Breaking News

Our View

Building local resilience, sustainability key in face of uncertainty

If the litany of government shutdowns and almost-shutdowns should have taught us anything, it’s that our federal government’s function was a fickle thing even long before cutting thousands of staffers, shuttering agencies and freezing spending. This is not to say these actions are a good thing, nor is it to say they are a bad thing. It is merely a fact — which are in precious short supply these days. From that fact, we can extrapolate: dependence on the federal government will be unwise for the foreseeable future. Again, there is no assessment of morality with this ...

Love is precious, and there isn’t enough of it

It’s Valentine’s Day — did you remember? Hopefully you have awesome plans. Or maybe you’re flying solo, by choice or otherwise. Even if that’s the case, though, we would wager you still love something. Maybe it’s wings, or antique cars, or thrifting or sewing. Maybe it’s your cat or dog or plant or fish or bird; your coin collection or the sweet deer skull you found in the woods. Point is, everyone has something, or someone, they love — and that is beautiful and should be nurtured. There’s a toxicity to our society wherein love isn’t considered “hip.” ...

Against the absolute

There seems to be something of a “my way or the highway” malaise in our culture at the moment, spurred on by the actions of President Trump and Elon Musk as they attempt to reshape the federal government. We have talked about our stance on this somewhat before in our previous editorial, titled “Simplicity,” but we wanted to expand the premise slightly in what could be considered a sequel. In yesterday’s edition of The Express, the op-ed page contained a column by Cal Thomas. Much of his column lambasted Democrats for their ineffectuality and inability to learn from their ...

Completing the picture

There is a story in today’s paper that we wanted to call attention to, on page B4: “Trump wants to undo diversity programs. Some agencies react by scrubbing US history and culture.” The story covers, in part, the short-lived removal of information about the Tuskegee Airmen after President Trump’s DEI executive order. Go ahead, read it. We’ll wait. You’re back? Alright. The key thing about this story that we want to highlight is that the original story broke a week ago, right after Trump took office. As the story notes, the move was “swiftly rescinded after a ...

Simplicity

There is a fundamental drive to keep things simple. To some degree, President Trump campaigned — and won — on it: his “revolution of common sense.” And, yeah. People like when you talk at their level, when you make them feel seen. Columnist Salena Zito has written about it numerous times over the last few years. While Democratic candidates typically stay in metro areas, Republicans have been far better over the last several decades at actually going into the wilderness and meeting people where they are, which, as a rural area, we obviously think is great. People here, and ...

Of chestnuts, festivals and the place we call home

There’s a new festival in town. This past weekend saw the first-ever PA Chestnut Festival, held in Castanea to a stupendous turnout well in the hundreds, despite the freezing temperatures. The addition of the Chestnut Festival to the region’s thriving pool of events, fairs and fests brings some activity to one of the coldest — and typically quietest — times of the year. And, its success shows that the cold won’t stop people from turning out for a good time, which opens the door to more winter events being added to the region’s roster. This is a big win for the whole ...