Got to Category

Editorials category, Page 3

Pope Francis, first Latin American pontiff, dies at 88
Laurels & lances: Nostalgia, rules & Pirates
Laurel: To a taste of the past. If picking up a pound of chipped chopped ham at the grocery store deli doesn’t quite scratch the itch of those childhood trips to your favorite deli combined with an ice cream parlor, something is promising to fill that need. Jim Conroy, co-owner...
Editorial: Is swing state Pennsylvania swinging even more in some areas?
Just when you think Pennsylvania has decided to zig, it zags. The November election proved the state’s reputation as swingy as a circus trapeze. Keystone State voters have blown with the political winds, siding with Donald Trump, Joe Biden, Trump again and Barack Obama in the last five presidential elections....
Editorial: Pennsylvania should guard against the power of lobbying money
The legend of lobbying is that it began in a Washington, D.C., hotel when people would wait for Ulysses S. Grant, pressing the president for political favors. The reality is Grant wasn’t even born yet when the first paid lobbyist was hired in America. It was 1792, three years after...
Editorial: Covid anniversary finds a fractured nation less prepared for future outbreaks
It’s been five years since the world came to a sudden halt. Outbreaks of a deadly coronavirus — first in China, then in Italy and Iran, and then seemingly everywhere at once — prompted the World Health Organization to declare the virus a global pandemic on March 11, 2020, bringing...
Editorial: Universities and students struggle with uncertain higher ed landscape
It’s a tough time to be a college. Spring can be an uncertain time for a Pennsylvania institution of higher learning in the best of times. With state lawmakers still haggling over the budget, universities are making their plans for the coming year, but they do so in the dark....
Editorial: Will route cuts solve Pittsburgh Regional Transit problems?
Mass transportation is a critical part of life in a metropolitan area. It connects people to jobs, doctors, churches and shopping. It makes it possible for families to stay in touch. It breaks down barriers for those who cannot drive or for those who cannot afford cars. But those are...
Laurels & lances: Partnership & partying
Laurel: To experienced support. Allegheny Health Network Cancer Institute is using a secret weapon in helping patients navigate their medical journey: survivors. The Community Cancer Patient Ambassador Program launched in February. It connects cancer survivors with newly diagnosed individuals. It offers support for 14 disease lines, helping those fighting blood,...
Editorial: 1-stop shop for Westmoreland human services is good for all
Westmoreland County is considering putting its various service operations under one roof. The idea is to take the offices of the Human Services Department and move them all into the South Greengate Road building that used to be home to the county housing authority. “There’s nothing in stone yet,” Commissioner...
Editorial: Political attacks are shameful slides to gateway violence
Aspinwall is not big. The suburban borough in Allegheny County has fewer than 3,000 residents. It always was intended to be a residential area, carved out of a wedge of land along the river. It was a suburb before America really had suburbs. It calls itself “The Town That Pride...
Editorial: Untaxed tips is not so easy — tax earnings equally and progressively
In his record-long address to Congress, President Donald Trump reiterated his aspiration to have taxes on tips and overtime pay eliminated, a position that has enough bipartisan cachet that it also forms part of Andrew Cuomo’s mayoral run agenda. This falls into the bucket of a policy that sounds excellent...
Editorial: Allegheny and Westmoreland counties show why Pennsylvania is a swing state
If you want to know how political power is ebbing and flowing in Pennsylvania, take a look at Allegheny and Westmoreland counties. Pennsylvania’s politics swing like the clapper of a bell. It can be Democratic one year and Republican another. The 67 counties run the gamut of deepest blue to...
Editorial: Audit results make argument for clearer rules on credit card purchasing
Things can be broken and functional at the same time. It’s not ideal, but it’s true. Boiled down to its basics, that’s the message of Pittsburgh Controller Rachael Heisler’s report on the audit of use of city purchasing credit cards by the parks department. The audit was prompted by concerns...
Laurels & lances: Birds, cheese & QBs
Laurel: To flying high. The Fox Chapel Parks Commission has been singled out for its efforts in education. The borough has set the gold standard in environmental preservation and educating people about birds, according to a statewide grassroots program. Bird Town Pennsylvania works with communities and organizations such as the...
Editorial: 5 years after covid, scars linger
What a difference five years can make. Although the global story of the coronavirus pandemic began in December 2019, it would not be confirmed in America until Jan. 20, 2020. In Pennsylvania, covid began its takeover six weeks later. Until March 6, the pandemic was like Brexit or a terrorist...
Editorial: Pennsylvania must be more diligent in monitoring protective service for seniors
Are Pennsylvania’s seniors getting the help they need when it comes to protection from abuse? The state Department of Aging will be taking sterner steps to answer that question. Spotlight PA has pointed to failures in oversight of the agencies that work on county levels to respond to neglect and...
Editorial: What is the cost of accepting GOP donations for Democratic candidates?
Last week, Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey got his hackles up about money. Was it about the financial troubles his city finds itself experiencing? Nope. It was about the funds of his Democratic challenger, Allegheny County Controller Corey O’Connor. Gainey, running for reelection, is in the same position his predecessor, Bill...
Editorial: Is it finally time for Real ID?
The federal government has threatened it before. It has dangled the string and tried to make us jump. It has coyly set deadlines only to pull back at the last minute. It’s happening! It is! Ha, ha, no, it’s not. No, this is not about the tariffs with Canada and...
Editorial: Safe2Say Something is a valuable tool, but false reports can’t be dismissed
In February, Millvale police arrested a 16-year-old Shaler Area High School student who was accused of having a semiautomatic weapon on a bus. The school resource officer was notified Jan. 30. The student was identified the next day. The student was then removed from school and the case turned over...
Laurels & lances: Lent, rent, money spent
Laurel: To the start of the season. Lent is upon us. Ash Wednesday was this week, and now Fridays in the coming weeks — and the practice for many Christians of abstaining from eating meat — are a chance for churches, fire companies and other nonprofits to fundraise with fish...
Editorial: Trump administration decisions have real impacts on real people
When incidents occur, it is human nature to do two things. We might empathize, recognizing the hardship others are enduring. We say “I understand,” or, “That could have been me.” The other reaction is to distance. We watch from behind a mental pane of glass. We don’t have to understand....
Editorial: Politics interferes with Pittsburgh police chief picks
The Pittsburgh Bureau of Police is, once again, without a leader. This time, it is losing even an acting leader. “Serving as your acting chief for the last four months has been one of the greatest honors of my career,” acting Chief Christopher Ragland told Mayor Ed Gainey at a...
Editorial: How can hospitals be made safe from violence?
UPMC Memorial in York County is a hospital. A hospital is a place where life or death struggles take place every day. It is usually a cardiac arrest or a stroke or an anaphylactic allergic reaction. It can be a traumatic injury. It might be a gunshot wound. It is...
Editorial: Never forget the WTC sick — Congress must finally fully fund their health care
We were relieved when House Republicans successfully pushed President Donald Trump to reverse the Elon Musk-­imposed 20% cut to the World Trade Center Health Program, which provides medical monitoring and treatment to 137,000 responders and survivors sickened from the toxic plume from 9/11. Never forget, indeed. But having protected the...
Editorial: Police silence about shootings speaks volumes
How long can police remain silent about a shooting? Quite a while, it seems. On Feb. 14, yellow crime scene tape went up around McKinley Avenue in East Vandergrift. It happened after a raid on an apartment above the post office. The U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force was leading the...
Laurels & lances: Learning experiences
Laurel: To getting into education. A good book can put a reader into the story. Virtual reality video gaming can put a player in a new world. But how can that happen for a whole classroom? On Tuesday, East Allegheny School District became the first K-12 public school setting to...


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
More Editor's Picks >