Editorials category, Page 3
Laurels & lances: Fossils & fees
Laurel: To finding an icon. When you think about mascots, you think about the kind that wear exaggerated cartoon suits at a sports venue. We have those covered with the Pirate Parrot, Iceburgh and Steely McBeam. But Pittsburgh has other mascots — the inanimate kind that are more like landmarks....
Editorial: What does Thanksgiving mean to you?
Thanksgiving is not just a day off and a big dinner. We tell ourselves that it is a uniquely American holiday. It may seem like that, the way it is based in our Plymouth Rock origin story. It comes to us wrapped in the trappings of turkey and stuffing, the...
Editorial: Why should a transit authority have to pay for the privilege of being heard?
In a representative democracy, the people pick their lawmakers. The lawmakers then decide what laws to enact. Over time, there has been an added layer. Lobbyists go to the lawmakers to advocate for their causes. Sometimes those causes are for things like cancer research or the environment. Sometimes they are...
Editorial: For too many American kids, math isn’t adding up
Math scores in the U.S. have been so bad for so long that teachers could be forgiven for trying anything to improve them. Unfortunately, many of the strategies they’re using could be making things worse. It’s a crisis decades in the making. In the early 20th century, education reformers including...
Editorial: Big money, big batteries and big questions
A manufacturing company wants to expand. It makes announcements. And when the big news comes, there is another disclosure. The federal government is along for the ride. That might sounds like the U.S. Steel-Nippon Steel deal that included a “golden share” specifically controlled by President Donald Trump. It also describes...
Editorial: Pennsylvania’s CROWN Act protects identities and restores hope
Imagine one of the most defining aspects of who you are. Maybe it’s your eye color or your height. Maybe it’s your name or your blood type or your language. Whatever it is, it’s part of what makes you distinctly you. And the law says it is OK for you...
Laurels & lances: Reaching out & lashing out
Laurel: To seeing the problem. When you talk about bullying and programs to address it, the scope is generally broad. The instinct is to talk to the whole school or the whole class. You want to tell bullies not to bully. You want to tell the bystanders to speak up...
Editorial: Why won’t lawmakers consider a gift ban?
Why can’t Pennsylvania just have transparent government? Why is it so hard for the people to know who really is paying for the laws, the lawmakers and the influence? For nine years, March on Harrisburg has been — quite literally — marching on Harrisburg. The organization has returned to the...
Editorial: $1 million stolen, no jail time is a betrayal of justice — and police officers
Sometimes when police officers are accused of misconduct, it can be difficult to break through the wall of support — or at the very least, the wall of silence — that surrounds them. To a degree, that’s understandable. Officers depend on each other. In an emergency, they need to know...
Editorial: Klan flyers are cry for attention
Hate groups seem like the kind of thing that festers in the shadows. Who would admit to being aligned with an organization dedicated to hatred, committed to pressuring its neighbors and tied to violence? When was the last time you saw an obituary where someone’s long list of associations included...
Editorial: Budget vote doesn’t make funding flow
The state budget is passed. It’s been signed by the governor. Four months of confusion and belt-tightening is over. But does that mean a handle turns and state funding starts to pour toward all of the restricted agencies and programs like water from a faucet? Not at all. Counties and...
Editorial: What does selling naming rights buy a school?
If there’s one thing public schools understand, it’s how to apply math to a word problem. “Jimmy has five apples” and “a train leaves Philadelphia heading east at 30 miles per hour” are the kind of things that show up in homework, teaching kids that math problems don’t just come...
Editorial: Naming new chief is just a first step for Pittsburgh, O’Connor
Pittsburgh has had a rocky road in recent years with its police leadership. Scott Schubert retired in 2022, bringing to end almost three decades with the department and five years as chief. Since then, things have run like a game of Chutes and Ladders — moving forward and sliding back....
Laurels & lances: Action & inaction
Laurel: To asking for more. Brackenridge residents aren’t waiting for small problems to become big trouble. At a meeting this week, resident Heather Artman made a simple but important point: If ordinances aren’t enforced, they don’t matter. Maybe uncut grass and overflowing garbage cans don’t seem like a big deal,...
Editorial: Ending of government stalemates doesn’t negate damage
November is when families finally come together around a table and accomplish one thing that may have been hard to do for months. They have a meal and try to get along. Maybe it’s the impending Thanksgiving holiday that has prompted the Pennsylvania and federal governments to finally do what...
Editorial: Pennsylvania’s Act 111 does not protect good policing
Police enforce accountability — sometimes through arrests, sometimes through simply maintaining order. It is understandable that the public expects police to be accountable as well. It is confusing to have the law stand in the way of that. If an officer is fired for some kind of abuse of power,...
Editorial: Pittsburgh’s new mayor must be the bridge to what’s next
Pittsburgh’s mayor needs to be like the city — full of bridges. The mayor has to find a way to cross deep, perilous financial waters. The mayor has to span the chasm between the needs of residents and the demands of business. The mayor has to travel from the promises...
Editorial: The curse of cross-filing
Do you even remember a judicial election? In all the time you’ve been a voter — making choices and casting ballots — do you ever recall a campaign for a Pennsylvania judge at any level? Probably not. In Pennsylvania, judicial elections typically have been the blunt side of partisanship. Presidential,...
Editorial: Voters chose confidence in election machines
The voters of Westmoreland County were clear when they showed up at the polls. They picked a side. They made a choice. They went with the voting machines. In September, the county’s Republican commissioners approved a $40,000 plan to add optional paper ballots for the November election, citing a 2024...
Laurels & lances: Preparing & polling
Laurel: To giving shelter. People across the region are bracing for temperatures that continue to fall — and for the first snow of the season. While no one looks forward to the shift from wearing sweaters to paying heating bills, some have no home to heat. That’s a dangerous place...
Editorial: High turnout shows Pennsylvania voters are engaged
It isn’t really a surprise when people don’t turn out for an election the year after a president is selected. Especially in Pennsylvania. As a perennial swing state, Pennsylvania is lobbied hard during a presidential year. The ads are everywhere — on TV, on the radio, online and in mailboxes,...
Editorial: The common cents of planning ahead on eliminating the penny
Sometimes a decision is as easy as a coin toss. The stakes are low. The outcome is variable. Heads, you win. Tails, you lose. No big deal either way. Others may seem easy up front, but a little digging shows the process needs more care. Take, for instance, the penny....
Editorial: Duty doesn’t wait for big election years
An old Dutch story tells us the importance of doing what is necessary when duty demands. The Netherlands is a low-lying country prone to flooding. A system of earth and stone embankments makes up the defenses that hold back the water. The familiar tale speaks of a boy who noticed...
Editorial: Two government crises face Pennsylvanians
Pennsylvania is feeling a pinch other states aren’t. Oh sure, everyone is embroiled in the now month-old federal government shutdown. As of Saturday, what started out bad, with federal employees either sent home or working without pay, got worse as important programs were set to shut down. The Supplemental Nutrition...
Editorial: Courthouse settlement shows high price of denying reality
The long saga of the Westmoreland County Courthouse renovations has reached its conclusion. Perhaps you thought it was already at an end. After all, the parking garage reopened in July 2023 and the plaza and front entrance were in use a month later. The issue was that was far later...
