Editorials category, Page 4
Laurels & lances: Fixing up & tearing down
Laurel: To restoration. Outside the VFW Post 92 in Lower Burrell stands a piece of history. It’s a Vietnam-era helicopter, the kind that carried service members, rescued the wounded and took enemy fire in battle. It stands there as a kind of memorial to those who served in those actions...
Editorial: This shutdown is as pointless as all the others
With funding expired, new appropriations bills stalled and progress on a stopgap nonexistent, Congress has for the 15th time since 1981 allowed the federal government to shut its doors. Don’t expect this round to be any more edifying than the others. Republicans want to extend current spending levels until November,...
Editorial: There is more than 1 way to show up at the polls
Politics is ugly. Elections can be the worst expression of that ugliness. In recent years, the voting process has become riddled with skepticism, distrust and hostility. But does it have to be? Is there a way to get back to a place where we not only do our duty in...
Editorial: The end of national retail at Pittsburgh Mills
Another one bites the dust. In this case, it’s another national retailer bidding farewell to the Pittsburgh Mills mall. This time it’s Bath & Body Works, the fragrance and personal care shop that has been as critical to the operation of every mall as a pretzel stand since 1990. Have...
Editorial: Ultimately, Comey case will rise or fall on the evidence
Nine years ago, progressives wanted James Comey strung up in the public square. Today, he’s their cause celebre. How times change. In 2016, Democrats lambasted the then-FBI director for going public days before the presidential election with potentially damaging details on the probe into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private...
Editorial: Gainey’s sloppy budget proposal gets a bad grade
Sometimes kids put off their homework too long. That book report seems like it’s a million years away. There’s plenty of time to read the book, think about it, highlight what’s important, come up with a theme to discuss, write up the argument, edit it, rewrite the report and turn...
Editorial: What is the point of a fight in the Pennsylvania state House?
Every day is a new fight in Harrisburg. Lately, it’s been about the three-months-overdue budget. Discussions on the contentious spending plan are an all-too-familiar battleground. It’s a long-running soap opera that has gotten even more dramatic as the political lines become more deeply etched. Pennsylvania is one of just 12...
Laurels & lances: Food & fear
Laurel: To more on the menu. Western Pennsylvania shoppers will have more grocery options with Wegmans and Meijer coming in. Despite the ubiquitous presence of Giant Eagle plus Walmart, Shop ’n Save and Aldi locations, the area has “one of the most acute shortages of supermarket chains anywhere in the...
Editorial: County meetings canceled, latest casualty of Pennsylvania budget battle
The Pennsylvania budget impasse isn’t the gift that keeps on giving. It’s the thief that keeps on taking. The three-month-long delay in a state spending plan is a dammed-up financial river that has rippling repercussions throughout the agencies downstream. Counties are conduits for money from the state to put into...
Editorial: Efficient, convenient police blood draws are a good tool in fighting DUI
When a police officer pulls over a driver, it can be the start of a process that costs that driver a lot of time and money. What can be missed is how much it costs the law enforcement agency, too. A suspected drunken driving stop takes longer than a simple...
Editorial: Irish trip during budget impasse is tone-deaf for lawmakers
On Sunday, Pennsylvania leaders were overseas. A certain amount of business travel is to be expected for elected officials. Legislators regularly traverse the state for in-person events and hearings in various areas, as well as moving to and from their home seats to Harrisburg. They may have to go to...
Editorial: A chance to save Ukraine: Trump’s sudden Ukraine support is worth capitalizing on
Now that Donald Trump has come around to publicly stating that besieged Ukraine could use military support from the U.S. and the European Union to fully recover all of the territory taken over by Russia, the world should lock in the president’s U-turn, which stunned policymakers everywhere. Trump has clearly...
Editorial: What does U.S. Steel’s $100 million announcement mean?
A promise has been made for the Pittsburgh steel industry. Again. Last week, U.S. Steel announced it was committing $100 million to a new slag recycler at the Edgar Thompson Works in Braddock. Any investment in the steel industry facilities throughout Western Pennsylvania is more than an investment in equipment...
Editorial: Unconstitutional jock tax fallout could have been avoided
If you buy a flat screen TV in Pittsburgh, you pay 6% state sales tax and 1% Allegheny County sales tax. No one asks you for your driver’s license to see where you are from and charges you another 5% for living outside the city limits. If they did, shoppers...
Laurels & lances: Studies & Steelers
Laurel: To spreading education. Carnegie Mellon University is one of the best-known, highest-regarded schools in the world when it comes to learning about the ins and outs of computers and programming. But not everyone can get in. It’s a highly selective school. Although many would like to attend, only about...
Editorial: The economy is flashing red for many American consumers
Take it from a guy who made more than $30 million last year: Low-income consumers are “living on the edge.” So says Charlie Scharf, chief executive of Wells Fargo bank, citing data that indicate most American consumers are spending down their ready cash. For many, the rainy day they’ve been...
Editorial: Learning the fine art of civil discourse
Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II had it right when they gave us a lesson in song back in 1949. “You’ve Got to Be Carefully Taught” was an admonition about racism and hatred. “You’ve got to be taught to hate and fear. You’ve got to be taught from year to...
Editorial: How far should a vape shop be from a school?
Do we need a vape shop on every street corner? They seem to be popping up with the almost magical overnight frequency of mushrooms or Starbucks locations. If a closed business is too small to host a Spirit Halloween, the space has a good chance of becoming a vape shop...
Editorial: ICE must leave U.S. citizens alone
Here is something all Americans can agree on, whatever their feelings on immigration enforcement: United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement should not be harassing, let alone detaining, citizens of the United States. Nor should that agency be harassing, let alone detaining, green card holders, officially known as lawful permanent residents...
Editorial: Police attacks started with the danger of domestic violence
Given the amount of attention focused on gun violence, it is worth noting violence itself is not so well aimed. A gun can be expertly targeted. A good hunter, for instance, wants to be as accurate as possible. He doesn’t just point toward the woods and have faith he will...
Editorial: Fetterman, McCormick and moving past political violence
There are a lot of “ists” flying around right now. It used to be the labels socialist, Marxist and communist being thrown around. Now it’s fascist, antifascist and anarchist as Democrats and Republicans hurl epithets at each other. Pennsylvania’s senators say it’s time for that to stop. On Tuesday, Republican...
Laurels & lances: College & consequences
Laurel: To increasing numbers. The Community College of Allegheny County is seeing its enrollment rise. The student population is climbing by about 9% over last school year. ‘This is probably the largest increase we’ve experienced in the last five years,” President Quintin Bullock said. That’s about 10,800 students at CCAC....
Editorial: How do we eradicate violence?
There is a lot of talk about hate right now. In the wake of the shooting of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, it’s everywhere. It is amplified, but it isn’t new. Hate has been a growing topic of conversation for years, often amid targeted violence. One of those moments...
Editorial: Former Greensburg cops squandered pensions with drug crimes
A pension is different from a retirement fund. With a 401(k) or an individual retirement account (IRA), there is a simple mathematical transaction. It may have a few more strings than a checking or savings account, but the basic elements remain the same. An account is opened. Deposits are made....
Editorial: Penn State president’s pay raise makes financial trouble hard to swallow
Penn State is having money trouble. Just ask. The administration will tell you. “The challenges we face — declining enrollments, demographic shifts and financial pressures — are not unique to Penn State, but they require us to make difficult choices,” President Neeli Bendapudi wrote in a February message. That was...
