angeles ...

Nitpicking over Trump bond is spiteful

Does state Attorney General Letitia James believe her only job is attacking Donald Trump? Now she’s going after the ex-prez for posting the bond on the $454 million civil-fraud judgment she won against him in February, a step he must take in order to appeal. Last week, Trump posted the $175 million bond, provided by Knight Specialty Insurance Co., to temporarily prevent James from snatching up Trump Tower and other assets (an outcome she’s been raring for since the judgment was passed down ) while he continued to fight the ruling in an appeals court. Not good enough for Tish: ...

Father is a hero …

Chase Cooper, of Port Royal, wants his dad, Christopher, to be remembered as “a hero.” Father and son were much more than that. They were best friends, pals and shared a real zest for life. An enthusiasm that could not be diminished by 15-year-old Chase’s autism. Chris couldn’t wait until the weather broke this spring to boat on the Juniata River with his family. “It was hard on him not being able to go out on the river during the winter months,” wife Lynn said of her husband’s love for life. “The water was where he felt most at peace and the month of March was ...