Letters: Community and the climate crisis; Casino plan unrealistic for Happy Valley
Community and the climate crisis
Fires raging in LA — not the first (just the most recent) of our current onslaught of “once-in-a-lifetime” climate disasters. Before that, it was the hurricanes in Florida, flooding in Asheville, and freezing in the Northwest. National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) charted 27 separate climate disasters that cost the U.S. more than $1B each in 2024 alone. The climate crisis is here, and it is not going anywhere.
So what can you and I do about it? Emily Boone and her business showed us exactly what we can do last week (“State College boutique collects 5,000 pounds of goods for those affected by CA fires”).
Mutual aid is not just a simple act of generosity — it is fundamental to our ability to thrive in a climate-changed society. When disaster strikes — and it will — scientists and politicians will not be two doors away ready to help; it will be your neighbors.
Go to the community festivals. Shop at small businesses. Take local classes. Host dinner parties. Volunteer in the community. Uplift the voices of those worse off than yourself. Give generously and without expectation.
In the age of the climate crisis, it is community that will save us.
Casino plan unrealistic for Happy Valley
When you drive past the former Macy’s store at the mall you will notice a brand-new perimeter construction fence surrounding the future site of Ira Lubert’s Nittany Mall casino.
Construction will begin soon and in about 12 months the interior remodeling will transform the long empty department store into a venue of nonstop entertainment that will feature casino table games as well as 750 charming slot machines that await their chance to haul in the casino tax revenue that state and local governments are literally counting on.
The legacy of Ira Lubert and his business partners will be celebrated at the casino’s grand opening with beaming smiles, high-fives, and a televised ribbon-cutting ceremony. The casino will operate on a 24/7 operating schedule that will continue until that 24/7 plan proves to be both unrealistic and overly optimistic.
Happy Valley is not a major urban area. The residents of our community know better than to throw away their hard-earned money by spending many hours at casino table games and charming slot machines. Besides, all of that is available online and nobody needs to know that we can use our phones 24/7 for that right now.
An unanticipated surprise will be realized by early 2027 when the casino floor becomes an empty ghost town between the hours of 2 a.m. and 2 p.m. every day. In Happy Valley, the non-addicted casino patrons need to go to work in the morning. Make a note of this now and anticipate watching it unfold later.
MAGA plotting against PA justices
Roy Cohn, the mafia lawyer who nurtured Donald Trump’s contempt for the rule of law, once infamously stated, “Don’t tell me the law, tell me who the judge is.” This corrupt perspective served Trump well as he successfully kept himself out of jail by stacking the courts with unethical and partisan judges.
On Nov. 4, Pennsylvania voters will have the opportunity to vote yes or no on the retention of three Supreme Court justices, one Superior Court justice, and one Commonwealth justice. These justices have served Pennsylvania admirably for the last decade. As another justice recently said, “they have restored competence, honor and ethics to our courts.”
Sadly, MAGA Republicans in Pennsylvania are currently plotting to deny the retention of these justices in order to run extreme MAGA candidates for those seats in 2026.
A Bucks County billionaire is already spending a small fortune priming voters to vote no on retention. Elon Musk has also contributed $1 million to take out judges up for retention even hiring a full-time MAGA operative for this purpose. Undoubtedly, we will see a barrage of TV ads later this year in a MAGA smear campaign.
Sitting justices are considered non-partisan and will not have a party designation after their name on November’s ballot even though they were elected as Democrats.
It’s never too soon to inform voters of MAGA’s anti-democratic efforts to stack our courts. This fall, vote yes to retain Justices David Wecht, Kevin Dougherty, Christine Donahue, Alice Beck Dubow and Michael Wojcik!