Editorials category, Page 35
Editorial: Warden’s retirement is opportunity to improve performance
It is not surprising that, when coming to the end of a tenure, people tend to focus on the positives. Unless someone is getting fired, you look to the accomplishments more than the defeats. It is like an obituary. It seems only fitting to say goodbye with a bit of...
Editorial: Ohio GOP and Pa. Democrats playing similar game with amendments
In Pennsylvania, an amendment sits in committee that would raise the bar for elected officials to change the state’s constitution. Lawmakers have to vote on proposed amendments in the House and Senate before they are put on a ballot for voters to make a final decision. House Bill 125 asks...
Editorial: Dumping animals dumps responsibility on others
Animals in the wild deserve respect for their place in the environment. Animals in our care deserve the responsibility implied when taking them on. That means humane treatment of working animals or livestock. It also means that animals taken into the family as pets are treated with the same kind...
Editorial: Pennsylvania lawmakers can fix filing fee problem
Now is the time to get a divorce in Pennsylvania. Because of a failure of the state Legislature to pass legislation, a surcharge on court filings has lapsed. The $21.25 fee can’t be charged because the law authorizing it expired Aug. 1. Lawmakers haven’t passed new legislation that would pick...
Editorial: Pennsylvania politics’ annual game of chicken
On Thursday, Pennsylvania Senate President Pro Tempore Kim Ward called her colleagues back to Harrisburg. It was a month after lawmakers left town with the state budget in limbo. It was passed but not signed. Sticking points remained amid a triangle of power between the narrowly Democratic House, the solidly...
Laurels & lances: Working together and online fundraising
Laurel: To working smart. Pennsylvania is a checkerboard of municipalities. That board is overlaid with other grids and maps and boundaries, outlining the divisions of authority and responsibility of hundreds of agencies. It’s a layering that can be criticized as unnecessarily complicated and potentially problematic. One of those arenas can...
Editorial: Pittsburgh synagogue verdict shines light on the enigmatic nature of justice
On Oct. 27, 2018, 11 people were killed in the largest, most savage act of antisemitism in American history. Rose Mallinger. Bernice Simon. Sylvan Simon. David Rosenthal. Cecil Rosenthal. Dan Stein. Irving Younger. Dr. Jerry Rabinowitz. Joyce Feinberg. Melvin Wax. Richard Gottfried. They were observant Jews worshipping with their three...
Editorial: Workforce development should have broad support
When establishing a business location, there are a number of factors to assess. Does this area have the infrastructure to support the company’s needs? Is there real estate that will accommodate things such as equipment, production and shipping? Is the state and local government supportive of the industry? Will there...
Editorial: Does a billion-dollar lottery jackpot make it hard to play responsibly?
For the second time in two weeks, there is a lottery jackpot topping $1 billion. The Mega Millions drawing will be $1.05 billion. It has grown steadily over 15 weeks, with drawings each Tuesday and Friday, as people pay $2 for each line of numbers printed on a small slip...
Editorial: Public really does have right to know
All four Democratic and Republican caucuses in the state House and Senate have staff lawyers, some of whom are paid more than $200,000 a year. Yet, lawmakers spend millions more public dollars to hire outside lawyers. Then senators, especially, thumb their nose at the taxpayers by refusing to disclose why...
Editorial: Cutting support to Daily Collegian shows Penn State doesn’t value information
Every day, Penn State students hoping to go pro step onto the field of play, pick up the ball and run with it. They score big, and more than a few have gone on to win major awards as a member of amazing teams. But the university’s board of trustees...
Editorial: Bringing Marc Fogel home is Biden’s job
The different branches of government have roles that are well defined, especially between the first two mentioned in the U.S. Constitution. The legislative branch makes the laws. The executive branch implements them. Politics and power being what they are, it doesn’t always end there. Congress gets to control the money,...
Laurels & lances: Painting heads and butting heads
Laurel: To getting a head. No, not “ahead.” As of Wednesday, a longtime landmark has been reunited with its top. The statue stands outside Lug Nutz auto shop on Route 119 in Greensburg. It has experienced identity issues over the years, donning different appearances. For a while, the burly 20-foot-tall...
Editorial: Pennsylvania lawmakers need training camp
The Pittsburgh Steelers are back in training camp. The team descended on Saint Vincent College in Unity on Wednesday prepared to settle in for the long haul, bringing TVs, pillows and snacks. They will spend their time at the school focused on developing their skills as individuals and a team...
Editorial: Filling office space might mean changing ideas
Supply and demand is a pretty simple concept. Give the people what they want. If you see that one thing isn’t selling, you pivot to something else. It’s part of the legend of many a great fortune. Take Henry Heinz. Before he found success with the broad appeal of pickles...
Editorial: Senior centers could be model for providing human services
Senior centers are more than just a place to play cards. They are a daily place of comfort and camaraderie, yes, but they have offerings beyond lunch with friends or a hand of Hearts. In Allegheny and Westmoreland counties alone, there are 53 offices that aren’t really offices so much...
Editorial: Require more transparency, less politics
Football practice will begin next week at Pennsylvania’s big state-related universities, but the Legislature’s game of political football with the institutions’ funding is a year-round, far-less-entertaining spectacle. Teams from Penn State and Temple universities and the University of Pittsburgh all will have played at least three games by the time...
Editorial: Cyber charter reform needs to be about education, not politics
Education is a touchy subject in Pennsylvania. There is the question of funding for state-related universities. There are the concerns about tuition; Penn State just opted to increase the cost of attending its main campus yet again. There are school vouchers. The tug of war over them is behind the...
Editorial: Did we really need another special election?
Pennsylvania is facing a special election. Again. It will decide control of the state’s House of Representatives. Again. Sara Innamorato has resigned from her job as lawmaker representing the 21st District as she completes her run for Allegheny County executive. She secured the Democratic nomination for the position in the...
Laurels & lances: Guns & money
Laurel: To a nice jackpot — or at least a piece of one. Visitors to Live Casino Pittsburgh generate millions in revenue for its owners. In 2022, the casino in Hempfield’s Westmoreland Mall reported almost $112 million between slot machines, table games and sports betting. That’s great for the company,...
Editorial: Kopas appointment as commissioner is understandable but was it the best choice?
On Monday, the 11 Westmoreland County Common Pleas judges gathered together and acted as a kind of jury, deliberating and delivering a verdict on a case in a way they normally don’t get to do. The decision they reached wasn’t about guilt or innocence or a judgment with a big...
Editorial: The heavy burden of fighting fires
The weight of a fire truck is hard to bear. The average fire vehicle comes in between 19 tons and 30 tons, according to PennDOT. It’s the equivalent of six to 10 nice big pickup trucks. The weight is important. It’s part of what makes them work. They carry a...
Editorial: Are legacy admissions the real problem for colleges?
A legacy is something left by those who went before us. It might be a reputation. It might be an inheritance. And for some kids filling out applications, it is a leg up in the college admissions process. At least, it was. For generations, prestigious universities made a sometimes spoken,...
Editorial: Lawmakers: Carpe diem; end per diems
Taxpayers, who employ Pennsylvania legislators, should reimburse those employees for the expenses they incur while conducting the public business, just as a private employer should cover its employees’ work-related expenses. But they should do so under a comparable system. Private employers don’t simply provide employees with a flat-rate expense payment....
Editorial: Coroners’ obstruction is obituary for open records
In a perfect world, no one would ever need to see a coroner’s report. They would be the paper relics of a life ended. They would be filed away in the bureaucratic mausoleum that is a governmental file cabinet. They would rest in the peace of the millions of other...
