Letters: Positive side of State College construction; Reject Project 2025, Trump

Positive side of State College construction

The construction at the center of town had one good side — it showed the advantage of closing off the traffic on the 100 block of South Allen Street and making the pedestrian mall many of us have hoped for.

In the Renaissance, Leonardo da Vinci designed a city where all the machines were underground. And when the motor car was new early in the last century, neighborhoods in Brooklyn revolted against the cars as violators of their communities. And in Europe urban planners are respecting this and designing their downtowns this way.

In the car here is fused with an away-there where on foot here needn’t have this compulsion. And here in this sense is a prime source of conviviality and civilization.

Reject Project 2025, Trump

If Donald Trump becomes president, the United States will be unrecognizable to our founding fathers.

Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation’s plan for a Trump presidency, will dismantle our government and undermine democracy. Trump denies knowing about it, but it was written by former Trump administration officials, and is supported by his running mate. Crucially, Trump’s statements align with its principles.

Project 2025 advocates a “unitary executive.” The entire federal bureaucracy, including independent agencies, will be controlled by Trump — undermining America’s founding principle of “separation of powers,” with checks and balances across three equal branches of government.

• Tens of thousands of government employees will be fired, replaced with pre-vetted Trump loyalists swearing allegiance to him, not the Constitution.
• The DOJ and FBI will be dismantled, with Trump empowered to persecute his opponents.
• The Department of Education will be abolished.
• The Department of Health and Human Services will establish “a biblically based…definition of marriage and family.”
• Climate protections will be gutted. The fossil fuel industry will be prioritized.
• The Constitution and Bill of Rights will be meaningless.
• Protections for LBGTQ+ Americans, legal immigrants, and peaceful protesters will be stripped away.
• Reproductive rights will be abolished: the abortion pill mifepristone will be illegal, and a 150-year-old law will be revived to prevent mailing of contraceptives.

Christian Nationalism underlies it, rejecting our founding principle of “separation of church and state.” This is not the government Americans fought and died to protect.

Reject Trump before it’s too late.

MidPenn Legal Services to host Access to Justice Awards

MidPenn Legal Services will be hosting its annual “Access to Justice Awards” on Thursday, Sept. 26 at the Mt. Nittany Overlook Event Center, from 5:30-7:30 p.m. This event is a unique opportunity for the legal community to spotlight and elevate promising practices in access to justice.

The Access to Justice Awards celebrate local justice heroes who have supported and delivered MidPenn’s mission of providing high-quality, free legal representation to those who need it the most. The event will honor volunteer attorneys, pro bono attorneys, and partner law firms that have dedicated their time and expertise to improving the lives of clients and strengthening the communities where we live and work through impactful legal services.

MidPenn Legal Services is a nonprofit law firm that provides free legal representation, advice, and education to low-income residents and survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault across 18 counties in central Pennsylvania. The counties served include Adams, Bedford, Berks, Blair, Centre, Clearfield, Cumberland, Dauphin, Franklin, Fulton, Huntington, Juniata, Lancaster, Lebanon, Mifflin, Perry, Schuylkill, and York.

For additional information regarding the event, contact me at 717-234-0492, ext. 2215.

Thompson makes misleading energy claims

Republican Congressman Glenn Thompson recently sent his constituents a dire warning about Biden and Harris destroying American energy independence. Scary stuff.

What Thompson fails to mention in his email newsletter is that under Biden and Harris there is more oil production here in the U.S. than at any other time in U.S. history. More oil production than during Trump’s time in office or any other Republican president. And clean energy production is at an all time high as well under Biden-Harris.

Thompson is spending tax dollars to mislead voters.

From Thompson: “This administration has ended our energy independence for the sake of ‘Green-New Deal’ initiatives.”

Here is another fact Thompson did not mention: The United States is currently the number one oil producing country on the planet. And over the past year the U.S. strategic petroleum reserves increased by more than 8%. When the reserves are at full capacity we have more reserves than any other nation.

Our energy situation is better than ever. Don’t let our congressman hide the facts.