Opinion

Future of school funding needs to drive budget process

Editorials February 7, 2026

As we noted in Sunday’s editorial — and a year ago and before — the state and its budget have to contend with court rulings that funding public schools by district has led to unconstitutional imbalances. For decades, the primary source of funding for public schools in Pennsylvania has been property taxes, assessed by local school districts. One affect of this has been that schools in communities with higher property values are able to provide greater resources to their students. Another aspect is that officials would be in better fiscal positions to address property taxes ...

From ‘shoot them in the leg’ to shoot to kill

Letters February 7, 2026

During his first term, President Trump reportedly asked then–Defense Secretary Mark Esper whether soldiers deployed during the George Floyd protests could shoot demonstrators in the legs. Esper said no. Those now feel like the good old days. If events in Minneapolis over the past two weeks are any indication, the rules of engagement for ICE and Border Patrol agents have shifted dramatically—toward firing into heads and torsos for the offenses of being in the wrong place at the wrong time or recording federal agents operating against civilians on American streets. None of this ...

Sanctuary cities

Letters February 7, 2026

I believe during the Biden term the Democrats were able to import between 15 and 20 million new illegal new voters. they put them up in sanctuary cities controlled by Democrats. Democrats think that they have enough of them registered that they will be able to take over the House and Senate in this years election. Now they are willing to shut down the government to be able to keep their new voters. HARLAN PIDCOE JR. Muncy Township Submitted by Virtual Newsroom

What other newspapers are saying: Black History Month reaches 100th year

Editorials February 6, 2026

2026 has dawned as a momentous red-letter year for American history. As most know by now, the United States already has launched America250, its supersized patriotic bash to commemorate its 250th anniversary as a proud independent nation. What far fewer of us recognize, however, is that another proud cultural phenomenon literally seeped in history marked its milestone 100th anniversary Sunday . That observance, of course, is Black History Month. The roots of Black History Month date to 1926, when revered Dr. Carter G. Woodson and his Association for the Study of African American Life ...

A view from Minneapolis

Letters February 6, 2026

I grew up in Jersey Shore and have lived in Minneapolis for eight years. I call Minneapolis home because it feels familiar to me. It is a place where neighbors look out for each other, kids walk to school, and if something seems off, someone reaches out to make sure everything is okay. Until recently, I felt as safe here as I did growing up in JSPA. That sense of safety is gone. Over the past several weeks, two people, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, were killed, and countless others have been harassed, assaulted, or detained by federal agents in clear violation of constitutional rights. ...

Freedom in Greenland

Letters February 5, 2026

Most Greenlanders are descendants of Alaskan stock who migrated to Greenland a thousand years ago. In other words, Greenlanders are Native Americans or, as they’re now called, Inuits. And so what do their Danish masters think of these Native Americans? When Greenlanders visit Denmark, Danes scowl at them and sneeringly tell them to go home. These Nordic Europeans obviously don’t like Native Americans in “their” country. Meanwhile America has great fondness for Alaskans of all kinds. Therefore the Greenlanders should sell Greenland to America in the same way Russia sold Alaska to ...