Editorials category, Page 67
Editorial: A positive incentive to become a vaccinated Pens fan
Consumers are accustomed to choices: First class or coach? Table or booth? Balcony or orchestra? And now maybe vaccinated or unvaccinated? The Pittsburgh Penguins have proposed the idea of a vaccinated section of PPG Paints Arena as a way to increase capacity at the venue while still maintaining adequate and...
Editorial: One way or another, bridge repairs must be paid for
In the fairy tale about goats trying to cross a bridge, a troll sat under the bridge, waiting to gobble up the goats as payment for their audacity. Troll bridge. Toll bridge. Is there really much difference? It’s easy to feel like you are being gobbled down one bite at...
Editorial: For state universities, consolidation is tough but necessary medicine
For many families, it’s college time. High school seniors are getting acceptance letters. Juniors are making applications. Parents are filling out financial aid paperwork and taking the family on campus visits. But this year, students are being accepted to schools that might not be the name on their degree in...
Editorial: The ever-confusing state covid guidelines for schools
It has to be difficult to be a school in the pandemic. Sure, there are lots of other institutions working hard to figure out what’s happening and what to do about it. Hospitals, nursing homes, churches. Even grocery stores and baseball teams have been in turmoil because of covid-19. But...
Laurels & lances: Clean, delay, warn
Laurel: To two birds with one stone. It is great when people are able to lend a hand for a good cause. When you can do two at the same time, it’s even better. Plum Borough observed Earth Day on April 24 with a Cleanup Day event as the culmination...
Editorial: ‘Move Over’ law is just common sense
You are driving down the road. A flash of red and blue light catches your eye up ahead. A police car is stopped behind another vehicle. What do you do? For most people, it’s going to be obvious. Get into the left lane, if it’s available. If it’s not, pass...
Editorial: Why a $25 incentive for prisoners to get vaccinated makes sense
Some people were so eager to get back to a pre-pandemic life that they did anything they could to get a vaccine. Some lined up at mass vaccination sites. Some called providers day after day after day until they could get an appointment. Some drove out of town or out...
Editorial: Community colleges took a hit, but are well placed to rebound
Community colleges often are not appreciated enough for what they contribute to the educational landscape. Students don’t sweat bullets over whether they get in. They decide to get the education and sign up. These are the reliable schools. There are no frat parties or football games. Just the classes that...
Editorial: A county courthouse convenience, but with a caveat
What is the price of convenience? The Westmoreland County Courthouse is debuting a system that lets attorneys file documents via the internet — any day, any time, anywhere. If you are desperate to file a petition in Greensburg today but your lawyer happens to be taking a deposition in Chicago...
Editorial: Police reform means honoring the meaning of ‘protect and serve’
The question of how to fix what is broken in police departments is echoing across the nation, thrown into overdrive with the trial of former Minneapolis Officer Derek Chauvin and his conviction last week for the murder of George Floyd. But in many towns in Pennsylvania, especially in Westmoreland County...
Editorial: The price of voting is worth every penny, but who pays it?
Funding and flexibility: That is what Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald would like when it comes to elections. On Tuesday, Fitzgerald testified before the Pennsylvania Senate’s Special Committee on Election Integrity and Reform via Zoom, along with officials from Philadelphia. It was a glimpse into how the state’s two largest...
Laurels & lances: Infrastructure, taxes, court
Laurel: To building bridges. And roads and sidewalks and more. On Wednesday, the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Financing Authority gave the go-ahead for $48 million in multimodal transportation projects. Among them are $4.6 million in projects in Allegheny, Armstrong and Westmoreland counties. These are not giant bypasses or miles of asphalt poured...
Editorial: Earth Day is about the good business of stewardship
Earth Day is not a crunchy granola holiday about a utopian future filled with solar-powered cars. It is — and from the beginning has been — about education. It is less celebration than it is workshop, and that is exactly how it was envisioned in 1969 when it was first...
Editorial: Labor disputes solved by good-faith negotiation show the way forward
It can be hard to look at the divisions that happen in Washington or in Harrisburg and put them into perspective. If you were at work, the accounts receivable department couldn’t just decide not to work with sales. In a church, the choir can’t go to war with the Sunday...
Editorial: Why an excellent council member can’t be halfway there
Editorials generally applaud what’s right and denounce what’s wrong. It’s a rare that they cite people trying to do right but have to point out what they’re getting wrong. Yet here we are. Last week, Lower Burrell Councilman Robert Hamilton offered to resign from his position because of some career...
Editorial: Giving Career and Technical Education the attention it deserves
Vocational education isn’t what it used to be. For one thing, say the words “vo-tech” to someone who works or advocates in the field and you will get some serious stink eye. It’s CTE — career and technical education, thank you very much. But there are a lot of other...
Editorial: Swatting back the scam artists that flock to a crisis
Never let a good crisis go to waste. It’s much more than a paraphrase of Rahm Emanuel as Obama White House chief of staff, or an oft-attributed aphorism of Sir Winston Churchill. It’s more like a political law of nature. Whole wedges of government have been created to address a...
Editorial: Pa. State System takes right step to curbing crazy tuition rates
There is a lot of talk about how to handle student loan debt. There are the loans the students take out. There are the loans the parents take out to help. The Federal Reserve estimates Americans have about $1.7 trillion in student loan debt. Student loans are an overwhelming burden...
Laurels & lances: Efficient vaccine clinics and not-transparent leasing
Laurel: To a well-oiled machine. When it comes to large gatherings of people for a specific purpose, sometimes the operation can function perfectly. Sometimes it turns into chaos. Anyone who has tried to get out of a parking lot after a big concert can attest to best laid plans going...
Editorial: Pandemic rent relief is welcome, but a band-aid
Fixing the coronavirus pandemic might start with a covid-19 vaccine, but the shot isn’t a light switch that turns back the dark with a flick. By the same token, the progress toward correcting the economic impact of the pandemic isn’t going to respond to the push of a button either....
Editorial: The vaccine process depends on maintaining public trust
On Tuesday, the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced the investigation of six reports of blood clots in women who had been administered the Johnson & Johnson covid-19 vaccine. This isn’t a reason to be alarmed so much as proof that the system...
Editorial: The region’s airports could fare well as post-pandemic air travel rises
Air travel is getting off the ground again. A year of coronavirus pandemic restrictions and precautions made airports into ghost towns. The 777.9 million people annually who had been taking off their shoes and separating their laptops from their carry-ons at Transportation Security Administration checkpoints slowed to a trickle. On...
Editorial: The baffling delay in fixing the state’s unemployment system
In 2020, Pennsylvania — like the rest of the country — experienced an employment crisis. When the coronavirus pandemic hit and many businesses shut down or scaled back operations to comply with mandated restrictions, jobs were the first casualty. By May, about 2 million Pennsylvanians were out of work. By...
Editorial: As solemn task of redistricting begins, Harrisburg flashes rare bipartisan signal
The partisan stew that is Harrisburg has made Pennsylvanians expect everything to be painted in shades of red and blue. Budget battles that erupt into screaming matches and government ground to a halt. Emergency gubernatorial declarations that result in lengthy back-and-forth court appearances. Even a simple swearing-in of a longtime...
Editorial: Keeping a community intact when ‘gentrification’ beckons
Pennsylvania is a state that struggles with blight. From city neighborhoods to small towns, the falling population and the changing manufacturing landscape have created communities where closed businesses and smaller tax bases have started a downward spiral in areas that are sometimes euphemistically called “once proud.” That’s a term that...
