Breaking News

Other Commentaries

Rest in peace, United States of America

Donald Trump is killing America. I don’t mean it’s accidental or even manslaughter. I’m talking premeditated, cold blooded murder! The man who had six bankruptcies (Washington Post 9/26/16), he who couldn’t even run a casino successfully is now doing the same thing to our country. He warned us that his second term would be retribution. Just as he is trying to prosecute his political enemies, he is punishing the American people for voting him out in 2020. What better way to do that than to destroy the country. We had the audacity to reject him, so now we must pay the ...

The iceberg ahead: Pennsylvania’s looming power crisis

Nearly a year has passed since Gov. Josh Shapiro first announced a “new era” of leadership in energy with a program he claimed would create 15,000 jobs, save energy customers $664 million and generate $11.4 billion in investments in “clean, reliable energy resources.” He’s traveled the state making promises of lowering utility costs while touting questionable agreements and feel-good programs that are nothing more than a band-aid for a broken bone. Time and time again, the governor fails to address, or recognize, the root cause of the price increases all Pennsylvanians are ...

Governor just another Democrat

Gov. Josh Shapiro is a “different Democrat,” or so claim national pundits. The governor has made unorthodox yet inconsequential statements condemning terrorism, rebuking antisemitism on college campuses, discouraging citizens from murdering corporate executives, and defending Punxsutawney Phil against PETA. And with his recent flirtation with national politics, Shapiro seems eager to ride this concocted brand all the way to the White House in 2028. But, as his state budget address this week demonstrates, Shapiro is far from different. In what might be the first campaign speech of ...

Straight into the fire and smoke

Imagine fighting your way into an inferno where flames, intense heat and choking smoke come at you as you try to rescue a person trapped inside a burning home. I cannot imagine. But I am forever grateful to those who do exactly that as they try to save lives and property in our communities. This column is meant to reflect the efforts of firefighters all over our county and region. They all make sacrifices. So do their families. Yet they do what they do while scraping for funds to keep their equipment and buildings operational. Folks, it’s been a very cold winter, a time ...

Governor’s budget plan is nothing new

“I love Groundhog Day,” said Gov. Josh Shapiro during the budget address. Of course, the governor meant the Pennsylvania tradition of Punxsutawney Phil and his prescient shadow. But judging by his proposal, Shapiro could have easily been talking about the 1993 movie of the same name. Like Bill Murray in Groundhog Day, Shapiro seems trapped in a time loop, pushing the same out-of-control spending while failing to deliver his promises. The governor’s 2025 budget proposal — a whopping $51.5 billion in total — repeats many of the same tax-and-spend strategies from his prior ...

Why preventing high weeds, grass matters

I detest mowing my lawn. Of all the routine tasks associated with being an adult mowing lawn is certainly my least favorite. I will certainly push it near the boundaries of good taste and then succumb to community peer pressure when I hear my neighbors mowing theirs. It is certainly easy ...