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These two choices aren’t better than one

Many Americans are unenthused, to say the least, about a 2024 grudge match between two grumpy old men, President Biden and Donald Trump. But after months of No Labels teasing an alternative “unity ticket,” this week it pulled the plug after failing to find a candidate. The exercise says something about the country’s political system and this particular moment. No Labels isn’t wrong that many voters think the two big parties are serving up the equivalent of week-old leftovers. In the latest Harvard/Harris poll, 62% (and 71% of independents) say the nation “needs another ...

For mandated reporters, there is no gray area

Last weekend’s front-page Mirror article “No gray area for mandated reporters” should have been a must-read for everyone, since virtually everyone has indirect or direct contact with children. The article in question should have “opened a lot of eyes” regarding safeguards already in place to combat or address unseemly situations that could endanger or damage a child’s life and possibly have negative implications even after that child reaches adulthood. However, the article also exposed possible issues that, if addressed, could help in the battle against dangerous people ...

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 ...

High school theater productions set high standard

Bravo to area schools for some simply spectacular performances in high school musicals and theater performances this year. Mifflin County gave theater junkies a wonderful journey down the yellow brick road with “The Wizard of Oz,” East Juniata followed with a whimsical adventure of Roald Dahl’s “Willy Wonka” and Juniata just wrapped up Disney’s “The Little Mermaid.” The curtain is set to go up on Mount Union’s “Hello Dolly!” at the end of April. The first three productions certainly set the bar high for the finale, which is sure to be another ...

Orphan wells show government too quick to spend money

The government often is too quick to commit to spending money and too slow at nearly everything else. Between the federal and state governments, hundreds of millions of dollars have been committed to plugging “orphan” wells — oil and gas wells abandoned decades ago by now-defunct companies, without the necessary remediation to prevent or mitigate environmental damage. There are 350,000 such wells in Pennsylvania. Or perhaps there are more than 700,000 such wells in Pennsylvania. It will cost about $18,000 to plug each well. Or $33,000. Or $68,000. Or it might cost $110,000 each ...

Transparency needed to keep public’s trust

Our March 26 editorial focused on one plausible reason why many American taxpayers still are awaiting processing of their amended tax returns that they filed on Internal Revenue Service Form 1040-X — some more than two years ago. That plausible reason: Despite the end of the pandemic, perhaps more than 50% of IRS tax-return processors still are working from home, outside of the controls and productivity of a formal work environment. It is estimated that more than a million amended returns still haven’t been processed. The IRS has not formally announced whether the current ...