Let’s pump the brakes a little bit. Data from the Pennsylvania State Police shows an alarming trend.

The death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg last Friday immediately brought back memories of 2016, when Republicans blocked President Barack Obama’s nomination of Merrick Garland following Justice Antonin Scalia’s death in February, nearly nine months before the election.

Many of us still remember the milkman.

At last count, two Danville Area High School students and someone in a kindergarten classroom tested positive for COVID-19.

A tip of the cap to members of Susquehanna University’s football team, who are finding a creative and positive way to spend their time this fall and making an impact in the community they are calling home during their college years.

The level of disrespect for our neighbors seems to grow daily and it has to stop.

We commend Sunbury Administrator Jody Ocker for speaking out about what she describes as an unprofessional, ineffective, unproductive, inappropriate and demeaning climate within the city’s administrative offices.

Valley school districts are doing the right thing by expanding the ways they offer food to students in a time when more and more students aren’t in school daily.

Through all of the disruptive effects generated by the COVID-19 pandemic this year, it is remarkable that highway construction crews are keeping the projected opening of the northern section of the Central Susquehanna Valley Transportation (CSVT) bypass project on target to open in 2022.

Bucknell and Susquehanna universities, including faculty, staffers, and especially students, seem to have done a good job managing a return to campus during a global pandemic. These communities deserve praise because that isn’t the case everywhere.

Dave Noblit didn’t have to drop out of a plane 5,000 feet up to earn the respect of fellow veterans.

Gov. Tom Wolf’s inconsistency on protocols for restaurants and bars amid COVID-19 frustratingly continued this week. Business owners, who see the weather slowly starting to turn colder in a shift that will limit outdoor dining, are justifiably frustrated.

Nineteen years and for many of us it still feels like yesterday. It always will, each year when Sept. 11 arrives on the calendar.

It’s not often that we have an opportunity to report that a piece of legislation received bipartisan, unanimous approval, but all is good when there is complete agreement that rural areas of Pennsylvania deserve reliable, fast internet service.

Officials at Susquehanna University are proactively searching for any hint of the COVID-19 virus on campus, investing $500,000 on an early-warning wastewater testing system.

Most Valley school students have returned to class and those in the Mifflinburg and Lewisburg school districts will be going back this week.

Traditionally, Labor Day weekend marks the end of summer, an occasion for family gatherings and perhaps a bit of rest and relaxation.

September is Hunger Action Month and officials tasked with helping fill considerable gaps in food insecurity are highlighting the outlets available to help offset the unprecedented need during the COVID-19 pandemic and the continued economic downturn.

Andrew Twiggar, one of the driving forces behind the planning of a new hotel in Shamokin, said the fact that nearly everyone has a GPS at their fingertips has, to some degree, eliminated the long-held belief that location is everything in business and real estate.

Wear a mask.

We haven’t seen many school buses over the past five months, but as school districts continue to open this month, all motorists must remember and adhere to traffic laws that help ensure the safety of all children and other drivers.

Pennsylvania officials are carefully and methodically allocating hundreds of millions of dollars in CARES Act funding, including a vital announcement last week of $117 million to help day care centers survive. 

A proposal to build a solar panel field on a 1,000-acre site adjacent to a coal-fired power plant near Washingtonville offers an illustration of the kind of energy production diversity most experts agree we need to continue meeting our electrical power needs in the years ahead.

You don’t know the things Jane Graham and her Danville sewage treatment plant employees see.

War is a terrible thing. What is taken, in terms of lives and time, can never be replaced. The losses are immeasurable.

Bloomsburg University became the first Valley college to pull the plug on in-person instruction this week. It is our hope the communities at Bucknell and Susquehanna universities can insolate the students more effectively as the semesters kick into high gear.

No one knows right now, at least publicly, what brought COVID-19 into the Milton Rehabilitation and Nursing Center. The time will come when we learn that information, including the how, why and, perhaps, even who.

School district superintendents, the education professionals who are striving to make the best decisions for the health and safety of students returning to school this fall, should have full access to all data gathered by the state Department of Health on the coronavirus situation.

Sunbury officials were right to pull the plug on Monday’s public meeting when it quickly became apparent public participation was unlikely.

It’s appropriate that federal CARES (Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security) Act funding has been allocated to assist the hard-working farmers here in the Susquehanna Valley and across the state because we all should care about their economic stability and success.

There have been many disappointments this year as beloved events and activities have fallen victim to the more important mission of protecting health and safety by mitigating the spread of the coronavirus, but the decision to cancel the Pennsylvania Farm Show as an in-person gathering in Jan…

Nothing will look, feel or be normal as students slowly begin to return to school in the Valley and across the nation.

We learned Friday that high school sports will be played in the Valley and in some parts of Pennsylvania this fall. We are glad those who have spent the last few weeks and months preparing will at least get that opportunity.

On Oct. 11, 2019, the following paragraph led a Daily Item editorial in this very space: It has been 663 days, nearly two years, since Dr. Raymond Kraynak was charged by federal officials on 12 counts of illegal distribution or dispensing and five counts of illegal distribution or dispensing…

Marketing existing properties to potential buyers requires a mix of persistence and patience, and a team of city, regional, state and corporate leaders are doing their best to prove they are up to the task as they work to find new occupants for the former Glen Raven Custom Fabrics and Sunbur…

Starting with the understanding that what we know about COVID-19 changes almost daily, it is ridiculous that officials from the state’s departments of Education and Health are still presenting updated guidance for schools to reopen.

Economic shutdowns tied to the coronavirus pandemic this year have devastated many small businesses, and owners should feel no qualms about seeking financial assistance from federal and state programs designed to compensate for some of the unexpected and uncontrollable losses.

Maybe it’s procrastination.

It has taken longer than expected and anyone wanted, so it is more than welcome news to learn of another tenant on the way to Union County’s Great Stream Commons.

Under the cloud of the coronavirus pandemic, this has clearly been one of the most unique political seasons leading up to a presidential election, but a series of events set for the next few weeks promise to re-energize campaigns ahead of the Nov. 3 general election.

Data released by the U,S. Census Bureau this past week shows we are running behind on the work needed to complete the once-a-decade count of the population — a critical mission that is scheduled to wrap up by Sept. 30.

Anything that leads to more transparency in government, and especially in law enforcement, is a good way to prevent abuse — or erase any question of abuse.

Susquehanna University officials are taking a reasonable, sound and deliberate approach to bring students back to campus in the next few weeks.

There can be power in numbers, which is why it makes so much sense for Valley counties to partner in a regional economic development agency.

It was only a matter of time. Still, the trend of people aggressively overreacting to wearing a mask when required by businesses or medical centers is deeply concerning.