Editorials category, Page 90
Editorial: The high cost of voting security
Cost shouldn’t always be the most important factor in a government decision. There are plenty of times that you want your leaders to make the right call, not the cheap one. Build a bridge that won’t buckle. Buy a fire truck that works. Short-term savings aren’t always a long-run solution....
Editorial: What we learn from sinkholes
Is there any better allegory for infrastructure than a sinkhole on a public street? It is a collapse of what was put in place for a specific function. There could be lots of reasons a sinkhole happens. It might be the weather, like the one along Route 30 where Greensburg...
Editorial: Follow the path to economic development
A trail can be more than just a track worn through the grass and the dirt by a thousand other travels. A trail can be something that gets you where you need to go — the breadcrumbs you follow to get home, the yellow brick road that takes you to...
Editorial: The lessons learned in mourning
How long should a death be mourned? Does it get measured in days or weeks or months? Is it a year or is it years? Judaism has several — the days between death and burial, the sitting of shiva for seven days after, the 30 days adjustment to the loss,...
Editorial: No mansions for lieutenant governors
There is something about a mansion. It speaks of the worth of the person inside. It regally registers what is valuable. It proclaims importance. And it’s all a lie, isn’t it? A swanky address may speak of net worth but not personal values. Take, for example, the residence of the...
Laurels & lances: Schools, hotel, arts center
Laurel: To being proactive. The Jeannette City School District scheduled emergency drills for Wednesday. It is the kind of thing that every school does, trying to keep the kids ready to follow directions and stay safe in the event of something unexpected. The unexpected happened a day early. Jeannette and...
Editorial: No gratitude for fake school threat
Perhaps we should be grateful that there was no real danger. On Tuesday, a man passed a note across the counter of a North Huntingdon restaurant. It warned of “an active shooter threat and multiple bombs” at Norwin and Jeannette high schools. There was no active shooter. There was no...
Editorial: Declined penalty may teach lesson
Maybe no punishment is the best penalty. On Tuesday, the Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League came to a couple of decisions about Connellsville and Allderdice. The boys soccer teams from the two high schools became the subject of an investigation in September after they leveled allegations of racial and anti-gay...
Editorial: Can communities combat crime?
Four shot in Duquesne. Standoff with armed man in Pittsburgh’s North Side. Police seek man who fled Larimer shooting. One dead and two injured in Wilkinsburg shooting. And that was just Saturday and Sunday. Just in Allegheny County. The hard truth is, crime is a consistent neighbor for many in...
Editorial: Fentanyl strips shouldn’t be illegal
Driving recklessly is illegal. So is speeding. So is driving without a license or insurance. A Pennsylvania driver can understand getting cited for those infractions. But could you imagine if the cop, at the same time, gave you a ticket for wearing your seat belt? That might seem like what...
Editorial: Payouts show volume of victims
The Greensburg Catholic Diocese announced Thursday the amount of money paid out of a compensation fund for victims of clergy child sexual abuse. The local totals came to $4.35 million distributed among 57 adults. That breaks down to an average of $76,315. That’s a significant amount of money. It’s more...
Editorial: Pennsylvania delegation did its job
We don’t just give power to political parties. We vest that power in individuals for a reason. We elect lawyers with military backgrounds like Rep. Conor Lamb, D-Mt. Lebanon, and Rep. Guy Reschenthaler, R-Peters. We elect people who have been involved in government since before the Pirates last won a...
Laurels & lances: World Series, sirens, singers
Laurel: To having a long memory. Can you cast yours back far enough to recall when the Pittsburgh Pirates were more than a perennial paperweight for Major League Baseball? This year marks 40 long, long years since the Bucs took Pittsburgh to the big dance and brought home the title...
Editorial: DEP needs to address hemp smell
New industries will always have growing pains. It shouldn’t be surprising that growing hemp should be experiencing hiccups. After all, growing hemp is something that hasn’t really happened — legally, at least — in Pennsylvania for decades. The namesake of Hempfield Township and Hempfield Area School District may have once...
Editorial: Enrollment decline a competition problem
Pennsylvania’s state-owned universities need more students. According to a census taken on the 15th day of class at the 14 Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education schools, total enrollment dropped 2.6% from 2018 to 2019. That’s a continuation of a trend. In 2010, there were 119,513 students. Today the number...
Editorial: Robocalls are unwanted intrusion
The phone rings. You know who it is. No, wait. You know what it is. It’s not a friend asking you to lunch. It’s not a neighbor asking to borrow your lawnmower. It’s probably not even your pharmacy reminding you that your prescription is ready. There is an ever-increasing likelihood...
Editorial: Just what is sustainable?
Sustainable is a great new buzzword. It sounds great. Sustainable. It’s hard to argue with the idea of sustainability. Who doesn’t want something to keep going? The problem is that sustainable can mean two different — and closely related — things with one distinct difference. Sustainable can mean that something...
Editorial: Is Marsy’s Law necessary?
Victims should not be forgotten in the criminal justice process. It is easy to reduce the court system to criminal and prosecutor — crime and punishment. Marsy’s Law is being proposed as an amendment to Pennsylvania’s constitution. It is a crime victims’ rights amendment that legislators and advocates say provides...
Editorial: Bald eagles unify fractured America
Someone shot a bald eagle. It happened on the West Penn Trail in Derry Township on Friday. Someone took a gun and shot our national symbol in the face. Its famous white cap of feathers was soaked in blood and a piece of its beak was just gone. On Monday,...
Editorial: During Yom Kippur, a message for all to hear
May you be sealed in the Book of Life. G’mar Chatima Tova. That is the traditional greeting for Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, the holiest of the faith’s Holy Days. It is a time of fasting and reflection, dedication and prayer. It is a time the observant strive...
Editorial: Esports self-sufficiency impressive
Sports isn’t necessarily what it used to be. That’s not a knock at the Pirates. A losing season is nothing new there. It’s not a crack about the Steelers’ struggles or the Penguins’ pains. It’s a reality of a major change in the sports world — whether you pay attention...
Editorial: Primaries should be open to all
In a Penn Township, Westmoreland County, precinct, a woman stood confused as she looked at her ballot. “These are all the candidates? The one I was voting for isn’t here.” The poll worker explained to her that all the candidates she was allowed to vote for were on the ballot....
Editorial: College athletes are pros
As the idea of college athletes getting paychecks on top of their scholarships gets kicked around in California and now in Pennsylvania, the attention tends to focus on the stars and the National College Athletic Association. The NCAA, after all, makes the rules. The sports oversight organization that calls all...
Editorial: We don’t have to forgive and forget
We can forgive without forgetting. On Wednesday, Amber Guyger — the former Dallas police officer convicted of murder for shooting Botham Jean in his apartment after she mistakenly walked in, thinking it was her home — was sentenced to 10 years in prison. What garnered almost as much attention as...
Editorial: Pro pot? Pay attention to hemp pains
If you want an example of exactly why some changes can’t happen overnight, look to the hemp industry. Regardless of anyone’s position on the decriminalization of marijuana or the legalization of cannabis for medicinal use or the newest push for it to be permissible recreationally, it is hard to turn...
