Editorials category, Page 42

In a move that should surprise no one, the government has once again called a timeout on requirements for Real ID. On Monday, the Department of Homeland Security pushed back the deadline for getting the enhanced identification cards needed for getting on a plane or gaining access to a federal...

Sometimes being right is a terrible thing. In June, the Tribune-Review presented an editorial headlined “De’Avry Thomas won’t be the last victim.” That came after the death of an 18-month-old boy who was killed in a drive-by shooting in Downtown Pittsburgh while in a car with his mother. Indeed, that...

A former state representative once joked that he wisely kept his sparkling new state-leased vehicle out of sight in his home garage when he was in the district and drove around town in an old beater to remind his constituents that he was a man of the people. Like everyone...

According to the Department of Community and Economic Development, there are about 15,000 Pennsylvanians who don’t have a home on any given day. They might be the stereotypical homeless — people making do on the streets of a city like Pittsburgh. They might be the people you would never know...

Pennsylvania’s Child Health Insurance Program is now 30 years old. Since 1992, it has been a pathway to healthy lives for children in the Keystone State and a guardrail protecting families. It was a model for the national CHIP program that did the same for kids and parents in other...

Laurel: To an end in sight. The year started with a bang — literally. It was Jan. 28, and the president was on his way to talk about infrastructure when a very public example of why it was important occurred in Pittsburgh. The Fern Hollow Bridge in Frick Park collapsed,...

The most important part of a corrections operation is not the bars. A jail is not a cage. It isn’t a place where people are chucked in and the door is locked behind them like some medieval dungeon. At least, it’s not supposed to be. No, the word “corrections” implies...

The votes are in — officially. The day we cast our votes is the start of a process that isn’t completed for weeks. Starting in October, Pennsylvanians started voting by mail. Ballots were cast in person Nov. 9. While we knew who the projected winners for some races were within...

The number of names in the hospital game is shrinking, even in a state abundant with facilities. Large hospitals buy smaller ones to create health systems. Health systems merge to create regional or statewide networks. On top of that, the building of more facilities happens steadily. More beds, more services,...

Sometimes doing the right thing doesn’t fix the problem. In September, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court looked at the case of a mentally ill man convicted of a crime who was charged with another crime while in state prison. A judge found the man’s profound mental illness meant that, under a...

Asking for a raise isn’t easy. Well, asking for one might be, but actually getting one is different. For many, it involves sitting down with your boss and justifying not only the job you are doing but also its increased value over what you are being paid. Maybe it happens...

Black Friday started its less-than-subtle expansion by creeping forward hour by hour into Thanksgiving, until one could rush through a Thanksgiving lunch to go line up for pre-Christmas deals. While there was pushback from some against cutting into the national holiday, that didn’t mean people objected to expanding access to...

Laurel: To a real deal. While the White House and the courts work out the feasibility of student loan forgiveness, the cost of a college education isn’t getting any smaller. At least, it’s not at most institutions. At Washington & Jefferson College, that’s not the case. The Washington County school...

Thanksgiving is often symbolized by an overflowing cornucopia, the horn of plenty spilling out bounty too great to be contained. Giving thanks for that kind of splendor is simple. There is little effort in saying grace at a table that groans under the weight of an impossible feast. It is...

When it comes to the U.S. government, no one is drafted to be vice president. It’s an honored invitation. Presidential candidates search for someone who is a complement, providing strengths where there are weaknesses while still having a similar overall direction. Sometimes that’s a real partnership. Other times, it’s a...

Electronic monitoring is one link in the chain of options when it comes to keeping track of people charged with or sentenced for a crime. It falls between incarceration and the kind of release on bail where someone is restricted by fear of losing a posted bond. Being released with...

There is nothing as important as our electoral process. Elections have to be safe. They have to be secure. They have to be easy and accessible. All of that can seem a little contradictory at times. Does making the process encouraging prevent it from being secure? Does making it safe...

In Washington, D.C., it took about a week to discover which party would have the majority in the U.S. House of Representatives, with attention pulled to races in Colorado and California before the balance finally tipped. The Republicans would take back the House from Democratic hands by a narrow margin....

My friends and I were talking about the collapse of FTX — the cryptocurrency trading firm that suddenly declared bankruptcy last week. It was a scandal that might have been of epic proportions if not overshadowed by things like the U.S. election vote counting and developments in the war in...

Laurel: To everything old being new again. When the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation gave a $160,000 rehabilitation loan to Dave Rankin to breathe new life into the old G.C. Murphy building in Tarentum, the hope was that it would preserve old architecture and benefit the area. The response to...

This month, Westmoreland County Commissioner Gina Cerilli Thrasher will take on a new role with a constituency of one — her about-to-be-born first child. Thrasher is one of a growing number of women in politics — especially women actively building their careers and their families at the same time. In...

On Tuesday, state Sen. Kim Ward, R-Hempfield, notched another first. After serving as the first female Senate Majority Leader for the past two years, she was elected by her fellow Republicans to become the chamber’s Senate President Pro Tempore. She is also the first woman to serve in that role....

The State University of New York is making it plain that it sees Pennsylvania’s high school students as an interstate commodity. “If your high schooler wants to go to college in New York, the State University of New York offers same in-state tuition as Penn State,” SUNY said in a...

Local journalism is a cornerstone of democracy. It is a vital source of information for communities across the country. Newsrooms cover local politics, high school sports, local business openings, cultural events and other matters that help a community remain vibrant and connected. But the industry is facing an existential crisis...

When it comes to vices, Pennsylvania is not the kind of state that tends to be on the cutting edge. Sure, the Keystone State doesn’t shy away from a little wicked fun. It’s a place where people enjoy their alcohol. There are more than 350 breweries, 300 wineries and 40...