Laurels & lances: Victory, defeat and opportunity

Tribune-Review | Thursday, February 10, 2022 12:31 p.m.

Chaz Palla | Tribune-Review

Steelers fans cheer against the Raiders on Sept. 19 at Heinz Field.

Laurel: To an obvious fact. In a year that we are forced to watch the Cincinnati Bengals — the Bengals, for Pete’s sake — vie for the Lombardi Trophy on Super Bowl Sunday, it is nice to get a little bit of acknowledgement that some things are still right with the world. Gravity still works, death and taxes are still sure things, and there is no football fan like a Steelers fan.

Personal financial website WalletHub confirmed something that everyone in Southwestern Pennsylvania knows as unchangeable truth: Pittsburgh is the best place to be a football fan. We have it proven mathematically. They used 21 metrics, and for the fourth year in a row, the Steel City came out on top.

We might have to watch the Bengals get rings this year, but we get to do it knowing that we already won this contest.

Lance: To unfair arguments. Westmoreland County Court of Common Pleas Judge Christopher Feliciani did the right thing when making a few decisions in the case of Paul Barnhart, 26, of Derry Township.

He dismissed Barnhart’s attorney Robert Domenick’s arguments that famous people like broadcaster Bill Hillgrove get different treatment when charged with a DUI offense. He also refused to force the prosecution to offer a deal deemed inappropriate.

Domenick was unfair to Hillgrove in making Barnhart’s arrest for driving 120 mph with a 0.174 blood alcohol level about a different person with a different case and different circumstances.

Laurel: To rolling along. The low-speed e-scooter program that was piloted in Pittsburgh may get a chance to move to other cities.

The state Senate has a bill in process that would allow other communities — including Aliquippa, Arnold, Beaver Falls, Butler, Clairton, Duquesne, Greensburg, Jeannette, Latrobe, Lower Burrell, McKeesport, Monessen, Monongahela, New Castle, New Kensington, Uniontown and Washington — to try out the new transportation option.

“The scooters provide innovative, flexible and low-cost transportation to tens of millions of riders across the country. They help relieve traffic congestion, pollution and stress by reducing car trips and increasing access to public transit,” said state Sen. Daniel Laughlin, R-Erie.