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Editorials category, Page 53

Pope Francis, first Latin American pontiff, dies at 88
Laurels & lances: Winning, losing and playing by the rules
Laurel: To a spectacular run. Victory Brinker’s parents knew what they were doing when they named her. The pint-sized opera singer with a voice as big as all outdoors showed “America’s Got Talent” exactly what kind of talent resides in Unity with her months of appearances culminating in Wednesday night’s...
Editorial: The $104 million failure of turnpike ‘toll-by-plate’
In 2019, the first Southwestern Pennsylvania toll booths started to change as the Turnpike Commission switched from a mix of manned stations and machines to a new, hands-off system. It started years earlier with the E-ZPass devices that let drivers roll through while a transponder was read and an account...
Editorial: A commissioner’s 60% promise should be paid in full
Campaign promises can be an oxymoron. They are something that a candidate swears he or she will do while shaking hands and making speeches, stumping for the job. Campaign promises are as famous for being broken as they are for being made. That doesn’t make it any less disappointing when...
Editorial: State waivers let Pa. health care function in the pandemic
A worker shortage in the pandemic economy has been troubling employers for months. But if you think scaled-back hours at your favorite pizza shop are difficult to handle, try staffing a long-term care home without enough nursing assistants. A short-staffed restaurant can cause irate customers. Not enough nurses for the...
Editorial: Westmoreland commissioners take right steps on American Rescue Plan funds
Thank you for doing the right thing, Westmoreland County commissioners. It was more than a month ago that a Tribune-Review editorial took the leaders to task over an apparent lack of planning for how to spend the unexpected windfall of $105.3 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act funds. While...
Editorial: A federal vaccine requirement is not new
The coronavirus vaccine is no longer an option for many. With one announcement Thursday, President Biden removed the question of whether hospitals or factories or major universities would require employees to be vaccinated as a condition of employment. Work for any employer with more than 100 people on the payroll?...
Editorial: To honor the losses of 9/11, remember together
For 20 years, America has had one shared cultural touchstone. Every Sept. 11, we are transported to the day when the whole country held its breath, watching and waiting to see what would happen next in an unbelievable day where things couldn’t possibly get worse, and yet they did, over...
Laurels & lances: Donation, departure, rescue and wriggling
Laurel: To a last bequest. It is always hard to lose family, but people often say that what they leave behind helps keep their memories alive. For Ken Hulst, that c0uldn’t be more true. A former Lower Burrell resident, Hulst lived with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, the progressive, uncurable nervous system...
Editorial: A dementia crisis looms as Pennsylvanians age
Government has a lot on its plate these days. The coronavirus pandemic dominates, but it is fighting for time with weather emergencies such as hurricanes that sweep from New Orleans to New York and the need to improve infrastructure. In Pennsylvania, local and state leaders juggle education, health care, transportation,...
Editorial: Masks or no, schools must be responsible
The young girl stood with classmates outside Greater Latrobe High School on Tuesday. It was the first day of the state Department of Health’s new mask mandate requiring people in schools and child care centers in Pennsylvania to wear masks as part of efforts to reduce exposure and spread of...
Editorial: Local governments are the definition of essential workers
When it comes to some errands, the individual can choose where to get the job done. If your dry cleaner isn’t giving you the service you want, you can pick someone else to wash your shirts. If the corner bakery you favor isn’t open, you can still pick up doughnuts...
Editorial: Workers keep economic machine going
In 2020, Labor Day was celebrated with a kind of asterisk. Sure, there could be relaxation, but amid a pandemic, it was a little tense. There could be picnics, but with masks and social distancing, they weren’t quite the same. There could be an honoring of the workforce, but it...
Editorial: No-excuse mail-in voting is the law of the land
Fourteen Pennsylvania lawmakers are taking a stand against the law that let voters cast ballots by mail without providing an excuse. The legislators claim it is unconstitutional and needs to be wiped off the books. The Republican state representatives come from all across the commonwealth and include Bob Brooks of...
Editorial: Westmoreland serves its residents with Open Meetings compliance
A lot of attention is given to the availability of public information through open records. Government has to be open to scrutiny to be fair and accountable. Open records are one of the best examples of that. Government agencies are built on paper trails that show relationships, agreements, obligations and...
Laurels & lances: Fiscal wisdom, humane gestures and a mystery rhino
Laurel: To careful deliberation. When it comes to money, it seems like government seldom needs any encouragement to plunge forward, planning first and finding a way to underwrite a project later. That makes it refreshing to see Jeannette content to let a pot of funds sit until the right way...
Editorial: Beware the regular flu while the novel coronavirus still circulates
There is a lot that should have been learned from the pandemic. How science can advance when government is a partner instead of a gatekeeper. How important transparent communication and trustworthy data are to a message’s acceptance. How much we depend on our least-paid workforce to get through our lives....
Editorial: PNC Bank shows how market forces drive minimum-wage growth
The changing wages of bottom-of-the-ladder jobs have been a talking point for months. From fast-food restaurants and gas stations to grocery stores and amusement parks, the way front-line and entry-level jobs are compensated has been a big part of response to the changing needs of the economy since the beginning...
Editorial: Mask mandate at WCCC deserved hearing by trustees first
Having masks prompt fights is nothing new. For more than a year, the coronavirus pandemic demand to wear masks at grocery stores or restaurants has led to fights that ended up going viral on YouTube and Facebook, if not actually finding their way into court. Masks disappeared in the spring...
Editorial: A new era for the Carrie Furnace beckons
Recycling is at its best when it doesn’t just reuse an original item but improves it. The former Carrie Furnace steelmaking site along the Monongahela River near Braddock is about to be a larger-than-life example of that as it is redeveloped for contemporary commercial use. The Allegheny County Redevelopment Authority...
Editorial: Why population counts should include prisoners — they live there
To count or not to count. That’s not quite the question pondered and decided last week by the Legislative Reapportionment Commission — the panel of lawmakers working on the nuts and bolts of redrawing legislative districts in reaction to the new census numbers. It isn’t about whether to count. It’s...
Editorial: So now the legislature is guardian of public health
In March 2020, as the coronavirus pandemic erupted, Gov. Tom Wolf declared an emergency. It was the right move at the time. That does not, however, mean that every step Wolf has taken since has been on firm ground. There have been plenty of errors, both forced and unforced, in...
Laurels & lances: Corn, community and stepping up
Laurel: To kernels of kindness. The area has been dealing with increased food insecurity in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic for more than a year. Food banks have been hit hard, and donations are always welcome. But a special kind of donation required additional hands Wednesday when 30 volunteers...
Editorial: For Westmoreland workers, a confusing new math on raises
Percentages can be confusing things. They might seem simple at first blush. A penny is just 1% of a dollar. How hard is that to figure out? But anyone who has tried to figure out exactly how much their $100,000 house will cost over the lifetime of a mortgage and...
Editorial: The shame of Shuman Center’s demise
The Shuman Juvenile Detention Center no longer is licensed by the state of Pennsylvania. On Friday, the state Department of Human Services notified Allegheny County that the facility that houses minors involved in the justice system would have to make new arrangements for its residents and close by Sept. 18....
Editorial: A covid vaccine is fully approved — no excuses now
In December 2020, the first shots in the war against covid-19 were fired into the arms of health care workers with the emergency-use authorization of a vaccine from Pfizer-BioNTech. Those were followed by another similar authorization for a Moderna vaccine two weeks later, and then in early 2021, Johnson &...


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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