Editorials category, Page 18
Laurels & lances: Pirates & pizza
Laurel: To an upside. It gets hard after so many truly dismal seasons to find a silver lining in the black-and-gold storm cloud that is the perennially underperforming Pittsburgh Pirates. It can be even harder when we started the 2024 season with uncharacteristic hope over rookie Paul Skenes and holding...
Editorial: Prioritizing mental health is essential for safeguarding our schools
Americans generally understand the idea of risk and the importance of mitigation. We have fire departments because we like things like Christmas lights, s’mores and deep-fried turkeys, and all of those come with the possibility of danger. We have life insurance because we want our families to be financially secure...
Editorial: Monitoring the most dangerous abusers a good idea
There’s only one question about a bill introduced last year in the Legislature that would allow judges to order electronic monitoring of people subject to protection from abuse orders. Why aren’t we doing this already? It’s in the best interest of the state and public safety to keep tabs on...
Editorial: Are more appeals necessary in Pittsburgh officer’s firing over Taser death?
In October 2021, Pittsburgh police Officer Keith Edmonds had an interaction with a citizen. Jim Rogers was a homeless Black man in his 50s. He matched the description Edmonds was given as he responded to a call about a possible stolen bike. Body camera footage recorded the incident — including...
Editorial: U.N. speeches reflect grim global realities
The world, warned President Joe Biden, is at an “inflection point.” The world, warned U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, “is in a whirlwind.” “Our task, our test,” the president said, “is to make sure that the forces holding us together are stronger than those that are pulling us apart.” Today’s choices,...
Editorial: Is Pennsylvania Board of Higher Education a solution to post-secondary problems?
The University of Pittsburgh has 36 trustees. So does Temple University. Penn State has 39 — 40 if you count the governor’s nonvoting representative. Lincoln University has 38. The Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education has a 20-member board of governors. The system includes 10 state universities. PennWest, with campuses...
Editorial: Extreme weather shows need to work together
Weather doesn’t care about borders. The lines on a map are drawn by people in response to treaties, negotiations and legislation. The border between Allegheny and Westmoreland counties, for instance, is the result of years of history and decision, carefully surveyed and documented. But when rain falls in Tarentum, it...
Laurels & lances: Screening, freezing & suing
Laurel: To feeding information. People can get a lot of things at a food bank. You might expect vegetables, canned goods and pasta. But breast cancer screenings are rarely on the menu. That changed this week when state Senate President Pro Tempore Kim Ward, R-Hempfield, partnered in Allegheny and Westmoreland...
Editorial: Betrayal of trust: Upholding dignity in patient care is paramount
There are few places where people are more vulnerable than in a hospital. When reaching out for medical care, patients have to be open about things they would tell no one else. They discuss the most embarrassing things that happen in the bathroom or in the bedroom. They come clean...
Editorial: Political campaigns pigeon-hole voters at their peril
Miles Jones said he feels a disconnect. “I’ve never really felt seen and heard as a voter,” Jones said. Jones, 29, lives in Pittsburgh’s East Allegheny neighborhood. He is a native of Georgia and strives to be an independent thinker. He says he leans toward liberal positions but feels detached...
Editorial: Haitians are latest group to contribute to Pennsylvania
William Penn called America “the best poor man’s country.” Pennsylvania’s founder saw the opportunities in the colonies as a way for people to build a better life for themselves while building a better community for the betterment of all. The state itself was born to be a safe haven for...
Editorial: A safer ‘net for kids: The Kids Online Safety Act is worth passing
Whether it’s TikTok or Instagram or Snapchat or some yet-to-be-released app sure to enrapture its users, it’s pretty clear — to us, at least — that too many young people are spending too much of their time falling all the way down shallow-yet-deep online rabbit holes designed by profit-hungry companies...
Editorial: There is a better way to find $1 million for the NFL Draft
Government pays for a lot of things people need. Roads. Courts. Schools. These are things that make a community function. They also pay for things people don’t exactly require but that make society better, such as playgrounds and libraries. Then there are the things that come in grayer shades. Philadelphia...
Editorial: Penn State stages another strike at student journalism
On Wednesday night, Penn State took a stand. Actually, it took 35 of them. It removed the newsstand racks and copies of the Daily Collegian from dozens of University Park campus buildings. The university insists this had nothing to do with squelching the independent student newspaper’s First Amendment rights. “The...
Laurels & lances: Sworn in & pleading out
Laurel: To a new start. The Westmoreland County Register of Wills Office has been in chaos for over a year. In January, as Sherry Magretti Hamilton started her third term, the extent of problems in her office began to unfold. County adoptions were months behind in processing. So were filings...
Editorial: Why would Pennsylvania elections need foreign money?
The state Legislature is open to money from almost everywhere. For years, people have pointed out the lack of real restrictions on gifts from lobbyists. Lawmakers tend to listen sagely, nod and promise to consider a gift ban. And that’s as far as it goes. Actually crack down on things...
Editorial: Election officials focused on system integrity
Ideally, the number of noncitizens casting ballots in the United States should be zero. But elections and voter registration are run by human beings, so mistakes are inevitable. The test of any system is not the ideal but how it responds when the inevitable mistakes occur. As we head into...
Editorial: Pennsylvania ballot dating dilemma is a political Groundhog Day
The dating of ballots in Pennsylvania is a Groundhog Day kind of issue. No, we don’t mean that it pops its head up in February and then crawls back into its burrow to finish a long nap. No, we don’t mean that it is a kind of nonsensical, made-up affair...
Editorial: Not a value ad: Google’s ad services monopoly needs to end
This week began the federal antitrust trial against Google for alleged monopolistic practices when it comes to the online advertising space, with the Justice Department contending the company has outsize dominion over what is a lifeline for industries including online publishing. Google, of course, doesn’t see it that way. Google...
Editorial: Gainey misses chance with Fern Hollow announcement
Pittsburgh may be making a payment to the victims of the Fern Hollow Bridge collapse. What a victory for justice. What a ringing endorsement for government accountability. What an absolute bare minimum. The Gainey administration made the announcement Friday in a news release from Pittsburgh Deputy Mayor Jake Pawlak. The...
Editorial: Lifting residency requirement could benefit Westmoreland County
Where you live can often be used as the ticket to an opportunity. Live in the state of Pennsylvania, and you get a better deal on your tuition at a school like the University of Pittsburgh, Penn State or PennWest University. Live in some counties, and you might be able...
Laurels & lances: Solemnity, spotlights & sweets
Laurel: To remembrance. Whether it was the small, local services such as that of Lower Burrell American Legion Post 868 or the larger events at the places where lives were lost, Southwestern Pennsylvania took a moment Wednesday in memory of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. It was that time...
Editorial: Voters decide who won the debate
How do presidential candidates prepare for a debate? Former president and GOP nominee Donald Trump’s team claimed he didn’t do formal debate prep, but reports also say he sharpened his question-and-answer technique with the help of supporters such as Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., and former Democratic presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard....
Editorial: The indelible mark of Sept. 11, 2001
On Sept. 11, 2001, everyone woke up the same splintered, tribal people they were the night before. Americans were Democrats and Republicans. They were liberals and conservatives. They were Catholics and Jews, Methodists and Muslims, Californians and New Yorkers, Pittsburghers and Philadelphians. They aligned by job, by home, by alma...
Editorial: Are cellphone bans the right move for schools?
There are a lot of things kids shouldn’t be using in class. They shouldn’t have guns or knives or bullets. They shouldn’t have drugs or cigarettes or alcohol. They shouldn’t be bringing in anything that distracts from their learning or creates a hostile environment. Some schools have interpreted these ideas...
