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Editorials category, Page 77

Pope Francis, first Latin American pontiff, dies at 88
Laurels & lances: Hard job, bad look, new name
Laurel: To a hard job done well. A crash can be hard to handle, even for people who handle things like that every day. A crash with five dead, 55 injured and twisted wreckage that takes hours to navigate is worse. It isn’t something that allows the people rendering aid...
Editorial: Mayors shouldn’t act like children
A mayor’s job isn’t the same in every Pennsylvania community. In a small borough, the mayor may be little more than a figurehead for ceremonial events like a Memorial Day flag service or a tie-breaker in case someone hasn’t shown up for a council meeting. In a larger city, like...
Editorial: The case of the trashed sheriff’s office
The smooth transition of power is always important after an election. It reinforces the will of the people. It proves that the office is bigger than the occupant. It also shows that the people involved are mature adults who can play by the rules of the game. In Allegheny County,...
Editorial: Is there enough talk about Pa. Turnpike safety?
There is a lot of talk about the turnpike. People gripe about the annually escalating tolls and the large amount of debt the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission carries with huge annual payments to the state Department of Transportation for non-turnpike-related services. But is there enough conversation about how safe the turnpike...
Editorial: Why we need librarians
Libraries are more than a place to borrow a book, although that would be remarkable enough. Libraries help us achieve and explore knowledge in so many more ways. Today they navigate us through the internet and videos, recordings and toys, classes and meetings and as quiet spots to think. That...
Nancy Patton Mills: Trump’s broken tax promises
In the crisp October of 2016, presidential candidate Donald J. Trump gave a speech at the Eisenhower Complex in Gettysburg. He fired up the crowd with promises to remember the “forgotten man and woman” of our country, to bring jobs to struggling communities and deliver a tax plan where “the...
Editorial: Mental health is important
“Your mental health matters, and it’s OK to reach out for help.” That simple message needs to be repeated until it is accepted as a truth — basic and incontrovertible as the alphabet and gravity. Gov. Tom Wolf said it Thursday when announcing a public outreach campaign and efforts to...
Editorial: Opioid companies profit from cure
According to statistics from Allegheny and Westmoreland counties, the number of fatalities resulting from drug overdoses is expected to have fallen for the second year in a row. That is undeniably good news. It means fewer people are grieving the loss of loved ones. What it does not mean is...
Laurels & lances: Sports, spats, skates and scams
Laurel: To little bits of sports history. Close to 300 people gathered on New Year’s Day in a North Huntingdon auto dealership to get a glimpse of some of the pieces of the past that made up Bill Mazeroski’s 17-year Hall-of-Fame career with the Pittsburgh Pirates. More than 120 participated...
Editorial: Preparation is never a problem
It is now 20 years since the world didn’t end with the crash of all the computers. The Y2K bug didn’t do what everyone feared. Years of increasing anxiety about what would happen when the calendars flipped from the 1900s to the 2000s in a digital world that was often...
Editorial: 2020 promises wild ride
If 2019 seemed like a roller coaster, hurtling to the peak of one local, state, national or global event after another before veering wildly off in a different direction or plunging down to an unsatisfying resolution, well, buckle your seat belts, keep your hands and arms inside the car at...
Editorial: The rear-view mirror of 2019
There is a tendency to look back on the past year with nostalgia or to draw a curtain while marching fiercely into the upcoming year with hopes and plans for better. Take a quick scroll through your phone or click around your favorite television stations and you’ll probably be confronted...
Editorial: Police take bite out of hoagie market
Hoagies are not a substitute for money. A big long bun stuffed with ham and cheese and veggies is not supposed to take the place of cold hard cash. But for school groups and service organizations and nonprofits in need, a hoagie can be the preferred route to building up...
Editorial: Are turnpike spikes toll road to ruin?
Brother, can you spare a dime? Well, that will work if you have an E-ZPass, but if you don’t, how about two, because that’s how much tolls are going up. Yes, again. No one can possibly be surprised. We have all seen this coming for years. For twelve straight years,...
Editorial: Are there too many police in school?
School safety and discipline are not the same thing. At least, they shouldn’t be. School safety is the odd system of fences and hurdles that strives to protect students. Safety is the omnipresent idea that surrounds schools in a post-Columbine, post-Sandy Hook, post-Parkland world where we know all too well...
Laurels & lances: Gifts of the season
Laurel: To helping new neighbors. It is hard to become part of a community that you can’t understand. That is why the mission of Literacy Pittsburgh’s English as a Second Language classes is so important. Immigrants to the area looking to learn to read and write English are finding help...
Editorial: Transit authority gets behind wheel of buses
Everyone looks for a fresh start in the new year. For Westmoreland County, that fresh start means getting in the driver’s seat. That’s really not a euphemism. The county’s transit authority takes over bus and paratransit services starting Jan. 2. It’s a very different role for the authority. Until October,...
Editorial: Give gift of charity this holiday
It doesn’t matter what holiday you are celebrating. Knowing you have more people on your list than you can afford to gift is stressful. Now what if you weren’t looking at just your parents and your kids and your sister and your nieces and nephews and your friend at work?...
Editorial: Hanukkah lessons shine through
As darkness falls, lights shine to show the way. It happens every day. The headlights on cars. The streetlights along the road. The neon on a storefront. The light on your front porch that says, “This is home. This is where you belong.” Lights beckon us to come close. They...
Editorial: Giant Eagle’s plastic move challenging
Giant Eagle made a giant move this week, announcing a plan to eliminate single-use plastics by 2025. But is that even possible? Walk through a grocery store any day and see how much plastic you encounter as you wander from aisle to aisle. It’s a lot more than just the...
Lori Falce: Impeachment strikes back
It is blockbusting. It is epic. It is the massive story years in the making that closes out the decade. And depending on the reviews you read, it’s a terrible failure or a stunning masterpiece. I might be talking about “Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker.” I might be talking about...
Laurels & lances: Giving, pleading and delivering
Laurel: To really giving back. For Trafford Borough Council President Kris Cardiff, the idea of giving back to the community is more than lip service. He is actually returning his $600 a year in pay for being a public official. It’s something he says he has been doing for a...
Editorial: Better school funding needed in Pennsylvania
It should not cost more to teach math in Squirrel Hill than it does in New Kensington. It should not be more expensive to teach history in Hempfield than in Jeannette. It should not take more money to teach reading in Upper St. Clair than in Clairton. But geography ends...
Editorial: Ghost guns decision makes sense
On Monday, Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro officially stated his legal opinion that most of a gun is a gun. That means that felons and others barred from buying or possessing guns in Pennsylvania can’t buy something called an 80% receiver — a kind of building block for a weapon...
Editorial: Pitt’s part in HIV fight shows possibility
There was a time that living with HIV was an unimaginable idea. HIV was the contagious virus that dragged you down the unavoidable road to AIDS, and AIDS killed you. It was a fact and there was nothing anyone could do about it. Except they did. Globally, HIV and AIDS...


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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