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Editorials category, Page 46

Pope Francis, first Latin American pontiff, dies at 88
Editorial: Taxing students, patients instead of nonprofits is ludicrous
Pittsburgh might have been built by the big-profit industries of steel and coal and glass, but today its economy is driven by high-dollar nonprofits. There are the institutions of higher learning. The University of Pittsburgh is one of the largest in a state full of post-secondary schools. Carnegie Mellon University...
Laurels & lances: Shooting, sentencing and structure
Laurel: To surviving. Oakmont is not the kind of place where a mid-afternoon shooting is commonplace. It was certainly not what Greg Scampone was expecting at the Fox’s Pizza Den he owns on Allegheny River Boulevard. But it’s what happened when the shop was robbed Sunday. A man walked in,...
Editorial: Infrastructure priorities demand plan for success
Failing to plan is planning to fail. Sometimes bumper-sticker-type advice survives for a reason — because it’s true. The saying often ascribed apocryphally to Benjamin Franklin cautions us to know what we are doing before we plunge in headfirst. More than that, it smacks us on the back of the...
Editorial: The real cost of having — or not having — child care
Think about your monthly household bills. It’s something a lot of people are doing as prices go up, especially in some of the areas that take the big bites. Imagine the largest chunks, and you might go right to rent or a mortgage payment. Maybe a car loan. Health insurance...
Editorial: Artificial intelligence is not educational taboo
Science, technology, engineering and math. The importance of these subjects has been evident in the rapid growth and development of new industries — particularly computer-related ones — since the 1970s. However, that importance has only been codified for schools under the acronym STEM since 2001. That was when the National...
Editorial: How important are standardized tests?
The U.S. Department of Education and individual states use test scores in an attempt to quantify the unquantifiable. They try to take the A’s and B’s and quadratic equations and Civil War battles and conjugated verbs and mash them together to determine how students are learning. First proposed in the...
Editorial: Pa.’s college problems not solved by Commonwealth University
Once upon a time in Pennsylvania, every town of a certain size or importance seemed to have its own college. There were reasons for this. Many of these schools were started in the early half of the 19th century, when traveling 30 miles was a long haul. Leaving the old...
Editorial: The balancing act between regulation and condemnation
Allegheny County Health Department levied $859,000 in fines against U.S. Steel this week, citing 2021 violations at the Clairton Coke Works. It isn’t the largest fine the department has hung on the company. In 2019, the company was tagged with a $2.7 million fine. It is, however, significantly larger than...
Laurels & lances: Crises, craters and charity
Laurel: To answering the call. Mental health care is important, and when people reach out, someone needs to be there to offer a helping hand. That is becoming easier as Westmoreland County adds a mobile crisis unit with a $372,000 grant. The addition will come as the new “988” phone...
Editorial: Keep focus on steel promise from State of the Union
You can’t focus on infrastructure without mentioning steel. Build a bridge or dam, and you’re using steel. Build a school or hospital, and it’s part of the process. There is steel in roadways and railroads, ambulances and firetrucks. Steel is the skeleton that supports the body of the nation. So...
Editorial: Discount groceries are more than an inflation problem
Low prices are big business. For years, more low-cost food options have been popping up like mushrooms. They dot urban areas, suburbs, rural landscapes and food deserts. It has been a growth retail area with a long-term plan. Dollar Tree has been adding refrigerator and freezer sections, particularly in areas...
Editorial: Pour one out for Ukraine, but not with Russian vodka
Support comes in lots of forms. You can give money. You can give time. You can sign petitions or attend events or put a sticker on your car. All of these can show where your heart or your head or your sympathies lie. This charity. That movement. This party. That...
Editorial: State police shouldn’t be above scrutiny of outside investigations
The Pennsylvania State Police don’t believe they should be subject to anyone else’s interpretation of how they do their job. State Police Commissioner Robert Evanchick responded to a recommendation from the Pennsylvania State Law Enforcement Advisory Commission that an outside agency investigate when deaths or injuries caused by a state...
Editorial: 95% vaccinated number seems absurdly high
It is hard to get 95% of Pennsylvanians to walk in step for anything. Pennsylvania is a perennial swing state because it is a state divided on almost everything. Steelers versus Eagles. Pitt versus Penn State. Sheetz versus Wawa. And there is no deeper divide than the political. It isn’t...
Editorial: Redistricting map wasn’t court’s job, but someone had to do it
Politics once was like two people negotiating a real estate deal. The seller would present the house in its best light — baking cookies so it smelled homey, sprucing up the front porch and hiding the water damage from that leaky roof — all while asking for the highest price...
Laurels & lances: Theater, politics and resurgence
Laurel: To an encore performance. “Hamilton” has been undeniably the biggest thing to hit musical theater in years. It wasn’t just a smash on Broadway. The traveling company has been just as in demand when it visits, as it did in Pittsburgh in 2019, and again now as live theater...
Editorial: Diebold’s prison sentence is deserved
It is hard to argue that you didn’t know how to follow the law when that was how you made your living. Attorneys for Michael Diebold did just that. Luckily, it didn’t work. Armstrong County Judge James J. Panchik sentenced the former Leechburg police chief to 18 to 36 months...
Editorial: Is marijuana marketing proof it’s the next Big Pharma?
The conversation surrounding marijuana has shifted over the years. It went from being demonized for decades to being suggested as helpful in relieving symptoms of some medical conditions to being touted as all but a miracle cure. In 2016, Gov. Tom Wolf signed the law that made medical marijuana legal...
Editorial: Contractors and government both need good communication
On the surface, it’s kind of funny. Construction equipment is what people use to dig things up. It’s not supposed to be the stuff that gets sucked down into the ground. And yet there they are — two bright yellow excavators sticking out of the muddy ground along the Allegheny...
Editorial: Poor school covid testing participation subverts parent choice
Pennsylvania has more than 5,000 schools. They come in all stripes. Public and private. Charter and Catholic and cyber. They nurture and educate and safeguard millions of children across the state. So why did only 750 of those schools take advantage of the Pennsylvania Department of Health’s offer of free,...
Editorial: Westmoreland commissioners can set example with human services department
Westmoreland County commissioners are moving forward with plans to take all of the county’s various human service offices and fuse them into one department. On Thursday, they hired a consultant — Don Goughler, 76, of Harrison — to assemble the pieces and hire a director to take the reins. This...
Laurels & lances: Cupcakes, eyesores and permits
Laurel: To a sweet gesture. Businesses in competition with each other might not seem like the best sources of help in times of trouble. What is tragedy for one can be a boon for another. But when it comes to small businesses, it is always best for the community if...
Editorial: Courts and doctors must cooperate on addiction
The opioid epidemic is not like influenza or covid-19. It is a medical issue that affects the body and threatens lives. It also is a social problem that ends up in court either because of crimes or because of issues such as custody. It is rare that a case of...
Editorial: EMT training is practical solution to filling need
The first step in a medical emergency often is taken even before getting to the hospital. It can begin with an ambulance staffed by professionals trained to offer the care that will stabilize a patient until more in-depth diagnostics and treatment can be provided. It is a vital journey that...
Editorial: Online education is important part of school choice discussion
School choice is not just a political idea that scores points on one side and sparks opposition on the other. Decisions about a child’s education are never easy. They start with preschool. Do you do it at all? Do you choose a public school program if one is available? What...


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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