Letters to the Editor

Staggering New Statistics Spotlight Ongoing Alzheimer’s Crisis in PA The Alzheimer’s Association 2022 Alzheimer’s Disease Facts and Figures report illustrates the continued burden of Alzheimer’s in our country, and in Pennsylvania. An estimated 6.5 million Americans age 65 and older are living with Alzheimer’s, including 280,000 in Pennsylvania–a number expected to increase to 320,000 by…

Another Open Letter to PSU President Dear President Barron, Maybe you’ve been hoping for the casino opposition from the Happy Valley community to just fade away before your retirement ceremony. Oh my, but what if it doesn’t? WE ARE keeping track and two casino-related Open Letters to you were published at StateCollege.com on March 5 and March 12.  Each letter asked you to please…

Send Them Packing Eight Republican Congressmen from Pennsylvania participated in the months-long attempted coup against our democracy, which led to the January 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Seven of those legislators—John Joyce, Mike Kelly, Daniel Meuser, Scott Perry, Guy Reschenthaler, Lloyd Smucker and Glenn Thompson—are now running for re-election. How dare they! Prior…

Education Funding Needed in Pa. Throughout my career working with educators, I’ve seen a worrying trend: many schools are unable to afford both critical repairs to infrastructure and basic supplies for students. I have spoken with administrators who struggle to keep buildings open, food service directors who strive to provide nutritious meals over weekends and…

‘Democracy Starts with Us’ The Pennsylvania legislature is among the largest and highest paid in the country. Unfortunately, democracy is not measured by how many state and federal representatives we have, or even by how much we pay our representatives. It is what they do. Pennsylvania’s ”full-time” legislators in the House met 69 days, and…

An Open Letter to Penn State President Eric Barron Dear President Barron, I am writing today to urge you to integrate college gambling education and prevention efforts into existing Penn State programs about alcohol, drugs and other risky behaviors. Seventy-five percent of college students gambled during the past year (whether legally or illegally, on campus…

Senate District Borders Make No Sense Think about it… there was a time when all of Centre, Clearfield and Clinton counties were part of the same state Senate district. That made perfect sense from an economic and community-feel standpoint. The three counties share common borders and many residents of Clearfield and Clinton work in Centre…

Pennsylvania Is Addicted to Gambling Last Sunday’s Super Bowl set a record with Americans wagering nearly $8 billion on the game.  This dramatic increase is a direct result of the legalization of sports betting; the matchup between the Rams and the Bengals was the first Super Bowl of the online gambling era. Since online gambling and…