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State needs more energy, sensible regulation

In July, nearly two dozen companies gathered in Pittsburgh, along with President Donald Trump and other leaders, to announce investments in data centers and needed energy infrastructure. Totaling more than $90 billion, the expenditures would equal nearly ten percent of Pennsylvania’s gross domestic product, inducing a headline that described the prospect as “truly mind-blowing.” Since then, some have begun erecting regulatory obstacles to this development. Presented as consumer protections, many are more likely to be economy killers — and “mind-blowing” for would-be ...

Bedford Springs delights with charm

A highly anticipated Christmas display in Pennsylvania that is both delicious and whimsical is when the Omni Bedford Springs Hotel in Bedford County transforms one of its main entrances into a culinary delight whose aroma hits your sensory palate long before you walk through the nearly 200-year-old front door. What began as a small decorative house has become a full-scale work of culinary art under executive pastry chef Harshal Naik. Known for his appearance on Food Network’s “Holiday Baking Championship,” he has taken it to the next level over the past five years. Guests and day ...

Affordability through abundance

“It is in the news, talked by our politicians: the issues of affordability, scarcity and the feeling of being left behind by many of our fellow citizens. Below, please consider my thoughts on the issue, The United States stands at an inflection point. Its institutions have not failed, but they have stalled—pulled between distrust and dependence, paralyzed by scarcity thinking in an era defined by possibility. The nation still commands the greatest accumulation of knowledge, capital, and human talent in history. Yet it struggles to translate those assets into shared prosperity, ...

‘Industrial policy’ concept just bad economics

American industry has been getting a lot of hands-on direction from Democrats and Republicans for quite some time now. Every few years, someone looks at the underwhelming results of this economic maneuvering and insists that real “industrial policy” has never been tried. The truth is that the Left’s call for a “mission-oriented” state and the right’s yearning for a nationalist industrial revival may sound different, but they share the same conceit: that their own intentions can finally succeed where decades of intervention have failed. The latest person to revive this ...

Who cares about a federal shutdown?

A lot of Democrats are upset with the eight Democratic senators who voted to re-open the government. They believe they “caved” on health insurance premium assistance for the needy. But let’s face it. Congressional Republicans, not to mention Trump, would never have gone along with healthcare premium assistance. The only thing they want to do with the Affordable Care Act (ACA, also called “Obamacare”) is repeal it. Unfortunately they have nothing with which to replace it. Republicans have proven that they simply do not care about the needy. They have consistently voted against ...

When does the punishment fit the crime?

Former Williamsport Finance Director and General Manager of the bus and transit service, William E. Nichols, has been punished. On May 5, 2025, William “Bill” Nichols, Jr., pleaded guilty to one felony count of theft by failure to make required disposition of funds received, and one ...