Editorials category, Page 79
Editorial: Metcalfe’s call to impeach Wolf is a distraction
Impeachment — that constitutional mechanism for checking the behavior of an elected official and possibly removing that person from office — is vital in our system of government. It keeps good people vigilant. It keeps the ambitious accountable. It, ideally, keeps the power-hungry off the top rungs of the ladder....
Editorial: Policing partnerships prioritize coverage in affordable way
Police are in the news a lot right now. There are protests and calls to defund and reform. But not every department is old and entrenched. Some are barely walking. The Allegheny Valley Regional Police Department was just created in 2019. It was born from the fusion of Cheswick and...
Editorial: Modern fatherhood may have a new look, but the bond endures
Fatherhood isn’t what it once was, people say. In days gone by, a father was the man of the family who went away to war or spent the day working the fields or left in the morning for some other job. At home he was the decision-maker and the disciplinarian....
Editorial: Summer fun is up to us
Ah, summer. The start of the season is officially here, although that might seem hard to believe. When Pennsylvania went into coronavirus lockdowns back in March, it was still winter. Spring hadn’t yet sprung and that whole season passed while we sat behind closed doors, hoarding toilet paper and baking...
Laurels & lances: Kids, jobs, parks and options
Laurel: To students making noise. They say kids should be seen and not heard, but Greensburg-Salem students recently raised their voices (and instruments) in protest of cuts to the district’s elementary music program. First, it’s great that the kids are sticking up for role the arts plays in education. Good...
Editorial: Voluntary layoffs seem smart for ATI
Layoffs are never easy. Whether they are about a company closing down entirely, stepping back from the size and scope it once had or just going through a temporary downturn, layoffs are tough on everyone. They hit with the iron fist of being fired but wrapped in the velvet glove...
Editorial: The future of standardized tests
In July 2019, Pennsylvania Auditor General Eugene DePasquale suggested the state’s Keystone exams — the tests taken by high school students to prove proficiency in required subjects and qualify for graduation — were too expensive and redundant. Rather than paying $18 million a year to test high school students with...
Editorial: Hot real estate market shows hope in stock
The little transactions in life have been a problem in recent months. Toilet paper. Yeast. Ground beef. Coronavirus lockdowns didn’t just it make hard to get to the store. It made them hard to find what you wanted when you got there in some cases. That’s settling back into a...
Editorial: Taxes, honesty and hope for 2020
Everybody hates paying taxes. It’s a story as old as time itself. People hated paying taxes in the Bible. They hated paying taxes in Robin Hood’s day. They hate the Internal Revenue Service. Except government. Government loves getting tax money. They might be skittish about passing the tax rate and...
Sonny Perdue: Fresh food from America’s farmers to America’s families
These past few months have been difficult for many Americans, economically and emotionally. The coronavirus has impacted the way we lead our daily lives, and that includes how we eat. With many restaurants, hotels and schools closed, the food supply chain has had to adapt to bring to market the...
Editorial: ‘Defunding’ the police is the wrong reform
There are obvious problems with the idea of defunding the police. The police are not a piece of questionable art in front of a courthouse that we can debate. They are not a pork barrel project to slice away. They aren’t a program that is there to benefit some people...
Editorial: Turzai’s goodbye is premature
There is no surprise to when an elected official’s term is due to start and stop. If you are hired to be an accountant or a lawyer or a grocery store clerk, you may face questions about that hiring date. Did you pass your background check in time to start...
Laurels & lances: Support, disappointment, growth
Laurel: To quiet support. When the world is turned upside down, it seems sometimes like the only way to be heard is to shout at the top of your longs, to bang a gong and light a fire. But there is another way to stand up for what one believes,...
Editorial: Nursing home tests must be priority
The new plan for Pennsylvania nursing homes is to test everybody. If that sounds familiar, it’s probably because it sounds like the old plan. At least in the shorthand. The order issued Monday by Pennsylvania Secretary of Health Rachel Levine requires all nursing home residents and staff members be tested...
Editorial: Pitt’s plan is proactive
Everyone is getting caught in a conundrum. How do you plan ahead when you don’t know what is going to happen with the coronavirus pandemic? Sports leagues are doing it as they try to find a way to salvage a season and satisfy fans while still keeping people safe. Restaurants...
Editorial: Progress is reason for Pride
In June 1969, a police raid on a gay bar in New York touched off a riot that made people stand up and proclaim their right to be themselves. Today, June is celebrated as Pride Month. It hasn’t been an easy rainbow-colored road, and the LGBTQ community isn’t exactly living...
Editorial: Stainless steel cars are part of Alle-Kiski Valley
Steel. It’s what happens to iron with exposure to things like intense heat and pressure. When the earth does it to carbon, you get diamonds. When a whole industry in the greater Pittsburgh area does it, you get the building blocks of the nation. It’s a process that didn’t just...
Editorial: When protests become riots
A protest can be a volatile situation. With tensions high and nerves raw, it doesn’t take much to strike a spark and have anger or pain or righteous indignation flash over to the violent unpredictability of a confrontation or from there to a riot. That makes people who show up...
Editorial: D-Day participants gave us gift of freedom, responsibility
June 6, 1944 was not the last day of World War II. It was the day that the tide of war turned. And that is why we remember D-Day — the day that Allied forces drove into the beaches of Normandy and parachuted from above in the start of a...
Laurels & lances: Ballots, memorials and bikes
Laurel: To making every vote count. There is no pretending that this primary election was like anything anyone has experienced before. For the people casting ballots, a delay for the covid-19 pandemic put the date squarely in the midst of sweeping protests — sometimes peaceful and sometimes violent. But for...
Editorial: As school days beckon, clarity is the first lesson
Schools can get back to teaching and providing activities for students starting July 1. The Pennsylvania Department of Education made that announcement Wednesday with the release of the Process to Reopen Pennsylvania — a procedure that requires schools to develop health and safety plans, implement guidelines from the Centers for...
Editorial: President Trump takes aim at America’s core principles
The president’s primary job is to preserve, protect and defend the U.S. Constitution. Even when it is inconvenient. Even when people are using it to say the government is wrong. Especially when they are doing that. We know that, because the framers realized immediately they left important things out of...
Editorial: Pandemic responses are moving targets
What if everyone just acknowledged no one has been through this before? Oh sure, this isn’t the first pandemic that has happened in history. This isn’t the first time there have been quarantines. This isn’t the first time people have gotten sick or died, and it won’t be the last....
Editorial: Violence is a different kind of virus
A virus is something that starts small and commonplace, unseen, but is picked up and takes root and can make you sick to your soul before spreading to the next person and the next and the next. We are fighting an epidemic now. We have been fighting it for a...
Editorial: Don’t be a fair-weather voter
Election turnout can be swayed by interest and sentiment. Care deeply about the position? More people show up. Not excited by the candidates? More people stay home. The ballots cast rise and fall with our rage or our apathy, our engagement and our disdain. A 2007 study by researchers including...
