Editorials

What do solar farms have in common with fracking, strip clubs, halfway houses and landfills? On the surface, it might be hard to see. Solar farms and fracking couldn’t be more different, with one promoting green energy and the other built on fossil fuels. Adult entertainment might be questionable, but...

Laurel: To an ap-peel-ing visit. The Savannah Bananas brought their signature form of entertainment married with baseball to PNC Park over the weekend. It was two days of fun and excitement rarely seen in the Pittsburgh Pirates’ home venue. Yes, the Bananas are out-of-town barnstormers. Yes, the event had a...

Every 10 years, America asks the people to stand up and be counted. This is not about statistics. It’s not keeping score. It is about representation. Congress’ two chambers are populated in different ways. In the Senate, every state is equal. From tiny Rhode Island to powerhouses like Florida and...

The budget of most Americans is a delicate balancing act. You know what you have coming in and what should be going out. A decrease on one side or an increase on the other can throw it out of whack. There have been a lot of increases in recent years...

Who should be held liable when a person’s biometric data — their facial features, voice or fingerprints — is misused? Illinois is home to some of the strongest consumer privacy regulations in the country, including its rules governing the use of biometric data. Perhaps you were one of the folks...

Here we are at the end of August, heading into familiar rituals. Kids are back in school. Football is in full swing. Pumpkin spice lattes are heralding the start of fall. And once more, the rules about mail-in ballots in Pennsylvania are being juggled — tossed in the air and...

Yes, Taylor Swift is getting married. We know. The whole world came to a grinding halt Tuesday when the world’s biggest pop star announced her engagement to Kansas City Chiefs standout Travis Kelce. It drew a line in the zeitgeist, dividing it into B.E. (Before Engagement) and A.E. (After Engagement)....

Laurel: To slowing down. Pittsburgh City Council is taking steps toward using cameras at red lights. Council authorized the use of automated red light enforcement last year. The technology would snap pictures of drivers who run lights and then send them tickets by mail. Now they are working toward a...

Across Western Pennsylvania, kids are going back to school. College dorms are overflowing. High school football games are lighting up Friday nights. School buses are back on the roads taking little ones with backpacks and new shoes to class. The lazy days of summer are over, and the jam-packed schedules...

The history of drug use in America is not necessarily a story of opium dens and crack houses. It’s a story of substances that weren’t illegal until they were abused. Patent medicines might be everything from a cold medicine on the shelf of a general store to the snake oil...

When you have a child or a pet that does something wrong, it’s important to address the situation immediately. Did your son hit his sister? You don’t want to let the fight go on and on and maybe talk about it Saturday. That sends the message the action wasn’t important....

It is no secret that President Donald Trump does not like mail-in voting. “Tremendous potential for voter fraud, and for whatever reason, doesn’t work out well for Republicans,” he said of it on Twitter in 2020. Despite pushback from officials across the country who have maintained the practice is safe...

Is there anyone we trust more than a firefighter ? These are the people who don’t just respond when called. They literally walk into fire. But despite the name, fire is only part of the job. They pull people out of vehicles when they are trapped there after a crash....

Laurel: To family fun. The Westmoreland Fair is all about bringing the community together with events and attractions that can satisfy people of all ages. Concerts to camel rides, rodeos to rabbit agility courses — there’s almost nothing you can’t find at the fair. And for some, it’s a family...

Remember when old movies and television shows gave us the impression quicksand was the great scourge lurking beneath our feet? Nope. The number of deaths due to quicksand is so small it’s not statistically significant enough to track. But sinkholes are another story. The number of sinkholes is too varied...

Imagine you are trying to save money on your grocery budget while making sure you get the food you need at the same time. You sign up for a subscription service that promises groceries for a flat fee every month. It’s a common scenario. It’s the business model behind dozens...

The explosion at U.S. Steel’s Clairton Coke Works is one of those massive incidents that require a careful, methodical review. The collapse of the Fern Hollow Bridge occurred Jan. 28, 2022. The final report from the National Transportation Safety Board was issued March 22, 2024. The Federal Railroad Administration’s final report...

Tax-advantaged employer-sponsored retirement savings accounts hit a milestone not long ago: At least half of all private sector U.S. workers now participate in a 401(k). That is good news in this respect: The alternative of not saving money for retirement could prove crushing. Finance experts have long cautioned against relying...

College students can take the dorm experience seriously. You can’t walk into Walmart or Target without hitting a wall of ready-for-campus furnishings and accessories. For many, the must-haves range from comforters and clothes baskets to microwaves and mini fridges. Social media is thick with inspiration pictures and decorating videos. But...

It took almost a year but charges finally have been filed in the death of Roxanne Bonnoni. Well, not really. The 11-year-old Natrona girl was killed Aug. 20, 2024 when she was crossing North Canal Street near Kuntz Road in Harrison. It was 7:15 p.m. The vehicle that hit her...

Laurel: To an unexpected appearance. Convenience stores are there to provide things you need quickly and easily. A tank of gas, a gallon of milk, an unexpected live rock concert. Wait, what? On Friday afternoon, alt-rock band All-American Rejects started teasing an appearance in Pittsburgh on TikTok. Sheetz jumped in...

Our nation’s campaign finance laws are a mess. Money has never been so influential in American politics, and it could get worse. The Supreme Court is set to hear a case about how much money political parties can spend on campaigns in coordination with candidates. The National Republican Senatorial Committee,...

President Donald Trump is mulling a move on marijuana. The president said Monday his administration was considering rescheduling the substance, moving it from Schedule I to a Schedule III. Scheduled drugs are medications or other substances classified based on their impacts. Marijuana is a Schedule I drug, meaning it has...

Partisanship is what happens in the quiet spaces between calamity. When trains are derailing or cars are crashing, there is no question of affiliation. When a building is burning, no one asks how the firefighters voted. When a hurricane smashes against the shore, Democrats and Republicans and those who have...

The Federal Reserve resisted pressure from the White House on July 30 and left its policy rate unchanged. It was the right decision. As Chair Jerome Powell acknowledged, the case for a cut was a bit stronger this time than in June — and two of the Fed’s policymakers, in...