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A scam?

Are speed cameras an enforcement-for-profit racket? 90% of PA’s posted speed limits are 8 to 16 mph below the average safe speeds that the super-majority of drivers travel (Federal Highway Administration data). That turns most drivers into wanton “speeders” liable for a $170+ citation. That’s what the camera promoters are banking on, literally. Put a speed camera on a road with a low-posted limit and millions of dollars will flow like water into Harrisburg’s coffers, and onto camera makers’ bottom line. This is all because Harrisburg refuses to enforce a provision in ...

Uncertainty

The decision by the new administration to freeze billions of dollars in clean energy funding has cast uncertainty over the nearly $2 billion KeyState complex proposed for Clinton County, a project that’s unlikely to happen without a massive influx of government subsidies. This puts the financial life of the project, which includes multiple, complex – and expensive -- operations, very much in question. The future of petrochemical projects, in general, is uncertain in Pennsylvania. In the past several years, the Nacero synthetic fuels project planned for Luzerne County has been ...

The new arithmetic

The federal government has roughly 2.3 million civilian employees. Presently 75,000 have accepted Trump’s offer of buy-out retirements. That amounts to about 3% of the federal workforce. In addition to this, Trump has ordered that four employees must depart government employment for each new hire. That’s a 3% net reduction for every 4% leaving. Since about 7% of the federal work force leaves their jobs each year and therefore 28% in four years, if only one-in-four or 7% is replaced, that means a 21% work force reduction. Along with the 3% already quitting, that means Trump will have ...

How do you feel?

Is it just me, high up on a mountain in Clinton County, or am I experiencing what I don’t want to expect. Okay, Mister Trump won the race fair & square. He is our leader. But, were is he leading us ? His meeting with President Zelenskyy was embarrassing for Ukraine, for the U S, but most importantly, for the American people. Have we dropped that low that, we can become the laughing stock of the world. I’ve been holding my breath for a while, to placate my friends on the right. But, there comes a time, when we have to sit back, and say, “ Hey, did we really sign on for this ...

Attack on our democracy

I’ve lived through many political crises in this country — but I have never seen an attack on our democracy like this. In the past, there was bipartisan opposition to lawlessness. Today, the guardrails are being dismantled before our eyes, and we must sound the alarm. By defunding Medicaid, they are robbing the poor to cut Musk’s taxes. DONALD ALBERTSON Spring Mills Submitted by email

What you voted for

“I didn’t vote for that.” You hear a lot of people, including those who voted for Donald Trump, saying that these days. But of course, we all know that when we vote, we we don’t vote for “this” or “that.” We vote for “him” or “her.” And we end up getting the “this” and the “that” of “his” or “her” choosing, not necessarily of our own. Trump voters were told by Trump he had no intention of implementing anything like Project 2025. Sur-prii...iise. If you voted for Donald Trump, you voted for a president whose handpicked loyalists, are going after, ...