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Mill Hall pool is a community asset, and it needs your help

People can be short-sighted creatures, for sure. It can be very difficult to process that in just a few brief months, we will once again be outdoors in shorts — can you imagine it, looking outside? — with birdsong in the air and pollen in our noses. It is a high winter tradition for many gardeners to select and order their seeds in the coldest time of the year, to help feel connected to those warmer, happier months when things grow. Likewise, even though the ground is snow-covered and swimming is the furthest thing from most of our minds, now is the time to prepare. We write, ...

MLK Day reminds us all must be equal

On Friday, Biden made some noise about the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), and how he said it should be considered adopted. However, he proceeded to not pressure the archivist to publish the amendment, which makes it unlikely that anything will come of it. The amendment was first introduced in 1923, where it languished until the 1960s. In 1972, it was finally submitted for consideration by the states, but it was given a seven-year deadline, which was eventually extended further, until 1982. Under deadline, it maxed out at 35 of the required 38 states for ratification, although it ...

Fire and consequence

Another year is underway, and already the first calamity is striking: horrific fires in Los Angeles which have produced some truly apocalyptic photographs and videos. As of this writing, some quick stats from the Associated Press: — 42 square miles consumed. Because we were curious, we used a web tool that calculates measurements based on points placed on Google Maps. How much is 42 square miles? Imagine an area from the slopes of Bald Eagle Mountain in the south to back past Farrandsville in the north — drawn from just past Mill Hall in the west to Jersey Shore in the east. ...

Greeting 2025 with open arms — but a set jaw

There’s a saying among Millennials and Gen Z: “we are very tired of living in historic times.” Sometimes, it will get spun in slightly different ways, such as “I would like to live in precedented times,” or “I have lived through so many once-in-a-lifetime events already.” Of course, every generational cohort has their fair share — or more than their fair share — of challenges. Millennials and Gen Z are certainly not alone in this. And yet, we can certainly see how the wheel of time feels like it is spinning quite quickly indeed, these days. Our rapidly evolving ...

We breathe, and we hope

It’s Christmas — if not in date, certainly in season. We wanted to take the opportunity to say a few words this weekend before festivities really kick into high gear for most people. We know that in the fervor of family dinners, gift wrapping — more importantly, unwrapping — and whatever your particular religious tradition, your friendly community newspaper is likely, and justifiably, forgotten. Obviously, Christmas is significant to Christians, and despite cries about the alleged war on Christmas, Christmas has become much more. Christmas is a warm kitchen filled with ...

Fate of monarch butterflies, and more, depends on us

A story which ran in yesterday’s Express provided an update on the plight of the monarch butterfly — a particularly beloved and notable species for many, many people. Two key takeaways from that story: eastern monarchs face a 57 to 74 percent chance of extinction by 2080, and eastern monarchs have seen a 59 percent decrease in their occupied overwintering space from the previous year, which is now down to just 2.2 acres. Some readers have houses that sit on more acreage than that. Imagine the entire overwintering population of eastern monarchs fitting in your ...