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Editorials category, Page 25

Pope Francis, first Latin American pontiff, dies at 88
Editorial: Do we need more gator laws?
“Jurassic Park” is a heck of a movie. Indeed, it is a great franchise of movies. Michael Crichton’s bestselling book as the skeleton and Stephen Spielberg’s 1993 blockbuster thriller brought us all face to face — or screen to face — with reptilian claws and teeth. Five more movies followed....
Editorial: Pennsylvania legislature runs secrecy machine
To borrow a device from the recent Republican candidates’ debate: Raise your hand if you think that lobbyists influence politicians, officeholders and public policy. Raise it again if you think that the public should know how those lobbyists affect policy. Pennsylvania’s 203 representatives and 50 senators disagree with you. They...
Editorial: State needs to join federal and local efforts to address predatory real estate companies
Predators in the wild prowl around the edges of a herd of animals, waiting to pick the vulnerable. They may lie in wait, camouflaged until it is time to pounce. In real estate, the wolves and hyenas are corporations that buy up properties from the desperate. The bait can be...
Editorial: Should 2024 primary date be moved?
Pennsylvania’s role in the 2024 presidential election cannot be underestimated. Since 1972, the state has only voted for the losing candidate twice, opting for Al Gore and John Kerry instead of George W. Bush in 2000 and 2004. After the results have been reported in the small and sparsely populated...
Laurels & lances: Burned out and deadlocked
Laurel: To a fresh start. Elizabeth Forward High School ended the 2022-23 school year on a sad note with the auditorium, band and chorus rooms out of commission following a February fire. Those spaces are always full of activity in the final months of a school year as students bustle...
Editorial: Reining in commissioner pay raises is worth discussing
How much of a raise did you get last year? According to international insurance and brokerage company WTW, the U.S. average was about 4.2%. That was higher than the 3.1% and 3% of the previous two years. All together, the three years come in at 10.3%. Unless you are an...
Editorial: Is house arrest fair if the house was built with fraudulent funds?
A criminal court sentence should not be something you negotiate like buying a house. It should absolutely not be like buying a multimillion-dollar house that is squarely in the middle of the case in question. But the motion filed by the defense in a federal fraud case seems a little...
Editorial: Pennsylvania’s education funding should be rebuilt
Pennsylvanians have spent years — decades, really — begging the state to find a better way to fund education. School districts in the Keystone State operate primarily on real estate taxes. An April report from advocacy group PA Schools Work estimates that 84% of the 500 school districts in Pennsylvania...
Editorial: Rail safety legislation derailed
Clarity emerged in February from the thick, acrid, black smoke that billowed over and fell upon East Palestine, Ohio: The nation needed significant rail safety improvements. A Norfolk Southern train including multiple tank cars full of toxic vinyl chloride derailed after parts of the train experienced mechanical problems with brakes....
Editorial: Garfield standoff shows more consequences of gun violence
The impact of gun violence is usually measured in bodies. We count it in the day-to-day numbers of small crimes. One shot here. Two killed there. Over and over again. We tally it in the staggering explosions of mass-casualty events. Eleven worshippers. Twenty-three Walmart shoppers. Nineteen children and two teachers....
Editorial: DA Zappala’s office calling for gag order is another misstep
A district attorney bears the weight of not only enforcing the law but also understanding how, where and when to apply it. The DA sets the tone for other prosecutors — and often, by extension, police agencies — about the way crimes are charged and how the accused are treated....
Laurels & lances: School starts and spotted lanternflies
Laurel: To learning lessons. Yes, it’s that time of year again. Buses are rolling. Lunches are being packed. School is opening. Franklin Regional students were back in classrooms Wednesday, with many others close behind. Over the next week, most children will be at desks, logged into computers or sitting on...
Editorial: Fracking study points to health costs
Enthusiastic gas-drilling advocates in the Legislature long have fallen over themselves in their haste to get out of the industry’s way. Their zeal, for most of two decades, included a prohibition on using public money to conduct studies on the industry’s public health impact. Former Gov. Tom Wolf finally commissioned...
Editorial: WVU walkout has lessons for Pennsylvania colleges, leaders
Pennsylvania colleges, please take note of what happened Monday at West Virginia University. Hundreds of students at West Virginia’s top public school staged a walkout protest of a slate of proposed cuts announced Aug. 11. The problem is a significant budget gap. The university is trying to make up for...
Editorial: Police need right support to deal with mental health calls
Robbie Thomas Saunders, 59, was shot and killed July 2 by a Ligonier Valley police officer. Westmoreland County District Attorney Nicole Ziccarelli announced July 21 that the use of deadly force was justified. That was bolstered when police released the body camera footage, which showed Saunders coming out of his...
Editorial: Safety, security and sealing juror lists
The Tribune-Review has long argued that the names of jurors be treated as what they are: public records. Jurors are the most important part of a criminal trial. While lawyers and judges might believe otherwise, that distinction is undeniably held by the 12 people who are the primary audience for...
Editorial: People of Plum deserve honesty, transparency in explosion investigation
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection is investigating the explosion on Rustic Ridge Drive in Plum that claimed the lives of six people and destroyed three homes, damaging others. It should. This is a scary proposition for more than people on one loop of one development in one municipality. It’s...
Editorial: Proposed U.S. Steel buyout could be next chapter of Pittsburgh history
The history of the steel industry in America can’t be written without Southwestern Pennsylvania. Sure, iron was mined and smelted before Andrew Carnegie built his first mill here in 1875. It was even made in Pittsburgh, the intersection of ore to craft, coal to burn and the rivers for transportation....
Laurels & lances: Getting answers & giving help
Laurel: To a prime location. Everyone knew what should go at the 142-acre warehouse site near the Pennsylvania Turnpike and Interstate 70 in New Stanton. For months, speculation was rampant. It ended Wednesday when Westmoreland County officials confirmed that Amazon will be the new tenant. “This proves that corridor is...
Editorial: District attorney should hold press conferences, not stage flat substitutes
There is a difference between being open to a free and transparent exchange of information and the pretense of being open. It might seem like a semantic argument — unless you have ever watched a Looney Tunes cartoon. Being open is like a train tunnel. The pretense? That is the...
Editorial: Sydney Hovis should have dropped out before primary election
There are few hurdles to clear when running for a local or county office. Are you an adult? Are you a felon? With most positions, that’s about it. At the very least, that gets you to the next stage where you can circulate petitions and register your candidacy. It is...
Editorial: Plum house explosion response shows value of good neighbors
Sometimes the people who live near us are just people who happen to occupy the same street. We don’t open doors the way we once did. We don’t bring over a batch of cookies when someone moves in next door. But bad things have a way of bringing out the...
Editorial: Get budget passed before recess
The state Senate ended a needless 34-day delay in passing the state budget when Majority Leader Kim Ward, a Hempfield Republican, interrupted the chamber’s unduly long summer recess Aug. 2. Ward reconvened the chamber, which already had passed the budget, to enable Lt. Gov. Austin Davis, the Senate president, to...
Editorial: Breaking windows, lighting alleys and building better communities
In the classic movie “It’s a Wonderful Life,” Indiana native Jimmy Stewart throws stones at an abandoned house. Break a window and make a wish. Donna Reed’s character initially tries to stop him but gives in to the idea. That’s broken-window theory in a nutshell. Once windows start being broken,...
Editorial: Was Norwin School Board member’s free speech violated?
The latest volley in a back-and-forth battle between an elected official and a governing body is playing out in court. No, it doesn’t involve former President Donald Trump and the Justice Department. It isn’t about Allegheny County Councilwoman Bethany Hallam and the Jail Oversight Board. It isn’t about any of...


Editor's Picks

Front Porch Theatricals’ musical ‘Baby’ is a labor of love

Washington townhouse on the market for $1,225,000
Folk legend Bruce Cockburn gives uplifting performance at City Winery
‘Champagne & Chapeaux’: Westmoreland Symphony’s annual soiree for a good cause
Jimmy Stewart’s P-51 Mustang stops in hometown for museum anniversary
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