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Falling in love all over again in the Southwest

Local Columns

It’s recently come to my attention that I might be a bit fickle in love — not in the romantic sense, but in my love for nature. Last year, I was utterly smitten after visiting Glacier National Park. I returned home convinced that no other place on Earth could possibly rival its awe-inspiring grandeur. I even said so right here in print. Well, I was wrong. So very wrong. This year, our vacation adventure took us to the Southwest, specifically, the Four Corners region, where the borders of Utah, Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico converge. We explored five national parks, one state ...

Baby Agnes mystery needs to be solved

Editorials

The possibility exists that someone — or some persons — in Blair County or somewhere else in the region might be feeling much anxiety or outright fear today as a result of an announcement last week by this county’s coroner and the Pennsylvania State Police. For the benefit of anyone who might have missed the announcement, Coroner Ray Benton and the state police revealed that the unidentified partial remains of a child found deceased on Feb. 5, 1987, in a wooded area between Pinecroft and Bellwood had been exhumed on June 10 with the purpose of attempting to obtain DNA ...

Readers' opinions

Letters to the Editor

Congratulations to Academy in its success To the Editor: To the community, I read with great interest Greg William’s recent article titled the “Academy releases statistics report.” The article describes the success the school has had placing students in co-op engagements, endorsing the fact many employers have chosen to hire the students they helped train. For years, I have spoken about the importance of Mifflin County Academy of Science and Technology to our local economy. As MCIDC has interacted with local employers, we have told them the value of the Academy as our ...

Newspapers, news sites best places for public to access notices

Editorials

We join the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association and our colleagues across the state in strongly opposing Senate Bill 194, which would give local governments the option of advertising public notices on county or municipal government websites. Rather, recognizing that changes have occurred in both government and the news industry, we support House Bill 1291, which allows for modernization of the process without limiting the public’s access to this critical information. Public notices keep residents informed about planned government action — zoning changes, fee hikes, tax increases, ...

Lawmaker’s efforts to ensure transparency commendable

Editorials

We appreciate the efforts by state Sen. Cris Dush, R-Pine Creek Township, to address an important issue. “I find it deeply troubling that Pennsylvania’s long-standing (Right-to-Know) law mentions no criminal offense for destroying or altering records subject to a RTK request,” said Dush, chairman of the State Government Committee, according to an article in last weekend’s edition of the Williamsport Sun-Gazette. “Not surprisingly, the rule of law is entirely thwarted whenever government officials or their staff intentionally dispose or suppress records that have been ...

‘Abundance’ is abundantly confused

Editorials

The hot-selling book “Abundance” is written by liberals who bash liberals, or more precisely, try to make them feel guilty. Sure, authors Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson shed some blame on conservatives for why America doesn’t build as easily as it used to. But it’s those liberals in expensive cities, the authors insist, who are callously driving less-than-rich families to move elsewhere. Klein and Thompson argue that Democrat-run “superstar” cities have failed to provide enough affordable housing because of all their building rules and regulations and pesky zoning ...