Got to Category

Editorials category, Page 78

Pope Francis, first Latin American pontiff, dies at 88
Editorial: Tax increase is harsh lesson
The New Kensington-Arnold School District financial situation is an argument for a change in how government — and taxpayers — should think about taxes. It would be great to fund our schools and other vital public services without requiring everyone to kick money into a collective pot. But failing another...
Editorial: Deer torture demands response
It can be hard for some to reconcile the idea of hunting and a love of animals. There are groups who will never accept it. The activist group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, for example, calls it unnecessary and cruel. “Hunting might have been necessary for human survival...
Editorial: Human trafficking is cheap crime
What is the cost of human trafficking? In terms of dollars, it’s huge. Advocacy group Human Rights First puts the profits at about $150 billion a year, and that year was 2014. Five years later, it could well be larger. While only 19% of trafficking victims are sex workers, $99...
Laurels & lances: Honored, poured and gifted
Laurel: To good lessons taught by a good teacher. Joseph Welch is the 2020 Pennsylvania Teacher of the Year. He teaches American history at North Hills Middle School, and it’s not the first time he has been singled out for his extraordinary work making history more than a dusty subject...
Editorial: It’s flu season. Did you get your shot?
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s color-coded map indicates how much influenza has been detected by the end of November, a month that is normally outside of serious concerns about the disease. Pennsylvania is purple — the darkest shade for the highest threat. Influenza here is widespread — just...
Editorial: Answers on fire suspensions hazy
There is nothing more confusing than a lack of answers. Except, perhaps, answers that point in all different directions. Latrobe has opted for a grab bag filled with no information and contradictory finger-pointing in the case of one fire company. Seven firefighters have been suspended by the city. They say...
Editorial: Traffic fine alternatives a good idea
In Pennsylvania, a driver’s license is often a lifeline. The state Legislature’s Center for Rural Pennsylvania puts the number of residents who live in rural areas at 27%. That’s definitely not the majority. But those 3.5 million or so people are scattered over the largest part of the state. Not...
Editorial: Peduto should sign gator law
Lock up your gators. Or at least tell people you have them. Pittsburgh City Council took a bold stance against modern-day dinosaurs last week when passing an ordinance that requires dangerous reptiles be registered. It might seem ridiculous in a city north of the Mason-Dixon line, a community with cold,...
Editorial: Russian hacks demand allied response
We no longer defend simply against nations. We fight factions. We are attacked by ideals and ideologues. We also fight against a deadly sin that has driven more war than politics and pride — greed. On Thursday, federal authorities announced the indictment of two Russian nationals in Pittsburgh. Maksim V....
Editorial: High stakes bidding at the lottery
Hiring someone for a job is not as simple as putting a “help wanted” sign in the front window. Especially not when the job is about handling the billions running in and out of the Pennsylvania lottery system. But does it really have to be as complicated as it has...
Laurels & lances: Tradition, cruelty, trespassing and questions
Laurel: To a new spin on an old tradition. If you don’t see “It’s a Wonderful Life,” can you even say that Christmas has happened? Let’s not find out. Luckily, the Pittsburgh Center for Arts and Media’s recent closing of Regent Square Theater, where the Frank Capra classic was annually...
Editorial: Money can’t buy involvement
There is often a sad lament for the way things used to be in our communities. We look for ways to recapture the days when downtown bustled and the kids were active, when there was less graffiti and more social grace. We wonder how we can have that back. We...
Editorial: Sextortion shows criminal evolution
Crime doesn’t like to sit still. It doesn’t achieve a goal, take a break and retire, content that it has run its race. No, crime is a lot like modern business. It wants to see growth. It wants to expand its reach. It wants to find new product lines and...
Editorial: Pay attention to all domestic violence
A couple has a fight. A couple has an ugly fight. Someone ends up in the emergency room. Police are called. Charges are filed. It isn’t a new story or a particularly surprising one. It happens every day — often several times a day. And this time, people are paying...
Editorial: Put down cellphone while driving
There’s just no reason for it. People have been driving for more than 100 years. When the Model T first rolled off Henry Ford’s assembly line in 1908, it put Americans on the road and gave them a freedom they never had before. The cellphone has snatched that away. Ironically,...
Editorial: Operation Santa Claus gives caring
There are words for the deficits in a person’s life. If you need food, you are hungry. If you need water, you are thirsty. If you need shelter, you are homeless. But there is a different kind of need — sometimes overlapping one or more or all of those —...
Editorial: Harrisburg targets hunting changes
It used to be that the Saturday after Thanksgiving was about hunting for bargains or hunting for Christmas ornaments or maybe just hunting for the remote to watch college football. “Used to be” was last year. That changes this weekend. This year, the Saturday after Thanksgiving is also the first...
Laurels & lances: Filming, closing, giving and picking
Laurel: To not giving up. Aspinwall’s Philip Beard proves the old saying about good things coming to those who wait. Filming on a movie version of his 2004 novel “Dear Zoe” just wrapped last week after shooting around O’Hara, Squirrel Hill and Braddock. It may have taken 15 years to...
Editorial: In celebration of gratitude
Thanksgiving. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines thanksgiving with a small T as “a public acknowledgment or celebration of divine goodness; the act of giving thanks; a prayer expressing gratitude.” We have the public celebrating down pat. Celebrating is an area in which Americans excel. We do love a party, and if...
Editorial: Is opioid settlement right move?
Gambling is coming to Westmoreland County. No, not just in the mini casino at the mall. It’s happening in the halls of government too. The Westmoreland County Commissioners decided Friday to roll the dice on a settlement in the federal opioid lawsuit. The proposed total of the litigation that involves...
Editorial: Grand jury reports are trust and truth
A grand jury report is not the kind of thing that is released every time it is issued. We may not know every grand jury that is impaneled. We are not told when they hear a case. We do not know what witnesses appear before them. We may never hear...
Editorial: First responders need protection
A firefighter has to be prepared for a lot. Fire, naturally. Structural damage to a house. The elements, since emergencies don’t put themselves off for fair weather. Even access to simple life-sustaining oxygen. And bullets. That last one shouldn’t be a factor, but it is. Jeannette firefighters are being outfitted...
Editorial: Law just part of youth vaping fix
A new law will not stop young smokers. Or vapers. On Thursday, Pennsylvania’s General Assembly moved ahead with legislation that would change the legal age to buy tobacco products — whether traditional cigarettes or the newer e-cigarette devices and their fluids — to 21. The House supported it 135-49. The...
Editorial: Schools need to study travel costs
Educators appreciate education. At least, they should. It’s right there in the name. One would think that a teacher or a principal or a superintendent would be interested in learning as much as teaching, especially when so much is changing about how kids are processing information via new technologies. And...
Laurels & lances: Movies, fights, holidays and theft
Laurel: To a spotlight on a great neighbor. A little national attention on Pittsburgh is always nice, especially when it’s for everyone’s favorite nice guy, Latrobe native Fred Rogers. “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood” is giving that wholesome glow with a little red-carpet flair. Thanks a lot, Tom Hanks!...


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 >