Editorials category, Page 54
Laurels & lances: Plays, rides and bugs
Laurel: To curtains going up. All over Allegheny and Westmoreland counties, things are a little dramatic right now. It is the height of spring musical season, and in middle schools and high schools across the region, kids are being nipped by the acting bug. This is the kind of contagion...
Editorial: GOP candidates should embrace better debates
The Republican gubernatorial candidates who are pushing away a real, moderated, journalistic debate are not only doing themselves a disservice but also are doing the same to their party and constituents. On Monday, four members of the jam-packed field of GOP candidates vying for the top spot in Pennsylvania politics...
Editorial: Eagle chicks bring welcome respite worldwide
The popularity of animals on the internet is nothing new. From cats popping out of boxes to miniature goats frolicking in pajamas, the viral videos tend to spread faster than the flu. Make them about baby animals, and the speed increases with the cuteness factor. Everyone loves a puppy, a...
Editorial: Redistricting process needs to be fixed sooner rather than later
With the newly drawn redistricting maps finally setting the lines that will define legislative districts, it is time for people to analyze what the definitions will mean. In Westmoreland County, for example, the people will go from having eight seats in the state House of Representatives to six. While all...
Editorial: Is probation enough for sheriff’s department guilty pleas?
The Westmoreland County Sheriff’s Department under former leadership had a problem. It was a legal problem — namely that a number of its employees were not merely serving documents or escorting prisoners. No, they were facing charges themselves. It started at the top, with then-Sheriff Jonathan Held, who was investigated...
Editorial: Rental assistance needs better messaging
There’s a problem with rental assistance in Pennsylvania. It doesn’t seem to be going where it’s needed. Since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, evictions and rental issues have been a concern as people have worried about making sure they had a place to live while they were...
Editorial: Amazon withdrawal leaves new challenge for Churchill
OK, Churchill, now what? On Thursday, Amazon announced it won’t use the former George Westinghouse Research and Technology Park as a new warehouse and distribution facility. It was an anticipated $300 million investment that brought about passionate debate from locals. Churchill council approved the project — expected to generate up...
Laurels & lances: Cooperating, contaminating, and carrying on
Laurel: To joining forces. Pennsylvania is peppered with lots of municipalities, overlapping with counties and school districts and authorities that all have their own little fiefdoms. The Keystone State is third in the nation when it comes to various local government divisions, with the U.S. Census Bureau putting only Illinois...
Editorial: Prison van prompts petty parking tickets
A little intergovernmental interaction is good for everyone. It can, however, lead to some power struggles where those footprints overlap — especially in capitols. Washington, D.C., can bristle at its subordinate status enough to put its “taxation without representation” beef on license plates. In state and county seats, it can...
Editorial: Glass plant pullout leaves locals drowning in water bills
A business of a certain size does more than just occupy a building and write some paychecks. Its needs and its returns can define a community. There is no better proof of that than what happens when the business leaves. Just ask Tarentum or East Deer. In 2018, the Pittsburgh...
Editorial: Westmoreland County should have played ball with Hempfield
Counties can own a lot of real estate. There is the courthouse. The jail. There may be various other buildings housing things such as public services or district courts. Maybe some parking lots or recreation areas. The Pennsylvania Constitution lets counties buy land or buildings as necessary, provided they don’t...
Editorial: Sunshine Week celebrates transparency
Sunshine Week is an annual March observation that celebrates the importance of shedding light in the darkness. It might seem like a week devoted to journalism. It’s not. The Pennsylvania Sunshine Act spells out the requirements for open meetings. It demands that state agencies, county bodies and local governments —...
Editorial: Why not a state gas tax holiday, Gov. Wolf?
On Monday, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf joined his counterparts in Colorado, Michigan, New Mexico and Wisconsin in appealing to congressional leaders. Minnesota’s governor hopped on the bandwagon later. The problem is the rising gas prices that are making it more expensive by the hour to fill up a tank. When...
Editorial: Taxing students, patients instead of nonprofits is ludicrous
Pittsburgh might have been built by the big-profit industries of steel and coal and glass, but today its economy is driven by high-dollar nonprofits. There are the institutions of higher learning. The University of Pittsburgh is one of the largest in a state full of post-secondary schools. Carnegie Mellon University...
Laurels & lances: Shooting, sentencing and structure
Laurel: To surviving. Oakmont is not the kind of place where a mid-afternoon shooting is commonplace. It was certainly not what Greg Scampone was expecting at the Fox’s Pizza Den he owns on Allegheny River Boulevard. But it’s what happened when the shop was robbed Sunday. A man walked in,...
Editorial: Infrastructure priorities demand plan for success
Failing to plan is planning to fail. Sometimes bumper-sticker-type advice survives for a reason — because it’s true. The saying often ascribed apocryphally to Benjamin Franklin cautions us to know what we are doing before we plunge in headfirst. More than that, it smacks us on the back of the...
Editorial: The real cost of having — or not having — child care
Think about your monthly household bills. It’s something a lot of people are doing as prices go up, especially in some of the areas that take the big bites. Imagine the largest chunks, and you might go right to rent or a mortgage payment. Maybe a car loan. Health insurance...
Editorial: Artificial intelligence is not educational taboo
Science, technology, engineering and math. The importance of these subjects has been evident in the rapid growth and development of new industries — particularly computer-related ones — since the 1970s. However, that importance has only been codified for schools under the acronym STEM since 2001. That was when the National...
Editorial: How important are standardized tests?
The U.S. Department of Education and individual states use test scores in an attempt to quantify the unquantifiable. They try to take the A’s and B’s and quadratic equations and Civil War battles and conjugated verbs and mash them together to determine how students are learning. First proposed in the...
Editorial: Pa.’s college problems not solved by Commonwealth University
Once upon a time in Pennsylvania, every town of a certain size or importance seemed to have its own college. There were reasons for this. Many of these schools were started in the early half of the 19th century, when traveling 30 miles was a long haul. Leaving the old...
Editorial: The balancing act between regulation and condemnation
Allegheny County Health Department levied $859,000 in fines against U.S. Steel this week, citing 2021 violations at the Clairton Coke Works. It isn’t the largest fine the department has hung on the company. In 2019, the company was tagged with a $2.7 million fine. It is, however, significantly larger than...
Laurels & lances: Crises, craters and charity
Laurel: To answering the call. Mental health care is important, and when people reach out, someone needs to be there to offer a helping hand. That is becoming easier as Westmoreland County adds a mobile crisis unit with a $372,000 grant. The addition will come as the new “988” phone...
Editorial: Keep focus on steel promise from State of the Union
You can’t focus on infrastructure without mentioning steel. Build a bridge or dam, and you’re using steel. Build a school or hospital, and it’s part of the process. There is steel in roadways and railroads, ambulances and firetrucks. Steel is the skeleton that supports the body of the nation. So...
Editorial: Discount groceries are more than an inflation problem
Low prices are big business. For years, more low-cost food options have been popping up like mushrooms. They dot urban areas, suburbs, rural landscapes and food deserts. It has been a growth retail area with a long-term plan. Dollar Tree has been adding refrigerator and freezer sections, particularly in areas...
Editorial: Pour one out for Ukraine, but not with Russian vodka
Support comes in lots of forms. You can give money. You can give time. You can sign petitions or attend events or put a sticker on your car. All of these can show where your heart or your head or your sympathies lie. This charity. That movement. This party. That...
