Page 9 - Our View News Today

The album “Fire in Little Africa” is the culmination of more than 50 Oklahoma artists gathering in March 2020 to commemorate the Tulsa Race Massacre

County governments are in need of such people — pretty much everywhere. Our Democracy is made possible by the “thousands of regular citizens who serve as poll workers,” Maria Boileau, Clinton County’s voter registrar, recently reminded us all. “These are the people who do the important work of checking in voters at polling places and setting them up at voting machines.” Further, she said, “We depend on these workers to run fair and secure elections.” We could not agree more. And...

Apr 24, 2021 There are many volunteers, organizations and institutions in our region worthy of praise for the dedicated time and effort people put into making our area caring and vibrant, whether with events or causes. The Lock Haven Area Jaycees is one of them. In fact, the Jaycees created something that has and should endure as one of the iconic events that puts Lock Haven on the map: The annual Labor Day Regatta. That holiday weekend event brings many, many people to little old Lock Haven fo...

Apr 23, 2021 Central Mountain-Penn State-NFL star and all-around great guy Robbie Gould has had a stellar career in athletics that continues today. But in our hearts, we’re also grateful for his passion for where he grew up … here. That passion is reflected in Robbie’s $200,000 commitment toward a $1.5 million youth sports complex just off busy Route 220/1-99 in Castanea Township, near the gateway to Lock Haven. We briefly saw Robbie in town this past week, understanding that he is hard a...

Apr 23, 2021 If you’re driving around Lock Haven on Friday you should see an army of people cleaning up the streets and sidewalks. We see that happen in various communities in our region where residents take their stewardship seriously. This particular cleanup — on a weekend — is in recognition of Earth Day, which is being celebrated pretty much all this week. We know other communities are conducting clean ups. Way to go! And this particular effort is quite something. More than 50 volunt...

Apr 20, 2021 The Pennsylvania State Police announced recently that it will make it a priority to hire as many as 65 women who were otherwise qualified to become troopers but were not hired because they could not meet rigorous physical fitness standards — standards that apparently were not required to perform a trooper’s job duties. And while the hiring of more state troopers, and a group of people who will diversify the force as well, is wonderful news, we want to caution the state police t...

No it’s not — but we hope we’ve caught your attention. The U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has made the right decision, pushing back this year’s tax-filing deadline to May 17 from the usual April 15 date. We believe the deadline push-back is appropriate, not only because of the challenges that the COVID-19 pandemic has dumped on the shoulders of millions of Americans but also because of how adversely the health emergency has affected the federal tax agency. In early March, the IRS s...

Apr 2, 2021 Today, Good Friday, people around the world engage in prayerful remembrance of the death of Jesus Christ on the cross on Mount Calvary. For Christians, it is the most solemn day of the year. Unfortunately, like during most of last year, there is much additional suffering and death upon which Christians and non-Christians alike are pondering and agonizing, a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The past year has been a terrible “journey” of a scope hardly anyone ever imagined co...

For area high school students, the 2020-21 school year has been anything but normal. Masks, social distancing, remote learning, limited extra curricular activities and infrequent closures have become the norm. As the school year begins to wind down, the Class of 2021 prepares for their final days in high school. At Bellefonte Area High School, students, parents and families are still waiting to find out if there will be a Senior Ball and a traditional graduation. The Class of 2020 had none of...

Perhaps we need to add this: Hope is the vaccine we all get. It has been a long, long year since COVID-19 came a knockin. Many of us now spend our days trying to breathe that hope. At least we should be. We should be hopeful as a way to honor those who we have lost … and pay homage to those who are fighting to get us all out of the pandemic. This coming week, your community newspaper, The Express and its web site at www.lockhaven.com, will fill most of its print and online pages with hop...