Laurel: To prioritizing education. The Diocese of Greensburg announced a massive demonstration of support for parochial schools Wednesday. Donations totalling about $20 million will help make it possible for more kids to attend diocesan schools through tuition assistance that will extend over the next five years.

There also will be about $300,000 in capital improvements made at no cost to the diocese.

Bishop Larry J. Kulick called the donations “historic and monumental.”

A $2.5 million anonymous donation was made in 2020 that began this push for tuition assistance. It saw enrollment at Mary Queen of Apostles jump 20% and Aquinas Academy up 10%. The same still nameless donor joined with more than 100 other businesses and individuals through the Pennsylvania Educational Income Tax Credit program to push the assistance further.

Lance: To a hissy fit. Apparently the Cleveland- Pittsburgh spats aren’t limited to the football field.

A federal judge in Ohio denied the Cleveland Metropolitan Park District’s request for a temporary restraining order against the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium.

What exactly prompted the Cleveland zoo to rattle its tail? The Asian Lantern Festival the Pittsburgh zoo will be hosting Aug. 14 through Oct. 30. The Cleveland attraction stages a similar event that includes a light show from the same company, Tianyu Arts and Culture, and called the event trademark infringement.

The judge didn’t agree with Cleveland’s assertions this was an “audacious attempt to claim intellectual property rights” since Asian lanterns are something that have existed in various Asian nations for thousands of years.

Lance: To jailhouse fights. Usually when people get into a fight about jail, it gets broken up by a guard and the participants have to go back to their cells. But what do you do when the argument is between elected officials?

In the latest example of dysfunctional behavior among the top line offices in Westmoreland County, Commissioner Doug Chew is accusing Sheriff James Albert of being “derelict in his duties” because of a transportation issue.

In July 2020, about six months after Albert took office, President Judge Rita Hathaway signed an order directing the sheriff’s office to take inmates to medical treatments, appointments and testing outside the jail as determined necessary by the facility medical provider. The order came after Albert halted transfers.

It rose again after he did so once more. However it is important to note that Albert is not denying the medical care or transportation. He is just saying that his deputies aren’t medically trained for a service better provided through the $2.5 million contract the county already has with Wexford Health Services.

Should the sheriff be following a court order? Absolutely. But that order shouldn’t require an inmate be transported in a sheriff’s vehicle if an ambulance makes more sense. The commissioners should recognize this and not get into another interoffice squabble. The county officials should act like they are on the same team, not rival prison gangs.

Copyright ©2025— Trib Total Media, LLC (TribLIVE.com)