Editorials category, Page 63
Editorial: Harrisburg can easily clean up murky expenses
Be the change you want to see. It’s good advice — even if it is frequently misattributed to Mahatma Gandhi. The idea is that if something is worth changing, don’t wait for someone else to lead the charge. Pick up the cause and start changing it yourself. It might be...
Editorial: The scourge of fake covid vaccine cards
A new crop of businesses has been born out of the coronavirus pandemic. That’s not a surprise. We have already seen industrious entrepreneurs take up the challenge with mask-making, cleaning services, delivery driving and creating festive yard displays to take the place of birthday parties and other celebrations that weren’t...
Editorial: Tarentum’s borrowing looks like strategic investment
Tarentum Council is taking advantage of low interest rates to refinance debt and possibly borrow more money. With the interest rates at sub-basement levels, this isn’t surprising. It’s an opportunity many municipalities, school districts, counties and more doubtless will jump to pursue. Like refinancing your home loan to lower your...
Editorial: The answers the 9/11 families deserve
For most Americans, Sept. 11, 2001, is a date that calls us back to where we were at that time all those years ago. It is something we remember when the topic arises and a memory we are able to tuck away sorrowfully like a sad relic of a lost...
Editorial: Time for to push harder for vaccines in state prisons
When it comes to encouraging people to do something they may or may not want to do, there are two time-tested methods: the carrot and the stick. The covid-19 vaccine is seeing both come into play. The carrots have been everywhere for months. A vaccine card can be the way...
Editorial: When laws collide, human damage can be real
The United States of America sometimes can be a little less united than it should be — and sometimes a little too in lockstep. That is because while the federal government makes laws, so do the 50 individual states. So do municipal governments and counties. While they all have to...
Laurels & lances: Delivery, delay and health
Laurel: To a sweet birthday. While the cake is usually the centerpiece of most kids’ birthday parties, we feel confident saying that ice cream will always play a role in Emmett Hendrickson’s special day The newborn Butler Township boy came into the world on July 30 after a stop at...
Editorial: Masks on, for the common good
OK, we all know the drill. In 2020, when masks were being required by state or local orders or by businesses that were balancing safety and availability during the coronavirus pandemic, it was something new for everyone. Masks are not something that really had been an issue in the United...
Editorial: A glut of dorm rooms cries out for innovation
The Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education is taking steps to combine several of its individual universities into multi-campus institutions, sharing resources with the idea of reducing costs amid flagging enrollment. It’s a good plan. It acknowledges some of the cost-cutting mechanisms that might happen in the business world after...
Editorial: Public input needed on Westmoreland County’s federal pandemic funding
When it comes to major expenditures by a government, the people get to have a voice in the decisions. This happens all the time as a matter of simple procedure. While the people elect leaders to make decisions on their behalf, placing the major spending questions out in the open...
Editorial: Masks in schools, an understandable mish-mash
August is here again. That means school districts are preparing to enter yet another year dealing with the coronavirus pandemic. The question is just what does that mean? It is less about Zoom classes and home schooling than it was in 2020. The issue being debated is whether students will...
Editorial: John Woodruff, the Olympian from Connellsville who paved the way
The Olympics has a way of focusing attention on the newest crop of athletes at the forefront of their sports. Today’s winners are pushing the boundaries of speed and skill, advancing each event further than it had been stretched before. But it is just as important to remember that the...
Editorial: In opioid addiction battle, no room for rivalries
Pennsylvania, like the rest of the nation, has a deadly addiction problem that is getting worse. Overdose deaths rose 29.4% nationwide in 2020, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The 93,331 deaths were dominated by one category of drugs. Opioids claimed 69,710 American lives. It’s the kind...
Laurels & lances: Plans, a loss and green beast
Laurel: To open doors. The Greensburg YMCA will not be closing. At least not for the next year. That promise was made Tuesday when YMCA leaders announced an 18-month plan to keep the organization alive. “We’re not looking anytime soon to lose this Y. The goal is not to close...
Editorial: Let small businesses set their own covid sick-leave policies
The last year or so has been some big trouble for small businesses. It wasn’t unexpected. When stay-at-home orders were issued and capacity restrictions put in place because of the pandemic, everyone knew businesses would be hit hard. That’s why $10 billion was included for them in the federal CARES...
Editorial: Human trafficking, a scourge too close to home
The coronavirus pandemic changed how a lot of businesses operate. Restaurants, offices, movie studios — everyone had to rethink how they do things. So did criminals like human traffickers. You might think that at a time when the whole world was locked down because of a contagious disease, the number...
Editorial: State Supreme Court is right to protect Oil and Gas Fund
When it comes to environmental issues, it often seems like a struggle between protecting nature and protecting the bottom line. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court just made a decision that puts them on the same side — even if the state wouldn’t see it that way. The court ruled that Pennsylvania...
Editorial: Rental assistance tied up in strings
Westmoreland County received almost $13 million in emergency rental and utility bill funding to help residents who were at risk of losing a place to live or the means to heat or power it because of the coronavirus pandemic. But according to Union Mission Executive Director Dan Carney, just 11%...
Editorial: Hospitals shouldn’t have to force vaccines on employees
In December 2020, after months of wondering when a vaccine for covid-19 would be finished and when it would be available, bringing the end of the pandemic into view, people watched as trucks left loaded with shipments bound for hospitals across the country. The delivery was highly anticipated. Once in...
Editorial: Nursing homes, covid and what’s right
Just because something isn’t illegal doesn’t mean it is acceptable. On Thursday, the U.S. Justice Department informed Gov. Tom Wolf that it would not be opening an investigation into whether this order to Pennsylvania nursing homes requiring admission of residents treated for covid-19 in hospitals violated federal law. Pennsylvania wasn’t...
Laurels & lances: Tuition, trademarks, transportation
Laurel: To prioritizing education. The Diocese of Greensburg announced a massive demonstration of support for parochial schools Wednesday. Donations totalling about $20 million will help make it possible for more kids to attend diocesan schools through tuition assistance that will extend over the next five years. There also will be...
Editorial: Don’t let more ’emergency contracts’ be a Harrisburg habit post-covid
Caveat emptor. Let the buyer beware. It’s the kind of advice everyone has heard. The most common of common sense. If you spend money, know what you are getting in return. And if it is good advice for someone on a fixed income double-checking a grocery receipt to make sure...
Editorial: Funding pensions on credit is crazy
Some people say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome. Does that count if you do the same thing someone else did and expect it to turn out differently? The Westmoreland County Commissioners are giving that a try with $125...
Editorial: Today’s labor shortage, however unexpected, has multiple causes
Help wanted. Help needed. Positions available. Apply within. The signs are everywhere. Whether you are talking about your local grocery store or the gas station, your favorite restaurant or that summer-fun attraction, everyone seems to be looking for someone to do the work that keeps the doors open to keep...
Editorial: Suicide prevention that starts close to home
Suicide is the 10th-leading cause of death in the United States. In 2019, 47,511 people lost their lives to whatever combination of pain or trauma or mental anguish made ending everything seem like the only solution. But as awful as that number is, there is another that might be worse....
