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A simple act with lasting impact

Editorials

With Pennsylvania’s primary election fast approaching, voters in the Juniata River Valley are nearing an important deadline — one that often comes and goes with far less attention than it deserves. May 4 is the final day to register to vote in the upcoming primary. It is a date that represents more than paperwork or procedure. It is the gateway to participation in the democratic process. Registering to vote takes only a few minutes, yet it is the first and most essential step in making a voice heard. For those already registered, it is also a reminder to ensure information — such ...

Rigid public comment rules do more harm

Editorials

Public comment periods are meant to let people talk to the government. Sometimes it’s about actions that are happening or decisions that are pending. Sometimes it’s about bringing problems to the government’s attention. A comment period is one mechanism municipalities, school boards and other agencies can use to make that process tick by with clockwork efficiency. It prescribes when a speaker can speak. It sets up the format. It establishes the time frame. It also moves the blame. It isn’t council’s fault you only get a few minutes to speak. It’s the policy. That can work ...

Fight against fentanyl ongoing

Editorials

“It was probably the most shocking thing I discovered on the campaign trail.” U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick, R-Pittsburgh, said this to columnist Salena Zito in a column the Sun-Gazette published Monday (The Sentinel published Saturday, April 18) about the nation’s fentanyl crisis. “The scale, 4,000 Pennsylvanians, 100,000 Americans, and you look at those statistics and people’s eyes glaze over (at) the numbers, but again, that is someone’s family in those numbers. The reference point is how many people died in Vietnam. Remember, 52,000 people died in Vietnam. One hundred ...

Readers' opinions

Letters to the Editor

Thank you to contributors to meat canning project To the Editor: Our Annual Meat Canning Project is finally complete. We canned 36,000 pounds of chicken which produced 22,540 cans of product. This number puts our total to 863,959 cans of canned meat since our beginning in 1975. May God bless and keep all who have supported, and all those who will receive these cans. In March, we will be distributing 93 cases of meat to our 14 local organizations. A very special thanks to the Chief Logan Volunteer Fire Co., Station 2 for the use of their building, and all the neighboring households ...

Working Americans pay their share of taxes

Editorials

A claim that working Pennsylvanians need to “pay their fair share” all too often bubbles to the surfaces of some of our society’s debates on tax policy. The rhetoric that surrounds perennial pushes to eliminate or significantly reduce property tax burdens in Pennsylvania is one place this claim sometimes surfaces, municipal officials’ pursuit of greater latitude for cities and boroughs to assess heavier taxes on payroll is another. The reality is that working Pennsylvanians — and working Americans, particularly the middle class — pay thousands of dollars a year in federal ...

Corporate welfare for hospitals has been raising costs

Editorials

Hospitals are not as unpopular as other health care sectors, such as drug manufacturers and insurance companies. But like other businesses, they are prone to rent-seeking and fiercely defensive of special breaks. Case in point: The 340B drug discount program. The federal program was created in 1992 to help hospitals and clinics in poor communities. In recent weeks, it has become the target of new lawsuits over complaints that wealthy health systems are abusing the benefits and driving up costs for everyone else. The program requires pharmaceutical companies to sell drugs at a ...