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Editorials category, Page 32

Pope Francis, first Latin American pontiff, dies at 88
Editorial: Honest dialogue necessary to avoid repeating the 2023 Battle of Bushy Run
The Battle of Bushy Run reenactment has a little bit of whiplash. In January, the Bushy Run Battlefield Heritage Society was told the annual staging of the 1761 battle between British and Native American combatants could not take place. That was because of new guidelines instituted by the Pennsylvania Historical...
Editorial: Air and water testing is not just for disasters
When it comes to the environment, things can be a lot like the Reagan era saying about nuclear disarmament: trust but verify. Or sometimes distrust and verify. You cannot always see the particles in the air that make taking a breath a danger. You cannot always taste what makes the...
Editorial: New rules spell out obvious miss in House ethics
If Pennsylvania legislators ever wonder why they might not be seen as completely trustworthy, they need only to look to their track record of how they govern others versus how they govern themselves. The most infamous example is always the 2005 pay increase — passed at 2 a.m. without any...
Editorial: Transparency isn’t just valuable for bad government actions
A push for transparency is often associated with something people don’t like or don’t want. Something they would protest. Something that feels like a trick. It shouldn’t be. Transparency is just as important when it is something everyone agrees is the proper course of action. In fact, it might be...
Laurels & lances: Birthday, blast off, settlement
Laurel: To a major milestone. In 2023, Westmoreland County marks its 250th year. Commissioners kicked off the yearlong celebration Monday with the sweetest start to a birthday — cupcakes. It is just the beginning of a long list of activities expected in coming months. Among those is a public meeting...
Editorial: Teacher financial aid would fill state education needs
Pennsylvania needs teachers. The U.S. Census Bureau puts the number of children in the state at 20% of its population of 13 million. That’s more than 2.6 million. It has 500 public school districts with more than 3,200 individual schools. That doesn’t include charters, parochial schools, private schools, preschools or...
Editorial: The lessons of Mark Rozzi’s short-lived speakership
Mark Rozzi says he accomplished what he wanted as Pennsylvania’s speaker of the House of Representatives. That would be the two votes he oversaw last week, getting the House to pass its half of legislation that could lead to child sex abuse victims — like Rozzi — having a window...
Editorial: PennDOT sign cleanup shows slow response time
As the song goes: signs, signs, everywhere signs. Except in Gilpin. In Gilpin, signs were disappearing. Signs advertising restaurants. Signs advertising businesses. Signs on little metal legs, stuck into the ground near major roads. It was suspicious. These kinds of signs being removed isn’t unusual. It is just more typical...
Editorial: Youth voices bring new perspective to local government
There is a lot of conversation about getting young people involved. It usually refers to voting. Sometimes it hits on things like volunteering or reading the news — anything that gets youth interested and engaged in what is going on around them. What is less mentioned is participation in government...
Editorial: The burden of Pennsylvania taxes
It’s great to make the top half of a list. If you’re talking about public school test scores or high net income, that’s the place to be. Even on a more frivolous topic, you get a little thrill seeing your name at the head of the class. Pennsylvania, for instance,...
Editorial: Rozzi scores with sex abuse bill passage
Pennsylvania Speaker Mark Rozzi has finally accomplished what he promised would be the state House of Representatives’ first action under his leadership. On Friday, the House passed the legislation that will give a window of opportunity for victims to sue over child sexual abuse claims that otherwise would be outside...
Laurels & lances: Supporting and sneezing
Laurel: To coping with problems. Westmoreland County District Attorney Nicole Ziccarelli wants to expand efforts to help kids deal with trauma. The Handle with Care Program is a collaboration with New Kensington-Arnold School District, Allegheny Intermediate Unit, Highlands Family Center and police in Arnold and New Kensington using a $250,000...
Editorial: Adult crimes and juvenile defendants pose unique challenges
In Allegheny and Westmoreland counties, significant charges have been pressed against kids who can’t even drive yet. A 14-year-old already on probation is charged in a fatal shooting in Carrick. A 16-year-old is charged with providing the gun to a 15-year-old for a planned robbery; the 15-year-old was subsequently shot...
Editorial: Why does Pa. Department of Health want to keep marijuana data secret?
Privacy and transparency can be natural enemies. People have an assumption of privacy when it comes to their information — financial, legal, business and especially medical. However, the public has a right to transparency regarding the decisions that are made in their name and the expenses that are charged to...
Editorial: In wake of train crash, Norfolk Southern reps must be seen to be believed
East Palestine, Ohio, is not the only place where Norfolk Southern has tracks and runs trains. The Georgia-based railroad company is the fifth-largest railway in the country. It operates about 19,500 miles of track crisscrossing the eastern United States. It pulled in $11.14 billion in revenue in 2021. The company...
Editorial: Is Pennsylvania a death penalty state or not?
Gov. Josh Shapiro is continuing the pattern Pennsylvania’s executives have perfected over the last 24 years. On Thursday, Shapiro said he will continue following in his predecessors’ footsteps by not permitting executions to move forward. Pennsylvania will continue being a death penalty state that does not put people to death....
Editorial: Calls for Marc Fogel’s release must continue until Russia sends him home
WNBA star Brittney Griner has been home for 10 weeks. It was Dec. 8 that she was released from a Russian prison after months in custody for possession of a small amount of medically prescribed cannabis. It took a concerted effort from the highest levels of the federal government. A...
Editorial: Was Westmoreland DA Ziccarelli’s crash really minor?
“Minor car accident” is one of those terms everyone has heard and yet is difficult to quantify. The Pennsylvania Insurance Department doesn’t have a measure for what makes a crash minor or major. An insurance company only deals in monetary amounts. There is no sliding scale. And so, when Westmoreland...
Laurels & lances: Loss, objection and dropped charges
Laurel: To a bittersweet farewell. On Tuesday, the community turned out to line the roads along a a twisting path from Baldwin to McKeesport, ending at Jefferson Memorial Cemetery on Curry Hollow Road. They were there to say goodbye to McKeesport police Officer Sean Sluganski, who was killed in the...
Editorial: Our children are under fire, and it’s time something gives
On Tuesday, Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey was stretched thin. Events called him in two directions. The funeral for slain McKeesport police Officer Sean Sluganski was scheduled for noon at St. Albert the Great Church in Baldwin. It was just a few hours later that he was speaking with media in...
Editorial: Is Westmoreland Republicans’ endorsement too early?
Endorsement is the stamp of approval that an organization — or an individual — gives a candidate in an election. Unions do it. Professional associations do it. Other elected officials do it. News organizations can decide to do it. Although the Tribune-Review and some other news agencies don’t believe it...
Editorial: Food banks need more support in face of SNAP benefit changes
Since 2020, the number of people depending on SNAP benefits — the government program previously called food stamps — has grown. In 2019, the number of Pennsylvanians was 1.6 million. Today, it is 1.8 million. The amount of money spent on the program in Pennsylvania has grown from $2.4 billion...
Editorial: Slamming shut the Medicaid and CHIP continuous enrollment door
The people who can least afford it are about to experience the blatant cruelty of a disappearing helping hand. The coronavirus pandemic prompted the Families First Coronavirus Act. In addition to things such as paid covid sick leave and testing, it also addressed additional SNAP benefits and continuous enrollment in...
Editorial: Pittsburgh’s bridge report needs to create urgent timeline
When Pittsburgh makes a bridge a priority, exactly what does that mean? In December, Mayor Ed Gainey released a comprehensive bridge report that assessed the spans that cross the city’s rivers, roads and valleys. The $1.5 million report was commissioned after the collapse of the poorly rated Fern Hollow Bridge...
Editorial: Government and media need to serve the people
The relationship between government and journalism frequently focuses on the adversarial. This is because there is a three-legged stool of public information. The government has the information, the people need the information, and journalists are the conduit for the exchange of that information. The adversarial nature comes about because, sometimes,...


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