Editorials category, Page 80
Editorial: The virus doesn’t recognize political parties
The most important thing people can have from their leaders in a time of crisis is the truth. They need to know that if they are told, “This building is on fire,” it is actually on fire. Conversely, they need to know that if they are told, “This water is...
Laurels & lances: Franks, Zoom and food
Laurel: To good news on a bun. Who wasn’t crestfallen at the news that the Original Hot Dog Shop in Oakland had closed down? The Oakland eatery was a landmark with must-eat wieners and yes-please fries. So hearing that it was shutting down in April was a crushing blow to...
Editorial: Pennsylvania budget not done
OK, we know the drill. It’s May. Almost June. That’s the time of year that Pennsylvania’s lawmakers and the governor get serious about their annual battle of wills over the budget. They posture. They bluster. They make pronouncements about the value of their own spending plans and disparage the proposals...
Editorial: Courts get back to speedy trials
Allegheny and Westmoreland county courts are both getting back to business. Plexiglas shields will stand between the judge and the lawyers. Social distancing is being promoted in the gallery. Hearings will be staggered to limit the number of people in the courtroom. But those appearances are being scheduled. The court...
Editorial: Pilot program makes groceries a SNAP
Buying groceries online has been one of the things that has made many people’s lives easier during the coronavirus pandemic. While staying home has been frustrating since Gov. Tom Wolf closed schools in March and then issued an order closing non-life-sustaining businesses, modern technology has meant if you have a...
Editorial: We remember the fallen
For Memorial Day, a classic Trib editorial: On this Memorial Day, be grateful that Americans’ willingness to sacrifice for freedom’s sake, instilled by each generation in the next, remains as strong as ever. Today, Americans honor those most worthy of such gratitude — those who gave their lives in our...
Editorial: Sports are more than a game
Pennsylvania is a state with a lot of sports history. There is no major sport that doesn’t happen in the Keystone State. Whether you want your games as all-American as baseball or as global as soccer, it happens here. As grassroots as NASCAR or as high class as horse racing....
Editorial: Celebrating the quarantine grads
Well, you did it, Class of 2020. Whether you finished grad school or picked up your bachelor’s degree, made it through high school or just figured your way out of kindergarten, you got it done. Congratulations. But yes, it might be hard to believe. Is it really over? It doesn’t...
Laurels & lances: Checks and balances
Laurel: To small gestures. Six weeks might not seem like a big deal with some things. It’s less than the timeline from Halloween to Christmas, which seems to pass in a blink. But when you’re waiting for money, it can feel like a lifetime, especially when belts are tight and...
Editorial: The uncommon sense of Levin deal
Let’s try this again. Way back in February, Levin Furniture was in danger of closing, but owners of the Art Van Furniture company that purchased it in 2017 said not to worry — everything was “business as usual” and a solution would be found. That solution, as it turned out...
Editorial: Fire departments need funds
Everyone needs a helping hand right now. We are worried about getting sick, and we’re worried about the people we love. We are worried about keeping our jobs, and we are worried about paying the bills if we don’t. We’re worried about what happens when we get back out there...
Editorial: Improving essential infrastructure boosts the economy
The Allegheny County Sanitary Authority has gotten the green light for its $2 billion Clean Water Plan — a series of moves including expanding wastewater treatment volume and disinfection capacity as well as repairing and replacing sewer lines, diverting streams and adding pipes, diversion structures and tunnels. The move comes...
Editorial: Local leaders should be better than Congress
Vandergrift Council’s recent Zoom meeting might be the perfect example of the relationship between some government officials amid the coronavirus pandemic response. It had everything. Important things that needed to be done. Action to be taken to stay in compliance with a higher authority. A dictate that was really pointless...
Editorial: Accounting for the way Wolf’s waivers went
More of Pennsylvania is getting back to business as Gov. Tom Wolf slowly turns the dial from red to yellow on counties locked down amid the coronavirus pandemic. But not every business was stopped from working in the past weeks. Some were deemed life-sustaining and were allowed to keep the...
Editorial: Penguins miss shot with arena development project in Lower Hill District
You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take. It’s an idea the Pittsburgh Penguins should find familiar. It speaks of big games and clutch performance, reaching for the stars and following through. Champions do the hard thing even though it’s hard, and the Pittsburgh Penguins have the Stanley Cup...
Editorial: Finding grace as we live through a pandemic
How sweet the sound. It has been two months since the schools closed. Two months since the chrysalis started to close around our homes and our communities. Two months since we retreated behind doors and pulled masks to separate ourselves from the coronavirus pandemic. And now we are finally hearing...
Editorial: Pittsburgh’s airport can pivot for new turbulent reality
Delays, cancellations and reroutes at an airport are part of the routine. That’s why there are the big boards that tell not just at which gate a flight is arriving or departing but whether that is happening on time or not at all — because nothing is a given. Including...
Editorial: Giving SNAP funds to students is a late reaction
The biggest problem with bailing water out of the bottom of a leaky boat is that it doesn’t prioritize fixing the problem over dealing with the problem. Fill a bucket with water and dump it over the side? It might be the first instinct, but that water is immediately replaced...
Editorial: Line drawn in sand at Pittsburgh skate park
Sometimes someone doesn’t use common sense and it ruins things for everyone. And sometimes a lot of people don’t use common sense and it just starts to spread like, well, a virus. That kind of outbreak could be happening around a Pittsburgh park. It started with the city’s shutdown of...
Editorial: More access is a welcome U.S. Supreme Court precedent
Pennsylvania will have a another place in legal history after this week. On Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in the legal suit Trump v. Pennsylvania. It pits the president’s administration and the Little Sisters of the Poor against the legal minds in the office of state Attorney General...
Editorial: Following rules the key to lifting lockdown
Everyone couldn’t wait to get to yellow. It has been weeks since Gov. Tom Wolf announced a color-coded path from a full coronavirus lockdown to a more moderate restriction. On May 1, he signaled the first rope to drop with northwest and north-central counties enjoying the slightly relaxed rules of...
Laurels and lances: Hunger, rats and food
Laurel: To comfort food. Hunger isn’t something new. While the economic instabilities of the coronavirus pandemic may have exacerbated the issue, food insecurity has affected the Southwestern Pennsylvania area at higher rates than the rest of the country for years. According to the City of Pittsburgh, about 21.4% of its...
Editorial: State should open or offer help for smaller counties
Pittsburgh is definitely the big dog in Southwestern Pennsylvania. The city can suck up all the air in the room. Look up pictures of the area, and you can be overwhelmed by the rivers and bridges, the stadiums and the glass and steel skyline. But cross those bridges or drive...
Editorial: The invaluable gift of nursing
When people are sick or hurting or injured, they often say they need to see a doctor. More often, what they get — and need — is a nurse. A doctor can diagnose and prescribe, but time and attention is spread across a large swath of patients. A nurse, on...
Editorial: The real danger of murder hornets
Oh, come on. Murder hornets? In the first four months of 2020, the news has brought massive bushfires in Australia, the U.S. killing of an Iranian general followed by Iran’s retaliation, the impeachment trial of President Trump, Britain’s break from the European Union, a deadly global pandemic hand in hand...
