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Editorials category, Page 69

Pope Francis, first Latin American pontiff, dies at 88
Editorial: Following clues in covid-19 contact
There are ways that fixing a pandemic can be a little like solving a crime. It takes a lot of legwork. There are clues to follow. It is as important to figure out the what as it is the who and the where to reconstruct what happened and try to...
Laurels & lances: Listening, hearing, living
Laurel: To doing the right thing. Westmoreland County Controller Jeffrey Balzer did just that when he put on a mask. Balzer was previously criticized by some — and supported by others — for not donning the protective gear required in the courthouse and by Gov. Tom Wolf’s edict. A three-term...
Editorial: Nursing homes need continued covid attention
Pennsylvania has 693 nursing homes. According to the state Department of Health, all of them have now had at least one round of covid-19 testing. Every resident, every staff member, have reportedly been tested for the disease that is at its most lethal among the aging population. Personal care and...
Editorial: Child care helps babysit the economy
As the coronavirus pandemic continues, there is plenty of debate about opening schools and opening businesses and opening the economy. There are all these questions about getting the millions of people who have been laid off or furloughed back to collecting a paycheck instead of an unemployment check. There has...
Editorial: Tax credit grows Pennsylvania agriculture
Pennsylvania might have been made famous by coal and oil, iron and steel, but the industry that actually built the state was agriculture. Rolling hills and wide fields and their crops and livestock have been the powerhouse of the Keystone State since its Colonial days and remain a major building...
Editorial: Pa. swings and misses in Blue Jays call
The score in a game is more than just a record of who won and who lost. The score is a way to navigate through the game itself. It charts the progress from the first pitch to the last run. It lets a team know where it stands. So why...
Editorial: Covid-19 calls for communication
On Wednesday, White House Coronavirus Task Force coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx participated in a phone call with state and local officials from around the country. Discussion included a number of cities that need to get “more aggressive” and step up contact tracing to address covid-19 numbers as increases are being...
Editorial: Wolf shouldn’t veto Right-to-Know
Open records are important or they aren’t. The public has a right to an accountable government or they don’t. It really isn’t a complicated issue. Gov. Tom Wolf’s position, however, is unnecessarily garbled. During the coronavirus pandemic and the state’s shifting series of lockdown and social distancing protocols, freely available...
Laurels & lances: Answers, inspection, education, cruelty
Laurel: To listening to grief. When Marquis Jaylen Brown fell to his death from the 15th floor of Duquesne University’s Brottier Hall in 2018, it left questions about why and how — and it created a hole in the heart of his mother, Dannielle Brown. On July 4, she began...
Editorial: Does FirstEnergy have too much power?
Utility bills are the kind of thing that can feel a little like extortion. You can’t just tell your water company you have found another option and to please dig up their pipes. Sewer service isn’t exactly the kind of thing you can shop around for and find the best...
Editorial: Diversion is good step toward criminal justice reform
On Monday, Pittsburgh announced a pilot program that would work to keep people out of the criminal justice system. As a pilot program, it’s starting small, just on the North Side. The idea is a “public health-focused, pre-arrest diversion program,” something that would address issues of substance abuse or behavioral...
Editorial: Harrison Point project should stay prepared to roll with the changes
Planning for the future is always important. That doesn’t stop just because of economic upheaval and a global pandemic. The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation is putting $3 million into a road modification for Route 366 (Bull Creek Road) just off Route 28’s Tarentum exit. It would support a 162-acre business...
Editorial: Elected officials should wear masks in public meetings, or stay home
Masks have been a hot-button issue in these pandemic days. Whether it is an online video of a confrontation over wearing a mask in a private business or something closer to home, some people rebel against wearing masks in public settings. Wearing cloth masks, especially indoors, is widely regarded by...
Editorial: Names of jurors in Held trial should be released
A jury has a job. Everything that happens in a criminal trial plays to an audience of 12. The jury is entrusted with the solemn responsibility of hearing evidence and legal arguments and setting aside preconceptions to determine whether or not someone committed a crime. It’s arguably the most important...
Laurels & lances: Working, moving, rewarding, destroying
Laurel: To a change of plans. For some, a youth group trip cancellation would be the end of a very short story. Cornerstone Ministries made it the start. When middle schoolers from the Murrysville church couldn’t go to New York on a mission trip, the trip didn’t happen, but the...
Editorial: Vaccine volunteers are heroic
In the search for a way out of the coronavirus pandemic, there is a lot of attention on the key players. There are the agencies: the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the World Health Organization, the Food and Drug Administration, the federal Department of Health and Human Services, the...
Editorial: Safe buses are back-to-school basics
Going back to school doesn’t start with sitting at a desk. It doesn’t start with putting things in a locker or even walking through the door. For many, it starts with stepping onto a school bus. According to the Safe Routes to School Partnership, 55% of American children get to...
Editorial: Veterans should be counted in census
“The term ‘veteran’ means a person who served in the active military, naval, or air service, and who was discharged or released therefrom under conditions other than dishonorable.” That is the definition under Title 38 United States Code, according to the Social Security Administration. A veteran is someone who stepped...
Editorial: High school sports deserve every effort to return for safe play
If pro sports are finding it hard to get back to the business of playing games amid the coronavirus pandemic, how are schools supposed to do it? School districts are dealing with a lot right now as the calendar ticks like a time bomb edging closer and closer to the...
Editorial: Pennsylvania should value first responders
On a normal day, Pennsylvanians don’t realize how much they rely on an almost invisible wall of people standing between them and disaster. Some of the disasters are metaphorical. A minor car crash can snarl traffic but isn’t critical to more than the insurance deductible. But others are literal, like...
Editorial: Real solution needed for evictions
You can’t shelter in place if you don’t have a place to shelter. That’s the crux of the rental and foreclosure problem amid the coronavirus pandemic. When Pennsylvania went into covid-19 lockdowns back in March, Gov. Tom Wolf put a moratorium in place on evictions, providing cover for renters and...
Laurels & lances: Slide, shade, view
Laurel: To big fun outdoors. The summer of 2019 passed without one of the best ways to enjoy the great outdoors in Westmoreland County — the giant slide in Mammoth Park. The delightful Mt. Pleasant Township landmark was closed down for a $1.1 million renovation project that upgraded it from...
Editorial: Local impact of international students
New rules for students coming from overseas to study in the United States might seem like something that only needs to concern people coming here from China and France and India for their higher education. But it doesn’t. It affects kids going to school in Pittsburgh and State College and...
Editorial: Grand jury report on fracking indicts the state
Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro’s latest grand jury report might seem like a diatribe on the evils of fracking. That is definitely what draws attention. The problem is that is only half the story. The other half is the failings of government. As attorney general, Shapiro has made a point...
Editorial: Our great outdoors are an asset to cherish
It’s hot out there. Southwestern Pennsylvania is in the middle of a heat wave that will see 90-degree highs all week. Seems like the perfect time to get outside and do something fun, right? But ugh, there it is again. The coronavirus pandemic. Just sitting there, ruining everything. We have...


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