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Win-win

Daniel Ehrgood Muncy Here’s a great way to save money by spending it! If you invest $10,000 in solar panels or geothermal systems, you get a $3,000 income tax credit. If you replace heating systems, or doors and windows, or add insulation or even buy new energy-efficient appliances, you are eligible for up to a $1,200 tax credit. These credits directly reduce, dollar for dollar, your tax bill. Though there is an annual limit, you may use these credits year after year. So, for instance, when you need a new stove, furnace or washer and dryer, make sure it is eligible for the tax ...

Truth in advertising

Catherine Grigor Boalsburg When the U.S. government sent stimulus checks to American families during the COVID pandemic, former President Donald Trump took the unprecedented step of putting his signature on the checks. If Trump wins a second term, he says he will impose large tariffs on importers of foreign goods. Economists almost universally agree that most of the cost of the tariffs wouldn’t be absorbed by foreign companies, they would be paid by American consumers. Estimates for the cost that will be paid by average family range from $1,700 to $3,900 a year. So, here’s an ...

Easiest choice in my life

Ben Hoskins Lewisburg As an 80-year-old Pennsylvanian, I have voted in every U.S. presidential election since 1964. Over the years, I’ve voted for both Democrats and Republicans, always voting for the person, not the party. This year, the choice between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris is the easiest one I’ll ever have. Kamala Harris is competent, principled, and — despite what Trump claims — moderate. I trust her to protect our democratic institutions, defend the country, and put the nation over personal gain. Donald Trump will say anything or do anything to get power and ...

Democracy already long gone before the election

Kimball Shinkoskey Woods Cross Many are worried that we will lose our democracy if Trump is elected to a second term. Folks, we lost our democracy a long time ago. We just kept on talking like we still had one because we didn’t want to face reality. One of the most fundamental powers of the people in a democracy is the exercise of the war power by the people’s legislative representatives in Congress. The people lost that power in 1950 when President Harry Truman launched into the Korean War without the required declaration of war from Congress. There hasn’t been one ...

Pinocchio at the Debate

Ed Perry Boalsburg It’s unfortunate that moderators during the debate between Senator Casey and Dave McCormick were not permitted to fact check their claims because McCormick told some whoppers. For example, he used the standard Republican lie that Casey and the Biden administration were hindering development of energy sources. In fact, Pennsylvania’s natural gas production is 43 times higher today than when Casey was elected to the Senate in 2006. Senator Casey has never supported a ban on fracking, but has demanded that fracking be done in an environmentally responsible ...

Principles matter

Dorie Evensen State College “Attack, attack, attack.” “Deny, deny, deny.” “Never admit defeat.” Imagine framing these slogans, and hanging them on your child’s bedroom wall. Not exactly the principles most parents want their children to follow, but they’re exactly the principles that guide Donald Trump – learned first from his father, Fred (who was arrested in Queens in 1927 while participating in a KKK march), and later from his mentor, Roy Cohen, who taught him to “attack, counterattack and never apologize.” We see Trump practice those principles every ...