Editorials

Families, adults with intellectual disabilities and autism, organizations that provide services, and disability advocates are witnessing the collapse of Pennsylvania’s intellectual disability and autism (ID/A) system. Day programs have closed or scaled back services, at least 6,500 people have lost services in the past 18 months, and families are facing unemployment and financial ruin to stay home and care for adults with disabilities. The reason is clear: the payment rates set by the Department of Human Services have not kept pace with the cost of providing home and community-based services (HCBS), so provider organizations are unable to recruit, hire and retain Direct Support Professionals (DSPs) to work in these programs. Read more

Great news: Google has turned us into armchair experts on everything. In just a few minutes, we can know better than experts who have committed their entire careers to complicated scientific subjects. Read more

The COVID-19 pandemic transformed telehealth by creating a sudden imperative for remote delivery of medical care to the benefit of patients and providers alike. That transformation has catapulted telehealth and its many benefits to the forefront of mainstream medicine. The challenge now: Make those benefits permanent and expand them further to improve value in care delivery. Read more

Bravo to Philadelphia Orchestra music director Yannick Nézet-Séguin for urging the Biden administration to create a cabinet-level arts and culture post. In an open letter recently, Nézet-Séguin — who is also music director of New York’s Metropolitan Opera — said the pandemic’s crippling impact on the creative economy makes “a voice at the table” in Washington, D.C., even more critical. Read more

I belong to the group of people that usually have many New Year’s resolutions. Read more

For American healthcare consumers, the New Year will be very happy, indeed. Read more

COVID-19 has killed nearly 350,000 Americans. And with case counts and hospitalizations soaring, many more deaths are sadly in store. Read more

If ever there was a question about the need to improve America’s infrastructure, it has certainly been dispelled, as the cost to the United States due to lost productivity continues to climb. Read more

The state Department of Transportation plans to accelerate major rehabilitation or reconstruction of five to 10 major bridges across the state by establishing tolls for their use. Read more

The Department of Defense (DOD) is backing a growing grassroots effort nationwide to designate local schools as military friendly because of the huge benefits they provide the children of U.S. service members when transitioning into new schools. Read more

Here are all the ways to vote in this election, safely and securely Read more

Some Pennsylvania dairy farmers, after years of struggle with volatile and evolving markets for their product, entered 2020 cautiously optimistic about their financial situation. “Then, COVID-19 hit. And by mid-March, a government-ordered shutdown forced dairy-buying restaurants closed, instead sending customers to clear out grocery store shelves,” LNP ‘ LancasterOnline’s Sean Sauro reported for a story that appeared in the Sept. 27 Sunday LNP. “It was an abrupt change in the farm-to-consumer supply chain — one that left processors unable to quickly adapt, leading to waste and yet another round of profit loss.” Read more

Altoona Mayor Matt Pacifico has been criticized by city council members for what they regard as premature concerns about municipal finances related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Read more

Gun shops are among the few businesses that have thrived amid the COVID-19 public health emergency, all the more so since the Wolf administration classified them as “essential” businesses exempt from state-enforced closure. Read more

Babies are at far greater risk of brain damage than previously thought. Read more

The coronavirus pandemic has triggered massive changes in consumer behavior. Read more

The death of George Floyd at the hands of police should never have happened. It was murder and a dark moment in America. The looting, terrorism and burning of American cities by so called protestors is criminal and a dark moment in America. Read more

Normally when 2 p.m. arrives on Saturdays here in Latrobe, a certain peacefulness resounds and it’s as if the world is standing still. There is little movement and silence takes over. That’s been typical ever since I lived in this town. Now, however, that same silence has caused a certain stillness brought on by a disease that has spread around the world. To make it worse, government has mandated rules we stay inside causing more lack of movement. Read more

Recently, Apple and Google caused a stir among cybersecurity experts and privacy advocates in particular with their announcement that they are jointly working on an application to enable contact tracing through their respective devices’ Bluetooth systems. But these digital applications could pose privacy and security concerns of which communities should be aware. Read more

Social distancing is necessitating a fundamental shift in how many of us connect with others in the world. Those of us with no prior experience self-isolating are learning that the undeniable importance of expressing care for ourselves and for others in our community by keeping our distance from them does not make it much easier in practice. Read more

It would be an understatement to say the novel coronavirus has disrupted everyone’s life and livelihood. More than 1,200,000 have had COVID-19 and more than 72,200 have tragically died. Read more

During their future career choices and work lives, most of today’s college students will be confronted with unexpected, challenging circumstances that they will need to manage and navigate, using their best judgment, talents and instincts. Read more

It’s human nature to want to hold someone responsible for a crisis. It can even become an overwhelming, emotional need. So it’s understandable that people who are being furloughed, laid-off, or having their wages cut might blame their employers. Read more

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp’s decision to loosen his coronavirus lockdown has unleashed a national debate over when it will be safe to reopen our economy. Read more

For those of us who study health care and admire the role that markets play in lifesaving miracles, COVID-19 has thrust us into the worst of times and the best of times. Read more

It was the usual nightmare driving on the Beltway, the six-lane Indy 500 racetrack that encircles the Washington region on a terrifying 64-mile loop through Maryland and Virginia. Read more

It took 120 years and nearly 5,000 innocent deaths, but Congress finally acknowledged the nation’s inexcusable past by approving legislation to make lynching a hate crime under federal law. Read more

Elected officials are still employees. Read more

The Trump administration recently put forward a plan that would almost certainly force patients to pay more at the pharmacy. The proposed rule, which came from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, embraces the effort by some insurers to ignore manufacturer coupons when calculating a patient’s out-of-pocket maximum. Read more

Permit fees for shale gas wells in Pennsylvania would soar by more than 150% under an increase proposed by the state Department of Environmental Protection, but there are few options if the state is going to maintain its level of regulation over wells. Read more

Ten years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its disastrous ruling in Citizens United, giving corporations the right to unlimited political spending. Read more

Growing a new industry isn’t as simple as having an idea. It’s not even as simple as having a product. Read more

In these times of extreme political divides, there are still people willing to reach across the aisle to work together to send us urgent warnings to protect ourselves from scams. Read more

“Black History Month,” observed comedian Chris Rock in a 2015 video for Essence magazine, “is in the shortest month of the year, and the coldest, just in case we want to have a parade.” Read more

The Pennsylvania Game Commission is not terribly popular among many of the state’s hunters. Read more

In trying to correct a weakness in Pennsylvania’s distracted-driving laws — drivers are still permitted to use hand-held phones, except for texting — lawmakers demonstrated last week that they can’t leave bad enough alone. Read more

As we reach the middle of winter, the dreaded flu season continues all over Pennsylvania. The Pennsylvania Department of Health reported in early January that confirmed cases had jumped to 518 for the season, up 65% from the previous week. As of the week ending Jan. 4, there were 25,362 laboratory-confirmed flu cases across Pennsylvania, officials said. That was up 68% from the week before, which had seen an increase of 56% from the previous week. Read more

When people don’t have health insurance — especially people with pre-existing conditions like diabetes, breast cancer, high blood pressure or even pregnancy (yes, that counts) — they skip vital care, go into debt or even bankruptcy to pay bills, or simply die. Read more

State Rep. Dawn Keefer is right. The state’s budget process should be cleaner, clearer and far more transparent. Money shouldn’t be hidden in off-the-books slush funds and legislators should make sure we spend no more than our revenues support. Read more

Any move toward a fairer form of school taxation in Pennsylvania is, well … good news. Read more

We appreciated this thought from state Sen. Mike Regan, R-York, quoted by The Associated Press: “I’d like to say there is no such thing as a bad kid. However, we all know kids do bad things.” Read more

Three cheers for this move by the General Assembly. Read more

Thanksgiving is here. Along with turkey and mashed potatoes, one thing can be counted on: Awkward dinner table conversations. Read more

Alongside traffic and coffee, news radio is a staple of my morning commute. As I flip through the stations, I’ll sometimes hear a pundit lament that “Nothing is made in America anymore.” Read more

On the National Front for this week, the AAA says gas prices are mostly cheaper across the country thanks to an increase in supply amid robust demand. A small number of states saw pump prices decrease more than a dime, though the majority saw fluctuation of a few pennies. Today’s national average of $2.59 is two cents cheaper than last week. Read more

Pennsylvania agriculture, like American agriculture, is stressed, and our traditional safety net, exports, is greatly threatened. Read more

For most of the past 100 years, U.S. transportation policy has been based on the users-pay/users-benefit principle. The biggest advantages of this principle are that it is fair (those who pay the fees receive the benefits), proportionate (those who use highways more would pay more), self-limiting (the tax rate is limited), predictable (consistent from year to year), and an investment signal (indicates how much infrastructure to build). Read more

Paige Cognetti won Tuesday’s special election for Scranton mayor by overcoming what she had described as the “old-boy network” of city Democratic politics. Read more