particularly people of color<\/a> \u2014 are lactose intolerant, making cow\u2019s milk an unsuitable choice for many children. At the same time, nutritious plant-based milks such as soy, oat and pea are widely available and can meet students\u2019 nutritional needs without excluding those who cannot digest dairy.<\/p>\nSchools should provide meals that are healthy, inclusive and reflective of today\u2019s diverse student population. Continuing to prioritize dairy over plant-based alternatives ignores both public health and the growing demand for more compassionate food choices.<\/p>\n
If we truly want school nutrition programs to serve every child, plant-based milk should be treated as a standard option \u2014 not an afterthought.<\/p>\n
\u2014 Alex Munchen, Allentown<\/p>\n
AI will not replace character<\/p>\n
As major news organizations seek legal sanctions against OpenAI for allegedly hiding evidence related to copyright lawsuits filed against the company, we are reminded of a critical truth: technology is rapidly changing our world, but it can never replicate human character. Character cannot be coded. It is forged through empathy, integrity and moral choices. As Lehigh Valley schools and businesses adapt to automation, we must remember that technological efficiency cannot replace the human qualities that hold a community together. As a letter carrier, I see this daily. No algorithm can replicate the trust built through a simple greeting or a shared concern for a neighbor. No AI system delivers mail with a genuine sense of duty, pride or community responsibility. Similarly, in my volunteer work with the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, I witness people uniting through shared values like compassion and service. When we feed the hungry or clean local parks, our actions are driven by conscience, not computation. The tools we use are only as good as the human choices behind them. As AI grows more powerful, our greatest strength won\u2019t be how closely we mimic machines, but how deeply we preserve our character. It is character, not code, that sustains us.<\/p>\n
\u2014 Farid Ahmad, Easton<\/p>\n
Natural gas impact fee helps Pa. counties<\/p>\n
Pennsylvania\u2019s natural gas impact fee is a tremendous resource for our counties. Each year, every county in the commonwealth benefits from the proceeds of this fee (which is essentially a tax on the industry). Since its inception, the fee has generated more than $2.88 billion. That money has been distributed to counties to help fund important local projects and has also been put towards key environmental programs.<\/p>\n
For more than a decade, this fee has done exactly what it was intended to do \u2013 generate funds to go directly back to local communities. It is truly a fee that benefits every part of the state, every year.<\/p>\n
Act 13 funding has been provided to all 67 counties, including Lehigh County, to fund community projects in areas including, but not limited to: greenways and trails, parks and recreation facilities, watershed restoration, flood-control projects, sewage and water infrastructure, and highway and transportation.<\/p>\n
And the good news is, it is not going anywhere. It will continue to generate funds for decades to come. In fact, as new gas wells come online, they will contribute to the overall revenues, further cementing the fee\u2019s benefits for the foreseeable future. This is a win-win for Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n
\u2014 Antonio Pineda, Whitehall Township<\/p>\n
Thank you to doctors and staff<\/p>\n
A huge thank you, from my family, for Dr. Eliott Friedman (oncologist) and his staff and Dr. Dennis Sopka (radiation oncologist) and his staff at Lehigh Valley Topper Cancer Institute for their dedication, teamwork and positivity in treating my wife\u2019s cancer. We are certainly fortunate to have such dedicated doctors and staff working in our area.<\/p>\n
I would also like to thank the doctors and all the nursing staff in the K-2 ICU for their care, concern and honesty while she was in their care. Although the outcome was not what we had hoped, their compassion shown not only to my wife but to my entire family was incredible. I am sure their job is not an easy one, and that my wife was not a singular example, but for me and my family it felt personal and we appreciated it.<\/p>\n
Thank you all.<\/p>\n
\u2014 Joe Scull, Coopersburg<\/p>\n
Op-ed contains data error<\/p>\n
I just read the article by Ettore Angelo regarding his opinion on the use of the \u201cwealth tax\u201d in Lehigh County. If what he stated were true as it relates to the proposed tax, the tax might be considered acceptable. However, Mr Angelo quoted an incorrect percentage in the article. He stated that the tax would be \u201c.004% of the wealth.\u201d Not bad \u2013 that only amounts to $40 on $1,000,000. The proposal, however, is .4% not .004%, which amounts to a tax of $4,000 per $1,000,000. That is quite a difference.<\/p>\n
\u2014 Trent Stehr, East Allen Township<\/p>\n
The Morning Call publishes letters from readers online and in print several times a week. Submit a letter to the editor at letters@mcall.com<\/a>. The views expressed in this piece are those of its individual author(s), and should not be interpreted as reflecting the views of this publication.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Story brings back good memories The July 7 article by Lindsay Weber about proposed upgrades to Franklin Park…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":816,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[119,121,120,433,434,1559,28],"class_list":["post-247084","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-allentown","tag-allentown","tag-allentown-headlines","tag-allentown-news","tag-lehigh-county","tag-northampton-county","tag-opinion","tag-pennsylvania"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247084","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=247084"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247084\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/816"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=247084"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=247084"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=247084"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}