Editorials category, Page 33

Smile, you’re on camera. When it comes to being caught on tape, people can have mixed reactions. There are the those who want areas with high crime potential — like public parks or transportation hubs — to have cameras to help track down offenders or discourage opportunistic threats. Others are...

The best you can say about the Pennsylvania Legislature’s move on the budget is that it was quick. That is, if you can call something quick when it’s more than a week late. On Thursday, seven days after the budget was due, the House finally passed a spending plan with...

When it comes to an emergency, it might seem that the most important thing is speed or equipment or expertise. It isn’t. When there is danger or when there is risk of death, one thing is more important than anything else: communication. At the most basic, when you are hurt...

Laurel: To a different kind of support. When a kid wants to go to college, financial aid is one of the first considerations. There are athletic scholarships for sports stars. There are academic scholarships for those who excel in the classroom. Even for those who want to go to postsecondary...

We tend to think of accidents as a car crash or a fallen electrical pole — something with physical presence and possibly injury. But accidents happen everywhere, including government and bureaucracy. They might happen more there just because of the volume of people involved. Those can be the ones that...

Government always has to wait for innovation to happen before it can catch up with progress. There was no need for automobile registration before there were cars to register, for example. As utilities have changed, so have regulations for them. With the spread of computers, government’s use of them for...

While the U.S. Supreme Court was making all the big news in recent weeks, the justices weren’t the only ones dropping significant decisions. On Thursday, the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court decided to make some waves of its own. It did so by putting its judicial foot down when it comes to...

WHEN in the Course of human Events, it becomes necessary for one People to dissolve the Political Bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the Powers of the Earth, the separate and equal Station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them,...

The legislative process in Pennsylvania can take awhile. Government, after all, is not just about getting two parties to work together. It’s not even about the governor and the Legislature rowing the boat in the same direction. There is also the challenge of focusing 253 lawmakers on the task at...

Laurel: To celebrating a different kind of commitment. Senior year of high school can mean a lot of attention on next steps for some kids. There are big productions made out of the athletes who accept scholarships to play their sports for marquee colleges. Then there are the brainiacs who...

In 2020, after the murder of George Floyd under the knee of a police officer in Minneapolis ignited protests around the country, the state of Pennsylvania passed a law creating a database of law enforcement personnel records. The purpose was to prevent the shuffling of an officer with disciplinary problems...

In 2019, a list of pay raises in the Pennsylvania governor’s office brought criticism. Gov. Tom Wolf handed out increases to some of his top staffers, ranging from 7.7% to 36%. It wasn’t that anyone questioned the work. People questioned the timing, which came just after the governor’s second inauguration,...

Law can be a patchwork quilt of intersecting and overlapping jurisdiction and authority. Much of what courts do is determine which law takes precedence in a given situation. On Thursday, that was on display in Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas. Lawyers for the City of Pittsburgh countered a request...

Just because you can doesn’t mean that you should. State lawmakers are able to look at issues that matter to them, propose changes and even grind axes. They can have pet projects that they make the focus of their time in office. After all, everyone’s perspective is refracted through the...

The United States Supreme Court certainly gave people something to think about last week. On Thursday, the court delivered a decision on a gun law in the state of New York that required people to demonstrate a need for a weapon in order to receive a concealed carry permit. It...

Every year, the closer we get to the polling stations opening, the more pious the exhortations become. Get out and vote. Do your duty. Show up. You can’t be part of the solution if you aren’t part of the process. The Pennsylvania Legislature has to stop being part of the...

Laurel: To fast action. The June weather has been wild, with both bouts of high temperatures and strong storms. On Wednesday, a powerful thunderstorm came through Southwestern Pennsylvania, leaving its mark on area communities. West Penn Power reported about 12,500 customers without electricity throughout the region early Thursday. Duquesne Light...

“The teacher shortage is real, large and growing, and worse than we thought.” This quote, from an Economic Policy Institute report titled “The Perfect Storm in the Teacher Labor Market,” is not hyperbole. The most surprising thing about it is how prophetic it is. The report was released in March...

Sometimes the best solution is to try to kill two birds with one stone. Pittsburgh City Council is doing that with a proposal to get work done while giving employment opportunities to people who have recently been in jail. The proposal comes from Councilman Ricky Burgess and would partner with...

Will a new formula redistribute state university money in a way that works? The Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education’s governing board unanimously approved the funding proposal on Wednesday. It would follow what seems like an obvious plan, directing the money based on enrollment at what will be 10 universities...

Today is a day to remember fathers. Instead, it seems important to urge everyone to remember kids instead. The littlest children. The ones without words yet. The ones who fall asleep quietly in the back of cars. Dads can take care of themselves. They really don’t need another tie. What...

Homicide is a very clinical name given to the killing of one human being by another. Legally, killings can fall in a spectrum of responsibility. Vehicular homicide, involuntary and voluntary manslaughter, different degrees of murder. They all mean the same thing in the end. One person’s story ends. The drama...

Laurel: To valuable advice. Tim Murphy understands something about stress. Not only is he a licensed psychologist who specializes in psychological trauma, but he is also a former congressman who spent 14 years in Washington and resigned in 2017 amid a sex scandal. On Monday, he spoke at Westmoreland County...

The five-day workweek is a concept that seems like it is knitted into the fabric of our culture. Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. It’s the shorthand for what it means to be in business or to have a job. Weekends are the time we have to ourselves,...

What is it about bikes that causes such friction? There was the push and pull with former Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto that stamped him with the “Bike Lane Bill” moniker for many critics. Now you’ve got people squaring off in Export. Fights might make sense if you were talking about...