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Letters to the editor

Law enforcement should not assist ICE without a 287(g) agreement

Aidan Gscheidle Lock Haven Some folks in our community have expressed frustration that Pennsylvania State Police and local law enforcement are not doing more to assist Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Would these folks feel comfortable letting their bank teller perform an IRS audit without the proper training? How about allowing a physician’s assistant to perform a surgery? The proper process exists for law enforcement agencies (LEAs) that wish to cooperate with ICE. This is called the 287(g) Program, per ICE’s own website (ice.gov/identify-and-arrest/287g). The ...

False Claims Act bad for PA

Dick Harris Stevensville The Pennsylvania Senate needs to stop the so-called False Claims Act before it creates even more problems for small businesses across Pennsylvania. This bill might sound like it’s about stopping fraud, but in reality, it’s just another way for trial lawyers to make money, all at the expense of the rest of us. If this becomes law, lawyers would be allowed to sue businesses “on behalf” of the state. But in most cases, it won’t be about justice. It’ll be about getting a big payout. Even if a small business hasn’t done anything wrong, the ...

The American undoing

Sam Stea Cogan Station I propose, for the sake of argument, that the best way for a sitting president to undo the United States of America is to behave exactly opposite to each of our Founding Fathers. In the case of George Washington’s honesty and integrity; attempt an overthrow of the electoral process and the lawful transfer of power, then blame it on the Democrats. For Thomas Jefferson’s pursuit of science and reason; defund critical medical research, ignore information about the environment and health of the planet and appoint charlatans to top health positions. For ...

People are confused today about how things work

Kimball Shinkoskey Woods Cross In school, Americans were taught that the world works on the basis of education, science, law, honesty, goodwill, elections, free enterprise, corporate responsibility, government ethics, service-oriented political leadership. You get the picture. Except for brief periods of time, all that good stuff has never really materialized in the lives of most citizens and leaders, and certainly not since World War II. Today we work almost entirely on the basement instincts of humankind. These are the kind of exploitative instincts that are made possible by ...

Troops in Williamsport?

Tim Mannello Williamsport “When scaled to comparable population sizes, Williamsport, Pa., exhibits a higher murder rate per capita than both New York City and Los Angeles.” This startling conclusion from an AI analysis draws from crime data from the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program. This analysis means that if Williamsport possessed the same population as either New York City or Los Angeles, it would theoretically experience a significantly greater number of homicides per 100,000 than these cities currently do because of its elevated per-resident killing ...

Why public education matters

Frank Redmon Lock Haven In today’s ongoing discussions about education policy, it’s essential to remind ourselves why public schools are so crucial to our communities and our future. Public education is more than a network of classrooms; it is one of the bedrock institutions that help hold our society together. Public schools serve every child. They welcome students from all walks of life, regardless of background, income or ability, and provide free education to all. In small towns like ours and large cities across the country, public schools are community pillars. They not ...