Got to Category

Editorials category, Page 75

Pope Francis, first Latin American pontiff, dies at 88
Editorial: Keep a leash on bullying
There is something about voicing an opinion online that can turn a forum of ideas into a kennel. Instead of thoughtful insights, honest questions, legitimate concerns and reasonable critique, it can easily turn to snarling, barking and howling as commenters compete to be heard above the din. It is part...
Laurels & lances: Vandals, cleanup and delivery
Lance: To defacing nature. Over the weekend, vandals spray painted graffiti all over hundreds of feet of the natural sandstone that lies along the Youghiogheny River in Ohiopyle State Park. This wasn’t some underpass or derelict old building where vandalism is still unwanted and makes a city or a neighborhood...
Editorial: A thoughtful, intentional Lent
What did you give up for Lent? The traditionals are things like chocolate and alcohol. Modern, digital Christians who observe the 40-day period leading up to Easter might abstain from things like Facebook or Twitter. Diehards eschew meat the whole time, regardless of Vatican II-era changes. Some gratefully limit that...
Editorial: B. Smith’s story worth remembering
Barbara “B.” Smith was a lot of things to a lot of people. A native of Everson in Fayette County who graduated from Southmoreland High School, she went into modeling and became a groundbreaker for black women in the fashion industry. She was a restaurateur and cookbook author. She was...
Editorial: Tech teaches life lessons
Technology is often demonized in the lives of kids. Too many phones. Too many screens. Kids need to pick up a book. Kids need to try to use their brains instead of relying on a device. Kids have too much technology and not enough creativity. But technology is as creative...
Editorial: Are fewer divorces good news?
For decades, we have heard the troubling statistic about American families. Half of marriages end in divorce. Well, the odds are improving. Especially in Pennsylvania. A 2017 Psychology Today study reviewed those numbers and found a new bride and groom had a 75% chance of staying together. Aw. We knew...
Editorial: Legislation strangled by partisanship
The political landscape is as partisan as a war zone, but “bipartisan” seems to be every politician’s favorite word. If a legislator does something with even one member of the opposing party, you will hear crows of “bipartisan support.” Without that one member, there is a great wailing and mourning...
Editorial: Boy Scouts bend their own laws
A Scout is trustworthy. That is the first point of the Scout Law, the 12 principles outlined by Boy Scouts of America as rules to live by. The organization defines the idea. “Tell the truth and keep promises. People can depend on you.” It will be surprising if at least...
Laurels & lances: Locks, fights and hope
Laurel: To a place in the plan. Infrastructure development is always a popular touchstone with politicians, so it isn’t surprising when it gets brought up. It’s definitely nice to be remembered at budget time, however. And that’s what happened with President Trump’s recent budget proposal. The plan includes $6 billion...
Editorial: Time for Nalani Johnson Rule
Time in a child’s life ticks by fast. A baby grows and changes every day. A week can be the difference between pants that fit and pants that don’t. And an hour can be the difference between life and death. On Tuesday, cellphones across the area blared as an Amber...
Editorial: What is the future of hemp industry?
Growing a new industry isn’t as simple as having an idea. It’s not even as simple as having a product. An industry is bigger than a business. It’s about suppliers and manufacturers and distributors. Even with enough supply and healthy demand, if any of the cogs in the middle break...
Editorial: School’s paper donation situation
Ask and ye shall receive. It’s a nice thought, but it doesn’t always work out. Sometimes, though, it does, like it did with Sto-Rox School District last week. On Friday, guidance counselor Katie Couch looked at the total lack of copy paper in the district and the months left in...
Editorial: Home prices up, inventory down
People love to see a great house. HGTV is popular for a reason. People want to see what other people’s houses look like, and what their houses could look like, and whether they should think about buying another house or remodeling the house they already have. That old adage is...
Editorial: Pitt virus collaboration is healthy
COVID-19 is coming to town. You are forgiven if you don’t immediately place the name. It’s gone through a number of changes in recent weeks. It’s the new official designation for the disease you are more likely to know as coronavirus. The problem is that coronavirus isn’t a virus. It’s...
Editorial: Brain drain requires smart solutions
They call it brain drain. It’s the harsh truth that Pennsylvania kids can’t afford to stay in Pennsylvania when they get higher education, and it dances around the edges of a lot of the problems with the state’s colleges and universities. While the Keystone State boasts plenty of opportunities —...
Laurels & lances: Transparency, therapy, reflection
Lance: To keeping secrets. Every day, there are lawsuits that are sealed for a variety of reasons. On Tuesday, sealed paperwork was filed in Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas containing the details of the settlement between UPMC and Paris Cleaners Inc. on one side and, on the other, the...
Editorial: Helping victims helps us all
If you get hurt, you should get help. That’s more than common sense. It is the idea behind so much of the government we support. It is why we have firefighters and police officers, paramedics and hospitals, emergency management agencies and the National Guard. As a society, we are prepared...
Editorial: Special Olympics are exceptional 
There are lots of ways to define the word “special.” There is distinct. There is different. There is “exceptionally good or precious.” All of those could apply to the Special Olympics. The Pennsylvania Winter Games were held at Seven Springs Ski Lodge Sunday through Tuesday. Every four years, the Olympic...
Editorial: Retire in Pittsburgh with $1 million?
Sometimes it isn’t how much money you’ve got. It’s how you’re going to spend it. Last week, SmartAsset released its third annual study showing how long a $1 million retirement nest egg would last in various U.S. cities. In Pittsburgh, you can stretch that pot of money to cover 23.14...
Editorial: Pick up after yourself, Pennsylvania
At home, if you don’t like how much your monthly bills are, you can cut back. Eat out less. Switch phone plans. Shut off unneeded lights and close the front door because, as parents say, you don’t have to heat the whole outdoors! But when it comes to taxes, that’s...
Editorial: Religion, speech free of fear
Sometimes it is the fear of something that causes more problems than the “something” itself. Anticipating a needle can be worse than the quick sting of a shot. And so it can be with prayer in schools. The First Amendment’s protections of religious freedom and the constitutional separation of church...
Editorial: Tranquilli and the scales of justice
The law is more than letters on a page. It isn’t just a static thing that exists flatly in tiny print in thick books. The law is a tool — a mechanism for weighing and measuring people in a way that has nothing to do with pounds or inches. And...
Laurels & lances: Bakers, groundhog, culture and taxes
Laurel: To a nourishing idea. Chatham University is creating a new baker training program that brings together its Center for Regional Agriculture, Food and Transformation with Community Kitchen Pittsburgh. Funded by a $215,000 grant from Bank of America, the pilot program launches in May and will allow students to earn...
Editorial: Will Wolf budget become impasse?
There was an important speech made Tuesday that is worth some attention. No, not the one in Washington that has spawned a million social media posts. It’s the one Gov. Tom Wolf gave in Harrisburg, outlining his 2020-21 budget proposal. For Pennsylvanians, it was a laundry list of priorities the...
Editorial: Iowa owes Pennsylvania better
The Iowa Democratic Party doesn’t just owe it to the people who participate in its highly-touted, first-in-the-country caucus every four years to figure out how to correct its problems. It owes it to the rest of us, too. On Tuesday, the Hawkeye State’s caucuses — a kind of Thanksgiving-table survey...


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 >