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What other newspapers are saying: Feds own too much real estate

The federal government is the largest owner of U.S. real estate, including more than half a billion square feet of office space. That is far more than it needs, and the cost of maintaining it has ballooned to unsustainable levels. The Public Buildings Reform Board recently identified 26 buildings across 15 states — totaling more than 7.3 million square feet — as potential candidates for the government to dispose due to poor usage and high maintenance costs. It’s the third set of disposal recommendations since Congress created the board in 2016. That’s a great start, but the ...

Public safety should have been priority in resolving dispute

The stand-off between Muncy Township’s government and the township’s volunteer fire company was, in a word, disappointing. While we are happy that the matter seems to have been resolved before it had to go before a judge, we question why the delays happened in the first place. We have to ...

Words at difficult times inspired nation forward

The Fourth of July — our nation’s 250th — is a day away. As we have noted over the past two editorials, we are proud to celebrate our nation’s achievements with a special edition today. We hope you enjoy it. Within that edition are several noteworthy speeches. “We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live,” President Abraham Lincoln said at Gettysburg on Nov. 19, 1862. “It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate, we ...

Diversity of American experiences makes country richer

As we noted in Wednesday’s edition, our nation’s 250th anniversary is two days away — and we are proud to share a special edition with our region to celebrate the occasion. We addressed how writing and editing this edition prompted us to reflect on the value of hard work to our nation ...

250th Fourth of July a good time to reflect on hard work

Our 250th Independence Day will soon be here. The Williamsport Sun-Gazette is honored to commemorate this occasion with a special edition, reflecting on the history of our communities and of our nation. As we wrote and edited the special edition, which will be included in Friday’s edition, we ourselves reflected on our history. One note or detail of our region’s history that stuck with us in the role work and industry have played in the successes of our communities. From agriculture to the logging industry, our region was built by men and women working hard — primarily to ...

Trendy tech not always best for getting job done

Companies that jump on the latest trendy technology a little too early are often stuck with the bill when it doesn’t turn out to fulfill all its promise. In Dublin, Ohio, taxpayers had to foot the bill for a K5 autonomous security robot the police department called “DubBot,” after it failed miserably at its job. According to a report by the website Futurism, which cited a Columbus Dispatch report, DubBot helped make no arrests and issued no tickets during its less-than-a-year on the job. Or, as the department spokesperson put it, it “wasn’t meeting operational ...