Editorials category, Page 13

The wish list for Marc Fogel this holiday season is short. Family and friends have a campaign to send him cards. They will go to the Russian prison where he has been sentenced for the 0.6 ounces of medical marijuana he had in his possession when arrested in August 2021....

Laurel: To rebuilding. On Dec. 4, 2021, St. Vladimir Ukrainian Catholic Church in Arnold was gutted by a massive fire that seemed like the end of the 74-year-old house of worship. Two years later, a $2.2 million sanctuary is rising from those ashes. “We rebuild our church, but we are...

The first candle will be lit tonight. As the sun sets, the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah begins — an eight-night celebration of a miracle in a time of war. In the second century B.C.E, a struggle between the Jewish people and the Syrian Greeks resulted in the temple in Jerusalem...

News that Sandra Day O’Connor, the Supreme Court’s first woman justice, had died Friday at 93 caused the Chicago Tribune’s editorial board to recall her visit a decade ago. Although retired since 2006, she politely disappointed the board by holding to the high court’s practice of refusing to comment on...

People incarcerated at the Allegheny County Jail will receive medication for opioid use disorder. The move comes as a result of an agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice and includes a $10,000 payment to an individual who was jailed in Allegheny County and denied the methadone he was receiving...

America’s high schools face a growing crisis: Millions of students who entered ninth grade in the fall of 2020, at the height of the covid-19 pandemic, are set to graduate this spring, with little hope of recovering from the learning loss incurred while schools were shut. Simply put, they’re running...

Violent crime in Pittsburgh has been a talking point in recent years. There have been businesses that have closed because of it. Far too many lives have been lost to it, from children sitting in cars to women waiting for buses. Gun crimes have even happened at the most unexpected...

Taxes are a fact of life. Nobody likes them. Everyone pays them — whether on purchases or income or property. We grumble and grouse, but in the end we know that they are the literal price we pay for being a part of our society. But does it have to...

Laurel: To a little piece of history. Opening a time capsule is like cracking the seal on the past. It isn’t like reading about what happened decades ago. It’s more like getting a call from an earlier version of yourself or taking a ride in a flying DeLorean. It’s a...

Pennsylvania has had trouble getting the job done with education this year. Funding for the various levels of schooling needs to be approved by the Legislature. The governor signs off on it. From there, funding flows into cities and boroughs and townships, doing the job of teaching the next generation...

Going to the hospital involves about as much paperwork as buying a house with a mortgage. You sign for permission to treat. You check a box to acknowledge federal laws regarding data privacy. Another paper details history. One — or more — will document insurance and financial responsibility. Who is...

If you see someone in orange this week, it’s not likely a Bengals or Browns fan, not during hunting season in Pennsylvania. For decades, the Keystone State traditionally celebrated the first day of deer season as not so much holiday as holy day on the Monday after Thanksgiving. That changed...

Here we go again. In 2020, the question of dates became a major part of the ballot counting process. When mail-in ballots were sent in by Pennsylvania voters, they had to be placed in a security envelope. That envelope was then put inside another envelope for mailing. It was part...

Once again, Pennsylvania legislators, judges and elected executives, including Gov. Josh Shapiro, will start the new year with a nice increase in salary. The paychecks in question will go up 3.5% in 2024. That’s downright economical when compared with this year’s 7.8% spike or the 5.6% in 2022. After about...

Pennsylvania seems set to end 2023 the same way it began: with a special election on the horizon. After the 2022 election, the Democrats appeared to have the majority in the House of Representatives. That was only theoretical, as three key seats in Allegheny County needed to go back to...

Between 2018 and 2022, many of the states with high rates of poverty — Oklahoma, New York — were also the states that suffered the most damage from extreme weather. A new climate study indicates things are going to get worse for those places and for poor people. The federal...

Laurel: To a not-so-fond farewell. The Pittsburgh Steelers’ performance on the football field this season has not exactly lived up to the organization’s storied history. It’s an unfortunate reality that has prompted fans to call for heads. They blame quarterback Kenny Picket. They blame head coach Mike Tomlin. But, more...

What are you thankful for? Is it the people who will gather around your table? Is it the ability to provide the food that will fill the plates? Perhaps it is your job or your home. Maybe it is something that makes life a little more enjoyable — a new...

There are certain things that are a part of the pop culture fabric of Thanksgiving. Keep an eye out for local marching bands in the Macy’s parade. Cheer for football — even if we don’t care about Detroit or Green Bay, Washington or Dallas, San Francisco or Seattle. Hold that...

It might seem like politics is utterly binary. It is black and white — or more aptly, Democratic blue and Republican red. The increasingly ugly and polarized divides at every level of government bear that out. People bracing themselves for uncomfortable conversations with relatives on Thanksgiving is another measure. But...

Coeducational learning has a complicated history in America, and it always has. Harvard opened its doors in 1636. It went without saying that this classically English college, intended to educate Puritan ministers, was focused solely on teaching men. The University of Pennsylvania was the first college in the Keystone State....

Pennsylvania residents should expect a certain degree of openness from the institutions that serve them. Lawmakers should not just debate legislation openly, but they also should be crystal clear about the funding that keeps them in office. Counties and municipalities should govern in the light of day. School district decisions...

Laurel: To having a plan. It was almost a year ago that the Second Avenue Commons shelter opened in Pittsburgh, providing an option for homeless residents to stay warm and protected from the elements. Within days, Allegheny County announced the facility had hit capacity. The obvious need made it concerning...

Pensions for state employees and teachers have been a wrench in the gears of Pennsylvania government for decades. In 2001, Gov. Tom Ridge signed a law that expanded pensions for those employees by 25% — and even more for state lawmakers. He was thrilled to do it, saying it was...

Sometimes the names of things have to change because they just don’t fit the information anymore. The term “shell shock” was created during World War I to explain the symptoms of soldiers suffering from a constellation of symptoms suffered in the wake of battle. As more became known about the...