Letters: Protect press freedom; PA public notice bill must serve all communities
Protect press freedom
President Trump’s attacks on the news media, like his other efforts to sow fear as he consolidates absolute power, may finally destroy his presidency.
For the free press offer truth.
And without truth, government is blind and ultimately fails.
You will remember that this was Plato’s assessment in the Republic as to why tyrants fall.
Let us all take courage in that as we proceed in these politically dark and difficult times.
John Harris, State College
PA public notice bill must serve all communities
In a column published Oct. 8 in the Centre Daily Times, Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association President William Cotter touted newspapers, their ties and commitment to their communities, and the expansion of access House Bill 1291 promises regarding local government transparency.
He’s off the mark, in some ways entirely, and in others only for certain parts of our state.
The thing he’s right about: “local journalism is a service we depend on every day.”
It’s a service my hometown, where my family’s roots predate Shenandoah and Schuylkill County as a whole, only consistently receives because I stepped up and founded the Shenandoah Sentinel, a local news website covering northern Schuylkill County (or as countians say, “North of the Mountain”) and portions of surrounding counties.
But, under House Bill 1291, Shenandoah Borough cannot rely on digital outlets like us until three print newspapers — the daily in Pottsville and the weeklies in Schuylkill Haven and Valley View (both of which aren’t found on newsstands anywhere near here) — completely disappear. That isn’t fair to Shenandoah or any of the communities we serve.
We shouldn’t have to wait and hope for the Hegins Valley to lose their paper so we can be relied upon to do what we already do best and inform our communities. House Bill 1291 needs a rewrite. It needs to do more than maintain the status quo, as the PNA has said it will do.
It needs to serve our communities across Pennsylvania. My hometown, your hometown.
Kaylee Lindenmuth, Shenandoah
Support those fighting COPD
COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) is the third leading cause of death worldwide and the leading cause of disability. Early diagnosis is crucial. COPD affects an estimated 30 million Americans. In Pennsylvania there are 705,310 who have COPD. Millions more suffer from COPD but have not been diagnosed and are not being treated.
The official color for COPD is orange. The 2025 Theme for World COPD Day is “Short of Breath, Think COPD.”
World COPD Day takes place Nov. 19. This theme aims to raise awareness about the under-diagnosis and misdiagnosis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, which is a common, preventable and treatable disease.
Each November is also proclamation season, to make the Governor aware and to announce November as COPD Awareness Month.
Pulmonary rehab is essential for those of us with COPD. Having COPD myself, I not only speak and spread awareness for myself but all the others who are affected by COPD. It gives those of us better quality of life.
With your help, we can spread the word about COPD and chronic lung disease awareness. Please show your support for COPD and help elevate the disease as a public health priority.
Let’s get our orange on and support those of us who fight COPD daily.
Tina M Moyer, Middleburg. The author is the COPD Foundation State Advocacy Captain.
Can Centre County confront dangers of gambling?
The world is upside down! Is anyone listening, watching President Trump’s cronyism $20 billion bailout to Argentina “for their health care,” as he shuts down the Affordable Care Act to U.S. citizens? The U.S. is focused on cancer research but not one mention of prevention of the corporate environmental causes of cancer. Tobacco and asbestos industries directly causing cancers were finally held accountable. Our youth and our community have been targeted by a $14 billion gambling industry’s insidious corporate manipulation of addictive behaviors, heightening depression and suicide, particularly of young men.
Billy Joel said, “it’s all in the recovery, how you correct your mistakes.” Stephen Hawking said, “Everything we need to know is already within us, just waiting to be realized.” The film “Abre Los Ojos” (Open Your Eyes) questions the difference between dream/nightmare and reality.
Gov. Mills of Maine is courageously fighting back in defense of her citizens’ and the courts have reversed King DJT’s withholding health care for U.S. citizens that ignored U.S. rule of law.
Britain regulates gambling and its toxic addictions; New Jersey has banned sports betting partnerships on (and near) college campuses. Are Centre County and PSU brave enough to confront substantially documented dangers to our community and rein in a state of emergency that has become not an exception but the rule?
Micaela Amateau Amato, Boalsburg