Laurel: To the gift of fitness. Firefighters need to stay in shape. They have to be physically able to haul hoses, climb ladders, carry incapacitated people, swing axes and do it all wearing almost 50 pounds of gear. You can’t do that without making exercise a priority.

And so a recent donation is not only a boon to the Jeannette Fire Department but also to the community it serves. Planet Fitness on Route 30 by Westmoreland Mall presented the department with three pieces of exercise equipment: an Arc Trainer, an elliptical and a spin bike. The equipment was available after recent upgrades at the gym.

Just one piece will be in use initially while others are stored, waiting for a long-anticipated new station to replace the outdated and problem-ridden 1927 facility connected to city hall. A $1.2 million federal grant for that replacement was announced in April 2022.

Perhaps seeing such community support for the project can nudge it along faster.

Lance: To a ballooning bill. Freeport residents are used to receiving a sewage bill of about $50 per quarter.

On Monday, council approved a bond issue to finance a $18.6 million sewage treatment plant. The bond issue is for up to $8.9 million, although the actual issue is expected to be between $6 million and $6.5 million.

Remaining funding is a mixture of state and federal support — most from an $11 million PennVEST no-interest loan. No interest is a good thing, but loans, like issued bonds, need to be paid.

For Freeport residents, that will mean an estimated 80% increase in their sewage rates. New bills will be about $90.

It’s a necessary project, but the bill is still going to be a real blow.

Laurel: To a mystery solved. Too often, a missing person report has a tragic ending, like Sherri Keefer, 60, of Robinson, who was last seen in Pittsburgh’s Brighton Heights neighborhood in December. She was found dead Sunday in Bellevue.

But the family of Patricia Kopta has had a different ending to their 30-year saga.

The Ross woman went missing in 1992. Authorities announced last week that she was confirmed to be alive in an adult care home in Puerto Rico. Before her disappearance, she was a street preacher known as “The Sparrow” who was hospitalized with signs of schizophrenia. Today, she is 83 and has dementia. She was identified through DNA.

The circumstances are not a joyous family reunion. It is a complicated situation that still has blind turns and questions covering three decades. But Kopta’s case has a conclusion many missing person cases don’t — one that doesn’t involve an obituary.

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