Editorials category, Page 86
Editorial: 2020 promises wild ride
If 2019 seemed like a roller coaster, hurtling to the peak of one local, state, national or global event after another before veering wildly off in a different direction or plunging down to an unsatisfying resolution, well, buckle your seat belts, keep your hands and arms inside the car at...
Editorial: The rear-view mirror of 2019
There is a tendency to look back on the past year with nostalgia or to draw a curtain while marching fiercely into the upcoming year with hopes and plans for better. Take a quick scroll through your phone or click around your favorite television stations and you’ll probably be confronted...
Editorial: Police take bite out of hoagie market
Hoagies are not a substitute for money. A big long bun stuffed with ham and cheese and veggies is not supposed to take the place of cold hard cash. But for school groups and service organizations and nonprofits in need, a hoagie can be the preferred route to building up...
Editorial: Are turnpike spikes toll road to ruin?
Brother, can you spare a dime? Well, that will work if you have an E-ZPass, but if you don’t, how about two, because that’s how much tolls are going up. Yes, again. No one can possibly be surprised. We have all seen this coming for years. For twelve straight years,...
Editorial: Are there too many police in school?
School safety and discipline are not the same thing. At least, they shouldn’t be. School safety is the odd system of fences and hurdles that strives to protect students. Safety is the omnipresent idea that surrounds schools in a post-Columbine, post-Sandy Hook, post-Parkland world where we know all too well...
Laurels & lances: Gifts of the season
Laurel: To helping new neighbors. It is hard to become part of a community that you can’t understand. That is why the mission of Literacy Pittsburgh’s English as a Second Language classes is so important. Immigrants to the area looking to learn to read and write English are finding help...
Editorial: Transit authority gets behind wheel of buses
Everyone looks for a fresh start in the new year. For Westmoreland County, that fresh start means getting in the driver’s seat. That’s really not a euphemism. The county’s transit authority takes over bus and paratransit services starting Jan. 2. It’s a very different role for the authority. Until October,...
Editorial: Give gift of charity this holiday
It doesn’t matter what holiday you are celebrating. Knowing you have more people on your list than you can afford to gift is stressful. Now what if you weren’t looking at just your parents and your kids and your sister and your nieces and nephews and your friend at work?...
Editorial: Hanukkah lessons shine through
As darkness falls, lights shine to show the way. It happens every day. The headlights on cars. The streetlights along the road. The neon on a storefront. The light on your front porch that says, “This is home. This is where you belong.” Lights beckon us to come close. They...
Editorial: Giant Eagle’s plastic move challenging
Giant Eagle made a giant move this week, announcing a plan to eliminate single-use plastics by 2025. But is that even possible? Walk through a grocery store any day and see how much plastic you encounter as you wander from aisle to aisle. It’s a lot more than just the...
Lori Falce: Impeachment strikes back
It is blockbusting. It is epic. It is the massive story years in the making that closes out the decade. And depending on the reviews you read, it’s a terrible failure or a stunning masterpiece. I might be talking about “Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker.” I might be talking about...
Laurels & lances: Giving, pleading and delivering
Laurel: To really giving back. For Trafford Borough Council President Kris Cardiff, the idea of giving back to the community is more than lip service. He is actually returning his $600 a year in pay for being a public official. It’s something he says he has been doing for a...
Editorial: Better school funding needed in Pennsylvania
It should not cost more to teach math in Squirrel Hill than it does in New Kensington. It should not be more expensive to teach history in Hempfield than in Jeannette. It should not take more money to teach reading in Upper St. Clair than in Clairton. But geography ends...
Editorial: Ghost guns decision makes sense
On Monday, Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro officially stated his legal opinion that most of a gun is a gun. That means that felons and others barred from buying or possessing guns in Pennsylvania can’t buy something called an 80% receiver — a kind of building block for a weapon...
Editorial: Pitt’s part in HIV fight shows possibility
There was a time that living with HIV was an unimaginable idea. HIV was the contagious virus that dragged you down the unavoidable road to AIDS, and AIDS killed you. It was a fact and there was nothing anyone could do about it. Except they did. Globally, HIV and AIDS...
Editorial: Tax increase is harsh lesson
The New Kensington-Arnold School District financial situation is an argument for a change in how government — and taxpayers — should think about taxes. It would be great to fund our schools and other vital public services without requiring everyone to kick money into a collective pot. But failing another...
Editorial: Deer torture demands response
It can be hard for some to reconcile the idea of hunting and a love of animals. There are groups who will never accept it. The activist group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, for example, calls it unnecessary and cruel. “Hunting might have been necessary for human survival...
Editorial: Human trafficking is cheap crime
What is the cost of human trafficking? In terms of dollars, it’s huge. Advocacy group Human Rights First puts the profits at about $150 billion a year, and that year was 2014. Five years later, it could well be larger. While only 19% of trafficking victims are sex workers, $99...
Laurels & lances: Honored, poured and gifted
Laurel: To good lessons taught by a good teacher. Joseph Welch is the 2020 Pennsylvania Teacher of the Year. He teaches American history at North Hills Middle School, and it’s not the first time he has been singled out for his extraordinary work making history more than a dusty subject...
Editorial: It’s flu season. Did you get your shot?
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s color-coded map indicates how much influenza has been detected by the end of November, a month that is normally outside of serious concerns about the disease. Pennsylvania is purple — the darkest shade for the highest threat. Influenza here is widespread — just...
Editorial: Answers on fire suspensions hazy
There is nothing more confusing than a lack of answers. Except, perhaps, answers that point in all different directions. Latrobe has opted for a grab bag filled with no information and contradictory finger-pointing in the case of one fire company. Seven firefighters have been suspended by the city. They say...
Editorial: Traffic fine alternatives a good idea
In Pennsylvania, a driver’s license is often a lifeline. The state Legislature’s Center for Rural Pennsylvania puts the number of residents who live in rural areas at 27%. That’s definitely not the majority. But those 3.5 million or so people are scattered over the largest part of the state. Not...
Editorial: Peduto should sign gator law
Lock up your gators. Or at least tell people you have them. Pittsburgh City Council took a bold stance against modern-day dinosaurs last week when passing an ordinance that requires dangerous reptiles be registered. It might seem ridiculous in a city north of the Mason-Dixon line, a community with cold,...
Editorial: Russian hacks demand allied response
We no longer defend simply against nations. We fight factions. We are attacked by ideals and ideologues. We also fight against a deadly sin that has driven more war than politics and pride — greed. On Thursday, federal authorities announced the indictment of two Russian nationals in Pittsburgh. Maksim V....
Editorial: High stakes bidding at the lottery
Hiring someone for a job is not as simple as putting a “help wanted” sign in the front window. Especially not when the job is about handling the billions running in and out of the Pennsylvania lottery system. But does it really have to be as complicated as it has...
