There is a billboard-sized sign along Route 49 in Potter County, inside the town limits of Ulysses. It is a depiction of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as a monster-devil. If one is driving along that public road, it is almost impossible to miss it. It basically slaps a person in the face. To ...
When government fails, it’s the rare public official who says, “Oops. My fault.” That’s human nature, particularly for officials in the public eye who may have to run for office again. No one wants to be held directly responsible for letting the public down. Case in point is the ...
Viruses are tiny germs that can invade our bodies and make us sick by hijacking cells and using them to make copies of themselves. This can damage, change, or even kill those cells so they no longer do for us what they are supposed to do. Some viruses make us sicker than others. Different ...
So, since we last talked, our elected leaders in Washington approved spending $1.9 trillion of our money on a “COVID relief bill.” Of course, only 9 percent of the bill relates directly to the pandemic and only 1 percent of it relates to manufacturing and distribution of the vaccine that ...
Donna Hall was a spark plug and a workhorse all put together. Donna was the kind of a person who comes along once in a great while. She was a very kind person; she was a philosopher who had more knowledge concerning dairy farmers’ problems and their potential solutions then most people would ...
Society is learning to live with COVID-19 by modifying individual behaviors — wearing masks, staying 6 feet apart, and avoiding large gatherings. But for the vulnerable senior population and those living in congregate settings, it is becoming quite clear that frequent, accurate, and effective ...
The truth will set you free. A bombshell recently revealed that New York Governor Andrew Cuomo misled the public about nursing home deaths, triggered by his failed COVID mitigation policies. The fudgy figures resulted in the Cuomo administration under-reporting the number of COVID-19 ...
We just came to the end of Black History Month — the first since the pandemic began — and we face a sobering set of unsolved challenges. Over 1.3 million African-Americans have contracted the coronavirus. It’s devastated families, damaged communities, and ruined progress. A year ago ...
As COVID-19 has ravaged the nation and the entire world, health care workers in Pennsylvania have served on the front lines to save lives and preserve the communities in which they live and work. Even now, as renewed hope of a vaccine and a return to normal looms on the horizon, challenges ...
We used to call it “The Blues.” It has been called the “Winter Doldrums” and “Cabin Fever.” I asked a respected colleague with whom I have worked for many years why she thought everyone was walking around with fried egg on their head, a reference to an old Bette Midler routine. ...
From your community newspaper’s standpoint, opinions are the most incendiary topic in our daily editions. As in Letters to the Editor. We find that many of our readers equate a letter writer’s individual opinions to the newspaper’s opinions. That’s not the case. Oh, that’s not ...
Yes, I know. It seems to be difficult for some to even wear a mask to help protect others and now I am suggesting you need to wear two. Before you think this is crazy, please keep reading. The double masking technique not only protects others, it will provide protection for you, too. Getting ...
The more I get into the inadequate pricing formula that dairy farmers are saddled with, the more I realize they need a cost of production formula and they need it now. The other day I went into a feed mill and I spoke with the owner and asked him, “When you sell your feed, do you try to cover ...
In recent months, Gov. Tom Wolf has become more vociferous in his push to legalize recreational marijuana. In reality, Wolf’s focus on pushing pot shows his political savvy, despite his “I’m new at politics,” protests. After all, what could be a better distraction from his abysmal ...
The group Citizens for Pennsylvania’s Future, also known as “PennFuture,” recently released a report entitled “Buried Out of Sight: Uncovering Pennsylvania’s Hidden Fossil Fuel Subsidies.” This Harrisburg-based organization is dedicated to lobbying against Pennsylvania energy and ...
In his 1948 novel titled “Nineteen Eight-Four” (often published as 1984), George Orwell envisioned a dystopian society, marked by constant government surveillance and manipulation of public opinion. A tyrannical Ministry of Truth (“Big Brother”) maintained power through propaganda, and ...
Sometimes the breezes don’t blow. Sometimes the sun doesn’t shine. Sometimes the wind turbines freeze. When “sometimes” happens in Pennsylvania in 2035, if we have eliminated fossil fuels and their 750,000 jobs (75,000 in this state) from our energy diet, what will happen? ...
What is happening with COVID-19 cases on local college campuses? Many colleges and universities around the country delayed the start of the second semester, seeking to avoid the expected surge in cases over the holidays. By now, though, those who are returning in person have done so. And ...
Since the start of the pandemic, the federal government has taken historic steps to provide nearly $4 trillion in financial and public health assistance to the American people, with one goal in mind: defeating the virus and getting our country back to normal. Unfortunately, President Biden ...
There was an interesting moment in Washington at the end of January, on Antony Blinken’s first full day as secretary of state. Meeting with the press corps that covers the State Department, he called an independent press “a cornerstone of our democracy,” and told the assembled reporters, ...