SEPTA and LANTA need to pass on their operating costs to those who use their services and also be better stewards of their money. They can’t run to the taxpayer every year asking for more and threatening to cut service. I pay more every year to operate my car so why shouldn’t public transportation riders?
As a school psychologist, therapist and mother living in Bethlehem, I see everyday how policy decisions in Washington affect our local community — especially in the lives of children.
I have the honor of working with many families in Bethlehem. They are neighbors and friends, working multiple jobs, and paying their fair share in taxes. Yet so many live paycheck to paycheck. At the schools I work with, 70% of the kids qualify for free or reduced lunch, with many receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits. Some mornings, the line for the school’s food pantry stretches around the building. The Lehigh Valley knows what I am talking about. We see the struggle in our community.
At a moment when costs are soaring, Republicans voted to take critical assistance away from families to give tax breaks to billionaires.
Taking care of each other is the American way. These cuts to SNAP are the opposite. They abandon the most vulnerable — our kids — and benefit those who already have everything. It’s stealing from the poor to give to the rich.
I am disappointed in my congressman, Ryan Mackenzie, and everyone who failed to stand up for Pennsylvania’s children by voting for this dangerous legislation.
I am inspired by the climate “alarmists” who have the vision, wisdom and courage to face head-on the fact that climate change is our dismal reality.
Future generations will be horrifically victimized without the phasing out of fossil fuels now. Sudden shifts in weather events, droughts, floods, more and stronger hurricanes, and sweltering days when children can’t play outdoors will become the norm if we continue to pump fossil fuel emissions into our atmosphere contributing to the greenhouse effect.
The U.S. has been abysmal in reducing carbon emissions due to poor leadership from the White House. China, the world’s leader in carbon emissions, saw a slight reduction last year in those pollutants and the government there is committed to do more of the same in the next five years.
Carbon levels rise while we suffer aggressive deregulation by President Trump and members of Congress who are too spineless, ignorant and/or greedy to vote on climate action.
We must vote in a president and representatives who prioritize climate action.
Global warming should not be a partisan issue. It’s a matter of life or death, truly.
For Lower Saucon Township taxpayers, the next township council election can’t come fast enough. I attended the July council meeting and witnessed two of the council members calling their fellow members disgusting pigs, freaks, clowns and telling them to shut their ignorant mouths. Our community deserves better. Not only did they disrupt the meeting, but they left before all the township business was discussed. You can tune into the township YouTube channel to see for yourself. It is no wonder taxpayer attendance is down at these meetings.
The most important story in the July 30 edition of The Morning Call was buried on page 14. It read: “EPA targeting climate change laws.” Lee Zeldin, the Environmental Protection Agency administrator, announced at a news conference, fittingly held at a truck dealership, that henceforth the EPA would no longer regulate vehicle emissions related to climate change. In a triumph for unfettered capitalism, the EPA would no longer protect the environment. Any limit on vehicle emissions previously regulated under the Clean Air Act would now be erased.
This will be challenged in court, but if compliant judges affirm it, the dream of a cleaner vehicle fleet will be put off indefinitely. This follows earlier news that the EPA is shutting down its research arm and firing hundreds of scientists.
Parents, how do you feel about this? Are you concerned for the futures of your children and grandchildren? Will you speak up? Will you vow to vote in every election for the candidates who prioritize caring about the future of the earth? Or will you file this away as something too far out of your control to worry about? If so, that’s understandable. We all feel overwhelmed. But the problems won’t go away on their own.
What Bryan Kohberger did is horrific. I’m certain there are more salacious details yet to be shared, but, quite frankly, I’m tired of reading and hearing his name in the news. I don’t care to “learn” more about these crimes. He’s had more than his 15 minutes of fame. Case closed. Move on.
About $3.4 trillion. That’s the staggering amount that Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, Sen. David McCormick and other Republican legislators voted to add to the national debt when they advanced the “One Big, Beautiful Bill.”
Pardon my confusion, but aren’t these guys supposed to be conservatives? Is it fiscally responsible to create a bill that drastically increases the national debt and the associated financial burden borne by us, our children and our grandchildren?
In his July 24 Town Square article, Rep. Mackenzie presented his reasons for supporting the budget bill. He talked about government reform, a more prosperous country, tax breaks, secure borders and more. He painted a rosy picture about the benefits to be derived from the bill, several of which I am in favor of. Regrettably, he neglected to address the many downsides, including significant health care, nutrition and medical research funding reductions. And he conveniently failed to include any mention of the debt increase. It’s dishonest to omit all of the negative parts when presenting such an analysis to constituents.
