Letters to the Editor | March 13, 2025

As the former director of the Lackawanna County Area Agency on Aging (AAA), I couldn’t agree more that improvements were needed in how Pennsylvania oversees protective services at the local level — which is why, since arriving at the Pennsylvania Department of Aging 25 months ago, I initiated sweeping changes including the first major overhaul and upgrade of the department’s monitoring system in decades. The new system, which was implemented in January, will ensure comprehensive and continuous monitoring of services delivered by the AAAs and increase transparency.

Gov. Josh Shapiro has made it clear he supports the rapidly growing older adult population in Pennsylvania and is making certain the commonwealth remains a place where they can thrive in their golden years. That’s why, in 2023, he directed the Department of Aging to produce a 10-year strategic road map to meet the needs of older adults — and why his 2025-26 budget proposal includes $2 million to increase accountability and oversight of the AAA network, and a $20 million investment for those AAAs so they can continue to provide key services to older adults.

On Tuesday, the Department of Aging will unveil its new monitoring system, the result of 22 months of hard work by dedicated public servants, to the legislature in a public hearing. In April, we will begin posting the performance results of the new system on our website for all to see. We hope members of the press will take the time to cover that important news and see how hard the Shapiro administration is working to protect older adults from harm.

Jason Kavulich, secretary of aging

After years of demonizing federal workers and departments as “the deep state” and “unelected bureaucrats,” President Donald Trump has directed the ultimate unelected bureaucrat, Elon Musk, to build a true deep state: A federal government with no transparency or accountability, whose actions cannot be traced or verified. Musk and his posse of heedless young men are rampaging through department after department, firing workers and toying with critical computer systems, then lying about the impact on people in the U.S. and throughout the world. A single example: Late last month, Musk claimed funding for the U.S. Agency for International Development’s (USAID) efforts to stop the Ebola outbreak in Uganda had been “accidentally canceled very briefly” and then restored. That was a lie. As reported in the New York Times, hours later the Trump administration canceled four of its five Ebola-related contracts — despite a federal judge’s Feb. 14 ruling ordering all lifesaving USAID programs to resume after Musk’s agencywide funding freeze.

Musk and his tech bros approach government as the ultimate video game: Eliminate as many federal jobs as you can, kill entire agencies’ programs in a single blow, then decide which you wish to resurrect. Extra points for enriching yourself as you play. This won’t end well.

Shobhana Kanal, Bala Cynwyd

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