Editorials category, Page 50
Editorial: Is state election money a gift or a problem?
There is a lot of concern about the money in elections. How do we know who is contributing to a campaign? Who is funding the political parties? Who is paying for the ads and the buses and the big-budget rallies? There are questions about where the money is coming from...
Editorial: New law is past due to protect vulnerable elderly
The highest duty of law is to protect the vulnerable. Perhaps the most important aspect of that is safeguarding those people from the individuals meant to do the protecting. Pennsylvania is living up to that responsibility with a new law signed by Gov. Tom Wolf this week. State Rep. Carrie...
Laurels & lances: Learning, vetoes and curfews
Laurel: To a smart use of funding. Parents and educators alike can worry about learning loss — the information kids mentally misplace over the summer months between one grade and the next. But what about deficits suffered because of coronavirus responses? The pandemic was tough on schools, starting with the...
Editorial: Why the cliffhanger American Rescue Plan announcement?
It’s about time. The Westmoreland County Commissioners have plans for the American Rescue Plan funds — finally. The American Rescue Plan was the $1.9 trillion federal legislation passed in March 2021 with multiple purposes: to fight covid pandemic spread, to financially help American households and to provide money for communities...
Editorial: Police protection needs to be present and consistent
The relationship between a community and its police department is a balance. Sometimes it’s contentious. Sometimes it’s a relief. Sometimes it’s folksy and neighborly, like an old-school black-and-white television show. But it is a seesaw that tilts back and forth as needed. The police should provide order. They should provide...
Editorial: Acrisure Stadium, you say? To Steelers fans, it’ll always be Heinz Field
The identities of many communities are built on their skylines and their sports teams. Pittsburgh — and the whole of Western Pennsylvania, really — is no different. That identity will change now with a deal that scrubs the name off the football stadium and replaces it with that of a...
Editorial: Dashcams can be good witnesses for prosecution or defense
Smile, you’re on camera. When it comes to being caught on tape, people can have mixed reactions. There are the those who want areas with high crime potential — like public parks or transportation hubs — to have cameras to help track down offenders or discourage opportunistic threats. Others are...
Editorial: Budget passing is bare minimum
The best you can say about the Pennsylvania Legislature’s move on the budget is that it was quick. That is, if you can call something quick when it’s more than a week late. On Thursday, seven days after the budget was due, the House finally passed a spending plan with...
Editorial: The importance of calling for help — and listening
When it comes to an emergency, it might seem that the most important thing is speed or equipment or expertise. It isn’t. When there is danger or when there is risk of death, one thing is more important than anything else: communication. At the most basic, when you are hurt...
Laurels & lances: Scholarships and monkeypox
Laurel: To a different kind of support. When a kid wants to go to college, financial aid is one of the first considerations. There are athletic scholarships for sports stars. There are academic scholarships for those who excel in the classroom. Even for those who want to go to postsecondary...
Editorial: Courthouse error will demand answers
We tend to think of accidents as a car crash or a fallen electrical pole — something with physical presence and possibly injury. But accidents happen everywhere, including government and bureaucracy. They might happen more there just because of the volume of people involved. Those can be the ones that...
Editorial: Hotel tax collection benefits tourism — and room renters
Government always has to wait for innovation to happen before it can catch up with progress. There was no need for automobile registration before there were cars to register, for example. As utilities have changed, so have regulations for them. With the spread of computers, government’s use of them for...
Editorial: PennDOT needs to find real alternative to tolling
While the U.S. Supreme Court was making all the big news in recent weeks, the justices weren’t the only ones dropping significant decisions. On Thursday, the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court decided to make some waves of its own. It did so by putting its judicial foot down when it comes to...
The Declaration of Independence
WHEN in the Course of human Events, it becomes necessary for one People to dissolve the Political Bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the Powers of the Earth, the separate and equal Station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them,...
Editorial: Why can’t Pennsylvania pass a budget on time?
The legislative process in Pennsylvania can take awhile. Government, after all, is not just about getting two parties to work together. It’s not even about the governor and the Legislature rowing the boat in the same direction. There is also the challenge of focusing 253 lawmakers on the task at...
Laurels & lances: Signing up and paying back
Laurel: To celebrating a different kind of commitment. Senior year of high school can mean a lot of attention on next steps for some kids. There are big productions made out of the athletes who accept scholarships to play their sports for marquee colleges. Then there are the brainiacs who...
Editorial: Lawmakers should put teeth in police database law
In 2020, after the murder of George Floyd under the knee of a police officer in Minneapolis ignited protests around the country, the state of Pennsylvania passed a law creating a database of law enforcement personnel records. The purpose was to prevent the shuffling of an officer with disciplinary problems...
Editorial: Allegheny County should set policy for pay increases
In 2019, a list of pay raises in the Pennsylvania governor’s office brought criticism. Gov. Tom Wolf handed out increases to some of his top staffers, ranging from 7.7% to 36%. It wasn’t that anyone questioned the work. People questioned the timing, which came just after the governor’s second inauguration,...
Editorial: Victims, community deserve discovery in Fern Hollow Bridge collapse
Law can be a patchwork quilt of intersecting and overlapping jurisdiction and authority. Much of what courts do is determine which law takes precedence in a given situation. On Thursday, that was on display in Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas. Lawyers for the City of Pittsburgh countered a request...
Editorial: State law is not the way to find Joe Paterno statue
Just because you can doesn’t mean that you should. State lawmakers are able to look at issues that matter to them, propose changes and even grind axes. They can have pet projects that they make the focus of their time in office. After all, everyone’s perspective is refracted through the...
Editorial: Does the Supreme Court believe in states’ rights or not?
The United States Supreme Court certainly gave people something to think about last week. On Thursday, the court delivered a decision on a gun law in the state of New York that required people to demonstrate a need for a weapon in order to receive a concealed carry permit. It...
Editorial: Does the primary really have to move?
Every year, the closer we get to the polling stations opening, the more pious the exhortations become. Get out and vote. Do your duty. Show up. You can’t be part of the solution if you aren’t part of the process. The Pennsylvania Legislature has to stop being part of the...
Laurels & lances: Storms, gas and taxes
Laurel: To fast action. The June weather has been wild, with both bouts of high temperatures and strong storms. On Wednesday, a powerful thunderstorm came through Southwestern Pennsylvania, leaving its mark on area communities. West Penn Power reported about 12,500 customers without electricity throughout the region early Thursday. Duquesne Light...
Editorial: Easier teacher certification isn’t the problem
“The teacher shortage is real, large and growing, and worse than we thought.” This quote, from an Economic Policy Institute report titled “The Perfect Storm in the Teacher Labor Market,” is not hyperbole. The most surprising thing about it is how prophetic it is. The report was released in March...
Editorial: Is Pittsburgh serious about helping the recently jailed get back to work?
Sometimes the best solution is to try to kill two birds with one stone. Pittsburgh City Council is doing that with a proposal to get work done while giving employment opportunities to people who have recently been in jail. The proposal comes from Councilman Ricky Burgess and would partner with...
