Editorials category, Page 8
Laurels & lances: Careers & cash
Laurel: To forging new paths. High school students spend a lot of time thinking about the future. For some, that’s about preparing for college, applying to schools and choosing a major. The number of students learning new skills to enter the job market when they graduate, however, is growing. According...
Editorial: Don’t let government hide in the shadows
Government should never happen in the dark. We elect our leaders to represent our best interests, to craft laws that protect our communities and to spend our money wisely. All of that has to happen in the sunshine of the public eye for it to be trustworthy. And yet, too...
Editorial: People must be free to speak up safely
On Saturday, Americans exercised their right to gather and their right to speak up. Across the country, No Kings protests blossomed, timed to coincide with the Washington military parade celebrating the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army and President Donald Trump’s birthday. Organizers put the number of protests at more...
Editorial: Republicans may find they need to get behind the ACA
House Republicans’ reconciliation bill seeks to pay for $5 trillion of tax cuts by slashing health care spending, potentially leaving millions of Americans uninsured. The job of averting this self-inflicted disaster now falls to the Senate. The legislation seeks to cut $793 billion from Medicaid, the health program for the...
Editorial: Is Pennsylvania the golf capital of America?
Think about golf, and your thoughts might gravitate toward warm, sunny climes where people retire to spend their days on the links. There’s a reason for that. Florida has the most golf courses at 1,262, according to the National Golf Foundation. The Professional Golfers’ Association is headquartered in Texas. But...
Editorial: Does that star-spangled banner yet wave?
O say can you see, by the dawn’s early light, What so proudly we hail’d at the twilight’s last gleaming From inauguration ceremonies to baseball games to high school graduations and more, those words are used to celebrate the American flag. The national anthem was penned by Francis Scott Key...
Laurels & lances: Good sports & bad road
laurel: To being in the spotlight. Hey, not sure if you heard, but there’s big sports things happening in Allegheny County. No, it’s not baseball. It’s not hockey, although there are rumors of Mario Lemieux and Ron Burkle looking to take back majority control of the Penguins. It’s not football...
Editorial: Senate should pass childhood sexual abuse bills
The Pennsylvania Senate has a job to do. The state House of Representatives passed two bills this week that would allow survivors of child sexual abuse to file lawsuits past the previous lines drawn. One bill frames a two-year window that bypasses “sovereign and governmental immunity retroactively to permit these...
Editorial: What could Medicaid cuts mean for Pennsylvanians?
There is a great deal of attention on what proposed changes to Medicaid could mean. The U.S. House of Representatives has passed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. As it stands, it would cut $723 billion in Medicaid funding to states. The bill is currently in the hands of the...
Editorial: Political parties in Allegheny need to stop infighting
It is common to see politicians in the nation’s capital attack each other with harsh rhetoric. What has become even more commonplace is to see the political parties tear themselves apart like a wishbone pulled in two after Thanksgiving. Pennsylvanians get to watch the ugly spectator sport up close as...
Editorial: Ukraine hits back hard — drone strikes show Russia has plenty to lose
Helmets off to the Ukrainians for giving the Russian aggressors a humiliating black eye and the loss of $7 billion in military hardware using 117 relatively cheap drones. Yes, war is hell and that pain should be felt by the instigators of war (like Vladimir Putin) and not just the...
Editorial: Database would help protect property values and empower municipalities
Blight isn’t interesting. No one wants to talk about abandoned buildings. No one wants to think about old structures left to rot. Those properties already haunt their neighborhoods. Can’t we just ignore them? Yeah, we don’t like to talk about blight, either. So let’s talk about the state taking action...
Editorial: Federal disruption response team may be best way to react
This week has been a carousel of action and information for a program that serves low-income youth and young adults. It started when news broke that the U.S. Department of Labor was hitting the pause button on Job Corps. Job Corps provides residential and nonresidential job training and GED programs...
Laurels & lances: Making changes
Laurel: To a new shepherd. After 18 years leading the Diocese of Pittsburgh, Bishop David Zubik announced his retirement this week. In his place, Pope Leo XIV appointed another Allegheny County native to lead the Catholic flock. The new bishop is Mark A. Eckman, a product of South Hills Catholic...
Editorial: Misidentified patient is a crisis averted
What is an identity crisis? The answers can be varied. Maybe it’s that time in junior high when a kid who loves music and football is trying to figure out if he wants to be on the field for the game or the halftime show. Maybe it’s when a woman...
Editorial: Where does Trump stand on coal mining?
President Donald Trump has been adamant in voicing support for coal mining. From his first campaign, he has talked a lot about the importance of the industry as a domestic energy source. There’s also no underestimating the importance of speaking to coal miners when courting votes. While federal statistics tell...
Editorial: Schools can teach lessons about residential use
Schools are one of those ubiquitous structures that are familiar in every community. Whenever you have kids, you have schools. The evolution of the buildings can be seen in one-room relics, massive brick structures built in the 1930s, the more streamline baby boom buildings, and the newest campuses of recent...
Editorial: Does college still have a purpose in the age of ChatGPT?
For many college students, life is a breeze. Assignments that once demanded days of diligent research can be accomplished in minutes. Polished essays are available, on demand, for any topic under the sun. No need to trudge through Dickens or Demosthenes; all the relevant material can be instantly summarized after...
Editorial: This year is no time for a state budget battle
Pennsylvania Senate President Pro Tempore Kim Ward sounded adamant. “We’re certainly not going to raises taxes,” she said. The Hempfield Republican was speaking at the Westmoreland County Chamber of Commerce “State of the State” breakfast. It was a gathering of government and business leaders, so naturally the topic turned to...
Editorial: Pennsylvania needs a solution for senior care
Pennsylvania has a lot of senior citizens. According to federal records, the state has 2.5 million residents over 65 years old. That’s 19.6% of the state’s population. Only California, Florida, New York and Texas have more, which is unsurprising as they are also the only states with overall populations greater...
Laurels & lances: Musicals & mud
Laurel: To rising stars. On Saturday, the talent and hard work of 34 local schools was celebrated at the Benedum Center with the annual Gene Kelly Awards. It is the oldest regional high school theater awards event in America. It began in 1991 and is named after the Pittsburgh native...
Editorial: Americans should be able to easily e-file their taxes with the IRS for free
For millions of Americans, filing taxes is already a frustrating, time-consuming ordeal. Now a free online tool that promised to make the process easier is under political threat. The Associated Press last month reported the Internal Revenue Service is planning to eliminate its free Direct File tax-filing program, which debuted...
Editorial: Did retired cop deserve a break with drug crime sentence?
In Pennsylvania, committing a crime against a police officer is another crime unto itself. If you physically assault a police officer, you can be charged with assault and assault of a law enforcement officer. The same happens for murder. There is an additional charge for criminal homicide of a law...
Editorial: Republicans need to show work requirements can work
For weeks, Republicans in Congress have been haggling over cuts to Medicaid, the health care program for the poor. Some lawmakers see an opportunity to offset the cost of extending $5 trillion in tax cuts, a priority for the White House. Others worry their constituents could lose access to critical...
Editorial: Now it’s on you, Nippon Steel
On Friday, President Donald Trump pivoted. He dropped his previous opposition to the acquisition of U.S. Steel, a marquee name in the history of American manufacturing, by Nippon Steel, a larger force in metals on the global stage. “This will be a planned partnership between United States Steel and Nippon...
