Editorials category, Page 78
Editorial: Harrison Point project should stay prepared to roll with the changes
Planning for the future is always important. That doesn’t stop just because of economic upheaval and a global pandemic. The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation is putting $3 million into a road modification for Route 366 (Bull Creek Road) just off Route 28’s Tarentum exit. It would support a 162-acre business...
Editorial: Elected officials should wear masks in public meetings, or stay home
Masks have been a hot-button issue in these pandemic days. Whether it is an online video of a confrontation over wearing a mask in a private business or something closer to home, some people rebel against wearing masks in public settings. Wearing cloth masks, especially indoors, is widely regarded by...
Editorial: Names of jurors in Held trial should be released
A jury has a job. Everything that happens in a criminal trial plays to an audience of 12. The jury is entrusted with the solemn responsibility of hearing evidence and legal arguments and setting aside preconceptions to determine whether or not someone committed a crime. It’s arguably the most important...
Laurels & lances: Working, moving, rewarding, destroying
Laurel: To a change of plans. For some, a youth group trip cancellation would be the end of a very short story. Cornerstone Ministries made it the start. When middle schoolers from the Murrysville church couldn’t go to New York on a mission trip, the trip didn’t happen, but the...
Editorial: Vaccine volunteers are heroic
In the search for a way out of the coronavirus pandemic, there is a lot of attention on the key players. There are the agencies: the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the World Health Organization, the Food and Drug Administration, the federal Department of Health and Human Services, the...
Editorial: Safe buses are back-to-school basics
Going back to school doesn’t start with sitting at a desk. It doesn’t start with putting things in a locker or even walking through the door. For many, it starts with stepping onto a school bus. According to the Safe Routes to School Partnership, 55% of American children get to...
Editorial: Veterans should be counted in census
“The term ‘veteran’ means a person who served in the active military, naval, or air service, and who was discharged or released therefrom under conditions other than dishonorable.” That is the definition under Title 38 United States Code, according to the Social Security Administration. A veteran is someone who stepped...
Editorial: High school sports deserve every effort to return for safe play
If pro sports are finding it hard to get back to the business of playing games amid the coronavirus pandemic, how are schools supposed to do it? School districts are dealing with a lot right now as the calendar ticks like a time bomb edging closer and closer to the...
Editorial: Pennsylvania should value first responders
On a normal day, Pennsylvanians don’t realize how much they rely on an almost invisible wall of people standing between them and disaster. Some of the disasters are metaphorical. A minor car crash can snarl traffic but isn’t critical to more than the insurance deductible. But others are literal, like...
Editorial: Real solution needed for evictions
You can’t shelter in place if you don’t have a place to shelter. That’s the crux of the rental and foreclosure problem amid the coronavirus pandemic. When Pennsylvania went into covid-19 lockdowns back in March, Gov. Tom Wolf put a moratorium in place on evictions, providing cover for renters and...
Laurels & lances: Slide, shade, view
Laurel: To big fun outdoors. The summer of 2019 passed without one of the best ways to enjoy the great outdoors in Westmoreland County — the giant slide in Mammoth Park. The delightful Mt. Pleasant Township landmark was closed down for a $1.1 million renovation project that upgraded it from...
Editorial: Local impact of international students
New rules for students coming from overseas to study in the United States might seem like something that only needs to concern people coming here from China and France and India for their higher education. But it doesn’t. It affects kids going to school in Pittsburgh and State College and...
Editorial: Grand jury report on fracking indicts the state
Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro’s latest grand jury report might seem like a diatribe on the evils of fracking. That is definitely what draws attention. The problem is that is only half the story. The other half is the failings of government. As attorney general, Shapiro has made a point...
Editorial: Our great outdoors are an asset to cherish
It’s hot out there. Southwestern Pennsylvania is in the middle of a heat wave that will see 90-degree highs all week. Seems like the perfect time to get outside and do something fun, right? But ugh, there it is again. The coronavirus pandemic. Just sitting there, ruining everything. We have...
Editorial: Mask solution could be simple smile
Sometimes addressing one problem can solve others. It’s the happy accident of a Botox shot that could smooth out wrinkles or tame migraines, or the Kleenex that was intended to polish eyeglasses but became better known for wiping noses. You never know just what issues an invention will address. Rose...
Editorial: The importance of local news
The news is everywhere. It’s filling up your cellphone and your inbox and your Facebook feed. It’s on for 24 hours on stations devoted to updating you on what they just updated you about. It crawls across the bottom of the screen while you are trying to watch something else...
Laurels & lances: Gift, grant, open, loss
Laurel: To the gift of learning. Many parents are weighing their choices for the coming school year as schools struggle to plan for educating in an age of social distancing. Should the kids stay in public school? Cyber charter? Should they just be homeschooled? About 250 students could have another...
Editorial: Think locally and logistically with manufacturing
Southwestern Pennsylvania was a major manufacturing center for decades. There is no reason that cannot be true again. There are some places that were boom towns because of resources. When a silver mine went dry, there was no reason for workers or businesses not to move on. If all the...
Editorial: ‘Bella’s Law’ right call to keep kids safe
Bubbles filled the air for a little girl who will never have a fourth birthday party. She won’t go to kindergarten. No s’mores around a campfire or sleepovers with friends. No broken hearts and no prom. Because Bella Seachrist was just 3 when she died. In pages of court documents,...
Editorial: Allegheny pumps brake on covid-19 green light
Green did not mean go. At least, it didn’t mean go that much, that far, that fast. Green meant venture, not race. And that is a lesson being learned around the country and in our backyard. Places that have opened the quarantine gates with little restriction are seeing consequences in...
Editorial: Stop county lawsuits from becoming expensive settlements
Another former Westmoreland County employee has gotten another settlement for another lawsuit. This is the worst summer sequel ever. But it’s starting to add up to one blockbuster budget problem. The county settled with Alyssa Nuss of Greensburg for $50,000. Nuss was an office clerk and cashier in the office...
Editorial: Food banks need your help
Getting back to normal doesn’t mean being back to normal. Being there is a goal. Getting there is a process. There may be no better example of that than food banks. During earlier days of the coronavirus pandemic, nonprofits that provided nutritional assistance were overwhelmed as some people were thrown...
Editorial: With fireworks fever running high, find the right social distance
Every year, as July comes into view, one thing starts popping up everywhere. Fireworks. Sparklers and firecrackers, smoke bombs and crackling fountains. Big and small, fireworks stands are to Independence Day what tree lots are to Christmas. They serve as both harbingers and centerpieces. But this year? Things are a...
Editorial: CMU should be able to handle a Richard Grenell
Politics is inherently a debate. Ideally, it is a tango of perspective and position, with one side advancing an idea and the other retreating until the music shifts and someone else takes the lead. And as everyone knows, it takes two to tango. College should be similar. You cannot go...
Editorial: Covid-19 and cost of doing business
A price tag is more than just a number on a piece of paper. The cost of an item on a menu isn’t pulled out of a hat. At least, it isn’t if a business wants to stay in business. It’s a complicated dance of expenses and projected revenues, all...
