Editorial: Transparency matters on ICE agreement
Did Springdale do the right thing in signing an agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement without voting publicly or placing it on an agenda? It is hard to say yes, even if you agree with the partnership. For one thing, it wasn’t just hidden from residents. Springdale Manager Terry...
Editorial: Grand juries work but require restraint
More than 30 years ago, an investigating grand jury last sat to hear and deliberate evidence in Westmoreland County. That was in the 1980s when prosecutors were exploring allegations of law enforcement misconduct in North Huntingdon. After careful review, the grand jury recommended charges against the police chief and others...
Editorial: Against the dark of violence, candles provide light
There are certain places in the world that will forever be associated with stunning acts of violence. On Sunday, another pin was placed in that map. At least 15 people were killed when gunfire ripped across Australia’s Bondi Beach, where people gathered to celebrate the start of Hanukkah, the Jewish...
Editorial: High suicide rate among seniors is a tragedy for entire community
While many people will be enjoying the next few weeks surrounded by friends and family, many of our neighbors will be isolated, especially those in their senior years. This isolation can contribute to depression and other disorders, which in turn can contribute to the rising levels of suicide or suicide...
Editorial: Oversight starts with receipts but shouldn’t stop there
When public money is spent, the people deserve to know the ins and outs. It’s encouraging to see Harrisburg lawmakers on this particular bandwagon. The state Senate Intergovernmental Operations Committee opted Tuesday to issue subpoenas to detail the full extent of taxpayer money used to cover certain work at Gov....
Editorial: Rough water ahead for Pittsburgh’s 2026 budget
Is Pittsburgh’s spending plan for 2026 in good shape — or is it steering into the rocks? “I’m not denying a thin margin for error,” said Jake Pawlak, deputy mayor under Mayor Ed Gainey and head of the Office of Management and Budget. A “thin margin for error” is not...
Laurels & lances: Selling & settling
Laurel: To opening doors. The announcements about Pittsburgh hosting the 2026 NFL Draft were filled with predictions about the opportunities for area businesses. Those predictions started to pay off this week as Pittsburgh vendors had the chance to get in on the conversation. The NFL’s Source Program brought local entrepreneurs...
Editorial: Penn State choices made union push inevitable
Penn State faculty are not unionized. That could change soon. If the university’s leadership doesn’t like that, it’s their own fault. The Penn State Faculty Alliance turned in thousands of union authorization cards to the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board. While imprecise, that’s still a considerable chunk of the university’s 7,498...
Editorial: A child wasn’t protected. The law must change
Renesmay Eutsey was supposed to be kept safe. That is why she was removed from the care of her mother, Christina Benedetto, in 2019 when she was 3. It’s why she was placed with Benedetto’s cousin, Sarah Shipley, and her biological father’s cousin, Kourtney Eutsey, and why she would eventually...
Editorial: $3 million moonlighting failure leaves Pittsburgh in the dark
Pittsburgh police have been over budget for years, particularly regarding overtime. Mayor Ed Gainey’s proposed budget all but ignores the cost of overtime in a manner that, frankly, makes no sense. Go to any pizza shop, corner store, hospital or university, and keeping overtime under control is a priority for...
Editorial: In praise of the handwritten Christmas card
We’ve all come to dread checking the mail. And not just when property taxes are due. Most of the year, the only post we get is bills, which are depressing, or advertisements, headed straight for the trash. Our mailboxes, once filled with interest and promise, have become a breeding ground...
Editorial: What’s the future of health care independence?
In 2022, Excela Health announced a merger with Butler Health System. It was all about taking the two organizations and giving them “the requisite scale to accelerate and elevate its relevancy … in the region’s highly competitive health care marketplace.” That public-relations speak could be interpreted as allowing the hospitals...
Editorial: Colleges can build big without begging for cash
Oh, those college expenses. There are those big ideas of what it will be like. It’s all freedom and independence until financial reality sets in. Then the calls start to come about borrowing money. No, this isn’t about your sophomore psychology student wanting to use that emergency credit card. It’s...
Laurels & lances: Contracts & consequences
Laurel: To getting things done. When it comes to labor contracts, we have all become accustomed to hearing things come down to the wire — or beyond. How many union and employer deals can go months or even years without resolution while things hang in limbo or head into strike...
Editorial: Could AI be the new Twinkie defense?
People accused of crimes have laid the blame at a variety of doorsteps to excuse — or at least explain — what happened. John Hinckley Jr. said it was the movie “Taxi Driver” and his obsession with a young Jodie Foster that prompted his assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan in...
Editorial: A budget failure doesn’t earn a pay raise
For most people, getting a raise is not a given. It is also a process. You have a performance evaluation. Your whole scope of work over the last year is reviewed. Did you meet expectations? Did you exceed them? What were your strengths? Did you work well with your team?...
Editorial: Fire hydrants are critical infrastructure
A fire hydrant is part of the landscape, something your eye may just slide past. Like a light post or mailbox, it is expected to be just off the curb of a street. That makes them easy to ignore or to forget — unless, of course, you need one. But...
Editorial: Canada measles outbreak shows that vigilance must not slip
The next outbreak of serious disease is merely “a plane ride away,” public health officials have long warned. The current crop of measles cases in Canada proves that point. A traveler infected with measles visited a New Brunswick community with a low vaccination rate, sparking a national outbreak in 2024....
Editorial: School funding, cyber charter oversight are state-created problems
Education is built on the basics. ABCs become words, then sentences, then books. Counting becomes adding, then long division, then algebra. If you don’t get a good grounding at the primary level, everything gets harder until the learning process falls apart with the advanced material. That might be the issue...
Editorial: Exploratory studies are smart, but crushing college debt isn’t
What do you want to be when you grow up? The older students get, the more complicated the answer can become. By the time they graduate high school, plenty of young adults don’t have a grasp on what their next act might be. Many pick a college but not a...
Laurels & lances: Fossils & fees
Laurel: To finding an icon. When you think about mascots, you think about the kind that wear exaggerated cartoon suits at a sports venue. We have those covered with the Pirate Parrot, Iceburgh and Steely McBeam. But Pittsburgh has other mascots — the inanimate kind that are more like landmarks....
Editorial: What does Thanksgiving mean to you?
Thanksgiving is not just a day off and a big dinner. We tell ourselves that it is a uniquely American holiday. It may seem like that, the way it is based in our Plymouth Rock origin story. It comes to us wrapped in the trappings of turkey and stuffing, the...
Editorial: Why should a transit authority have to pay for the privilege of being heard?
In a representative democracy, the people pick their lawmakers. The lawmakers then decide what laws to enact. Over time, there has been an added layer. Lobbyists go to the lawmakers to advocate for their causes. Sometimes those causes are for things like cancer research or the environment. Sometimes they are...
Editorial: For too many American kids, math isn’t adding up
Math scores in the U.S. have been so bad for so long that teachers could be forgiven for trying anything to improve them. Unfortunately, many of the strategies they’re using could be making things worse. It’s a crisis decades in the making. In the early 20th century, education reformers including...
Editorial: Big money, big batteries and big questions
A manufacturing company wants to expand. It makes announcements. And when the big news comes, there is another disclosure. The federal government is along for the ride. That might sounds like the U.S. Steel-Nippon Steel deal that included a “golden share” specifically controlled by President Donald Trump. It also describes...
