Nothing that happens to the Mifflinburg Softball all-stars from here on out will ever ease the pain of having a once-in-a-lifetime dream swept out from under them.

In an effort to highlight the healthy and nurturing value of fresh food, Pennsylvania Secretary of Agriculture Russell Redding set out on a cross-state tour last week to view the crops.

Montour County has had just 45 new cases of COVID-19 since May 1 and just one cumulative new case this month. One of the reasons is that Montour County leads the entire state in the number of the population that is fully vaccinated.

There’s nothing quite like a successful run of a sports team to ignite a buzz in a community. It can happen in the fall when a football team starts the season with a string of wins, or the winter when a basketball team gets to February still unbeaten.

A manufacturing company with a promising future will be moving into the former Sunbury Textile Mills manufacturing plant in Sunbury within the next three to six months with plans to hire about 50 people within its first year of operations.

We missed so much a year ago. Now things are gradually returning and everyone wants normalcy. We feel that too. We think, however, that probably it’s too soon for a global gathering like the Olympics.

Dozens of Valley communities have received a share of federal rescue dollars in the first three rounds of disbursements, funds that come with an increased degree of importance considering the target.

Data released this week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention regarding record numbers of overdose deaths in 2020 is certainly disappointing but not surprising. It will be important moving forward that the deserved focus on this epidemic returns as we continue to emerge from the …

Elected officials are bringing “next generation” emergency communication technology to the region, and that benefits everyone who finds themselves in an emergency and the first responders sent to help.

It is a good thing that Pennsylvania lawmakers want to add increased layers of transparency when the state’s congressional maps are redrawn later this year. It would be a better thing if that increased transparency came with some independent participation at the final stages, where real, las…

Officials at the state Department of Transportation are making an excellent decision to run two full daily work shifts for the construction of the southern section of the Central Susquehanna Valley Thruway (CSVT) bypass project next year, one that extends consideration to area residents and …

You can’t miss the construction growing by the day or the cranes dominating the landscape in Danville. In a former factory, once vacated, Green Thumb Industries is expanding.

The tragedy that unfolded two weeks ago has led all of us to look inward with a simple question: Could what happened at Champlain Towers happen here?

Two Valley United Ways are considering merging into a larger program, a move that almost makes too much sense.

The Sunbury Police Department increased its visibility and level of communication with the residents it protects on July 2, the first day Sunbury Police Officer Aaron Doyle jumped on his bicycle and started pedaling along city streets.

Two important state bills drafted to help support those recovering from substance abuse issues and their families received unanimous endorsement in the state House and Senate and have been signed into law by Gov. Tom Wolf.

Pennsylvania is soon about to open the doors — albeit just a crack — to create some transparency among its policing and in particular how departments hire officers who have previously been flagged for misconduct.

In June, the four Valley counties combined for 146 new COVID-19 cases, a decided shift in the right direction the number of vaccinated residents grows daily.

This weekend the traditional pomp and circumstance of Independence Day return. The vision that John Adams painted almost two and a half centuries ago should be back to as close to normal as anything we have seen in a long time.

Appropriate levels of health care, either for those seeking to fulfill an emergent need or preventative care, are only as good as the access. As The Daily Item and fellow CNHI papers highlighted earlier this year in our expansive investigative piece on rural health care, access remains one o…

At least 18 people were killed and 15,600 people were treated in hospital emergency departments across the nation last year for injuries caused by fireworks.

Selinsgrove Speedway continues to celebrate its 75th anniversary this year with big races, cheering fans and an economic impact that stretches far beyond the borough that houses the track that hosted its first race on July 20, 1946.

Volunteer fire departments in Northumberland, Shamokin and Sunbury are considering the possibilities of consolidations, mergers or partnerships as means to pool resources and build more stable, efficient and vibrant departments to serve their communities.

As more and more people venture out into our downtowns and roads, we are reminded of just how beautiful our region is. We are also reminded, far too often for some people, just how loud our main streets can get.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled this week that a 14-year-old high school freshmen’s vulgar social media outburst after not making her school’s cheerleading team represents protected speech and her suspension from cheerleading by the school district was an overreach.

The benefits of allowing local police to use radar technology to enforce traffic speed limits continue to outweigh the concerns.

Professional football is one of the ultimate meritocracies. That’s why the average career in the National Football League is less than three years. Who you know doesn’t matter. What you did last season is irrelevant. Carl Nassib has earned his way in the NFL and is about to begin his sixth s…

Sometimes, the timing is just right.

Communities need to applaud heroes like Mahoning Township officers George Geise and Garon Fenstermaker, who escorted a Danville resident from a smoke-filled burning building, possibly saving her life late last month.

Juneteenth officially and finally became a national holiday on Thursday. The date — June 19 — commemorates the date 156 years ago Saturday when Union soldiers freed enslaved Black people in Galveston, Texas. It came two months after the Confederacy surrendered and 2 1/2 years after the Emanc…

Good luck to those who envision returning a property just outside of Sunbury to its roots: Providing some much-needed second chances to those who deserve them.

Adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse deserve a vote in the state Senate on whether they will be granted a window of time to file civil lawsuits against their abusers.

Pennsylvania’s Republican-controlled Legislature this past week voted to end Gov. Tom Wolf’s COVID-19 pandemic disaster emergency declaration and extend hundreds of regulatory waivers his administration approved over the past 15 months.

Residents of the Central Susquehanna Valley will miss Joanne Troutman.

Any government funding system based on nearly 30-year-old data will likely generate issues.

As the PRIME renovation and expansion project nears completion at Evangelical Community Hospital, it’s clear that some major forces — including expertise, practicality and consideration for patients and their families — came together in a big way to make it happen.

Negotiators for the Shikellamy School Board and members of the district’s Educational Support Professionals Association were unable to strike an agreement on a new contract Monday night.

In an age in which so many governmental programs are fraught with waste, corruption and politically fueled motivations, it’s refreshing to occasionally come across one offering some basic benefits that reach all the way down to the local street corner or nearby country road.

High school seniors across the Central Susquehanna Valley have been walking in caps and gowns in front of family and friends over the past few weeks with ceremonies in Mifflinburg and Lewisburg yet to come within the next two weeks.

As the economy begins its build-back from the devastating effects of COVID 19, many workers are having difficulty re-entering the workforce. It’s not because jobs aren’t available — how many “Now Hiring” signs do you pass every day? — it’s because too many people, particularly women, are at …

It is good to see bipartisan support in Harrisburg for a law that would force those charged with creating the laws — state legislators — to account for their taxpayer-funded expenses in a way that is easily accessible to the public.

In another sign of normalcy, fans are flooding back into the stadiums and arenas for sporting events across the nation.

County election officials, working with the oversight of elected county commissioners, are responsible for carrying out one of the most important functions of government and society.

The state reported 684 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday with eight right here in the Central Susquehanna Valley. Over the last two data reports from the state Department of Health, there have been fewer than 1,000 cases statewide and 13 locally.

If Karen Gronsky’s dance studio isn’t the most significant gathering place in Danville it ranks near the top.

The unofficial start of summer 2021 hit this weekend and with COVID-19 mitigation easing, it’s easy to sense the normalcy and want to vault in fun, frenzied summer.