For most, the holiday hoopla is over.

In the last 12 months, we’ve had our share of good and bad times here in our region.

Pennsylvania will raise the legal age to purchase tobacco to 21 on July 1. It's the right call.

Pennsylvania will raise the legal age to purchase tobacco to 21 on July 1. It's the right call.

If it weren’t for the existence and spread of Chronic Wasting Disease in Pennsylvania’s deer population, especially in this part of the commonwealth, last Saturday’s opening of the firearms deer season would have had virtually no major concern besides the always important issue of safety.

The two studies Pennsylvania is undertaking to look at the health impacts of hydraulic fracturing are welcome and necessary.

Sometimes, it can feel like we skid through life by the skin of our teeth, busy beyond what we can handle.

Not until early 2020 will motorists who violate Pennsylvania work zone speed limits experience lighter wallets and pocketbooks under provisions of Act 86 of 2018, which authorizes speed cameras in highway construction and repair areas.

Especially at major powers in the collegiate sports world, purely amateur athletics has been a myth for many years. Under-the-table gifts by well-to-do boosters have ensured that.

Those who feel passionately about a conviction certainly have a right to do so.

Most Social Security recipients are rightly disappointed in the 1.6 percent cost-of-living increase that they will be receiving in 2020.

As municipalities prepare for the annual Halloween festivities, with trick or treating at the top of the list for many area children anxiously awaiting the opportunity to be in disguise and collect a sugary bounty, safety should remain a top priority for everyone.

Speeding up the pardons process in Pennsylvania for low-level drug offenses is the right thing to do.

Another fall season is upon us in its typical fashion of conjuring up all things pumpkin spice. Of course here in Western Pennsylvania, we have the opportunity to watch the leaves turn from healthy green to vibrant shades of orange, yellow and red.

U.S. Attorney Scott Brady said last week that 15 defendants in cases involving the exploitation of children have been charged, pleaded guilty or were sentenced in recent weeks.

The odds are pretty good that the winner of the 2020 presidential election will be over 70. We shouldn't let age be a factor in choosing who we vote for.

Despite the president's assertions, the coal industry is not coming back. We would be better off embracing the possibilities that come with renewable sources of energy.

A teen in the United Kingdom lost his eyesight to nutritional optic neuropathy, a condition most often seen in countries where nutritious food and the ability to eat a varied diet isn’t plentiful.

What is the cost of a crisis?

Despite agreement across Pennsylvania that bullying in schools is a problem that needs much more preventive action, it is hard to imagine that proposals being prepared by state Rep. Frank Burns, D-Johnstown, will achieve passage without formidable challenges.