Editorials category, Page 3
Editorial: Most Americans don’t think Democrats or Republicans care about them
We spend a lot of time talking about the problem of polarization in today’s politics. If you get down to it, however, most of that happens, well, at the fringes — either end of the pole, if you will. What’s more normal, in our experience, is for the average American...
Editorial: Pa. Supreme Court retention is historically brutal fight
People talk a lot about “election years.” When they use that term, they usually mean the presidential elections that roll around every four years. Perhaps they mean the midterms — the largely legislative elections that come up every two years. Maybe they mean the years when gubernatorial elections are held...
Editorial: The people have a right to know about government settlements
Legal settlements can be a locked box of information. In September, Reuters reported Tesla settled two cases regarding California crashes involving Autopilot software weeks after a $243 million award in a Florida case. Details in the California settlements were confidential. When it comes to a corporation, keeping details quiet can be...
Laurels & lances: Fame, shame & hope
Laurel: To shining stars. On Monday, the Pittsburgh Walk of Fame was unveiled on Smallman Street in the Strip District. The inaugural class of honorees featured 10 people who have shaped the history and culture of the region, from investigative journalist Nellie Bly and industrialist Andrew Carnegie to baseball great...
Editorial: Enough finger-pointing. Pass a budget
The Pennsylvania Senate on Monday passed a bill to let winners of large lottery prizes remain anonymous. The bill now moves to the House for consideration. It’s a good idea. The Pennsylvania Lottery awards a number of big-ticket prizes every year, from Powerball jackpots to the Millionaire Raffles to scratch-offs....
Editorial: Naloxone in high schools could save kids’ lives
Opioid addiction doesn’t care how much money you make or where you live. It doesn’t respect ethnicity or skin color or political party. It does not draw a line at age. The addiction epidemic that has washed over the United States like a wave in the last decades has hit...
Editorial: SNAP shutdown starves more than the poor
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program is the modern incarnation of what was originally called food stamps. The program was born during the Great Depression, when feeding families was a challenge on a broad scale. It was reconceived in the 1960s. President John F. Kennedy moved forward with a pilot program...
Editorial: UPMC and AHN are growing their networks. Is that good?
The human body is made up of assorted clusters of material. Cells combine to create tissues that can specialize into organs and work together in systems. That’s how we get cardiac tissue making up a heart that drives the cardiovascular system. The health care world can be similar. Doctors and...
Editorial: Health insurance subsidy discussions cannot wait
Sometimes if you just wait, a situation will change. Maybe the forest fire will burn itself out. Maybe the floodwaters will recede. Maybe the storm promised by the weatherman will veer off and unleash its fury elsewhere. That can happen. It does happen. But it doesn’t always happen. That’s part...
Editorial: Rape crisis centers must be supported
A rape crisis center is a kind of sanctuary. Not in the sense of a holy place or a house of worship. It is more a place of refuge in a storm of uncertainty. These centers offer close and personal service, providing advice and information, counseling or support for those...
Laurels & lances: Laid to rest & laid off
Laurel: To a final resting place. On Sunday, a funeral took place in Ross. A World War II soldier was laid to rest. This is increasingly rare as the veterans of the 1940s have thinner ranks every year. But this funeral wasn’t for an old man who remembered the war....
Editorial: Death penalty decisions must be based on evidence
The death penalty is divisive. Support for and opposition to it is not as easy as political party or position. It is all over the map. There are people with firmly held convictions about crime and law enforcement who draw a line when it comes to capital punishment. There are...
Editorial: Penn State cares more about coaching than campuses
Penn State has firmly held priorities. But are they the ones the university wants people to believe? The football team came into the season with the highest rank it has ever held to start the year; it was No. 2, right behind Texas and ahead of longtime rival Ohio State....
Editorial: Despite threats of violence, the Supreme Court can’t let fear shape its judgments
The Red Mass, a longstanding tradition marking the start of the U.S. Supreme Court’s term, brings judges, lawyers and public officials together at Washington’s St. Matthew’s Cathedral to pray for wisdom and moral clarity in the administration of justice. Since the 1950s, this ecumenical service — welcoming for people of...
Editorial: Increasing grocery prices hurt everyone
There are things we can stretch when money is tight. That pair of shoes might have to last another month or two. Replacing the tires could wait until you get your tax return. This electric bill could get shoved in a drawer until next time, even though it will be...
Editorial: Does Walmart need your money to rip down the Monroeville Mall?
Walmart is the largest retailer in the United States. You might think most of what is bought and sold in America is filtering through Jeff Bezos and his Amazon website, but you would be wrong. According to international professional services company Deloitte, the Arkansas-based superstore pulled in $648 billion in...
Laurels & lances: Fixing up & tearing down
Laurel: To restoration. Outside the VFW Post 92 in Lower Burrell stands a piece of history. It’s a Vietnam-era helicopter, the kind that carried service members, rescued the wounded and took enemy fire in battle. It stands there as a kind of memorial to those who served in those actions...
Editorial: This shutdown is as pointless as all the others
With funding expired, new appropriations bills stalled and progress on a stopgap nonexistent, Congress has for the 15th time since 1981 allowed the federal government to shut its doors. Don’t expect this round to be any more edifying than the others. Republicans want to extend current spending levels until November,...
Editorial: There is more than 1 way to show up at the polls
Politics is ugly. Elections can be the worst expression of that ugliness. In recent years, the voting process has become riddled with skepticism, distrust and hostility. But does it have to be? Is there a way to get back to a place where we not only do our duty in...
Editorial: The end of national retail at Pittsburgh Mills
Another one bites the dust. In this case, it’s another national retailer bidding farewell to the Pittsburgh Mills mall. This time it’s Bath & Body Works, the fragrance and personal care shop that has been as critical to the operation of every mall as a pretzel stand since 1990. Have...
Editorial: Ultimately, Comey case will rise or fall on the evidence
Nine years ago, progressives wanted James Comey strung up in the public square. Today, he’s their cause celebre. How times change. In 2016, Democrats lambasted the then-FBI director for going public days before the presidential election with potentially damaging details on the probe into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private...
Editorial: Gainey’s sloppy budget proposal gets a bad grade
Sometimes kids put off their homework too long. That book report seems like it’s a million years away. There’s plenty of time to read the book, think about it, highlight what’s important, come up with a theme to discuss, write up the argument, edit it, rewrite the report and turn...
Editorial: What is the point of a fight in the Pennsylvania state House?
Every day is a new fight in Harrisburg. Lately, it’s been about the three-months-overdue budget. Discussions on the contentious spending plan are an all-too-familiar battleground. It’s a long-running soap opera that has gotten even more dramatic as the political lines become more deeply etched. Pennsylvania is one of just 12...
Laurels & lances: Food & fear
Laurel: To more on the menu. Western Pennsylvania shoppers will have more grocery options with Wegmans and Meijer coming in. Despite the ubiquitous presence of Giant Eagle plus Walmart, Shop ’n Save and Aldi locations, the area has “one of the most acute shortages of supermarket chains anywhere in the...
Editorial: County meetings canceled, latest casualty of Pennsylvania budget battle
The Pennsylvania budget impasse isn’t the gift that keeps on giving. It’s the thief that keeps on taking. The three-month-long delay in a state spending plan is a dammed-up financial river that has rippling repercussions throughout the agencies downstream. Counties are conduits for money from the state to put into...
