Editorials category, Page 94
Editorial: Moon shot proves American aspiration
Moon shot. It was an against-all-odds idea. It was a plan that was as far-fetched as it was impossible. It was the kind of ridiculous idea that you threw out there as an example of ridiculous ideas. But in 1961, John F. Kennedy gave the impossible a deadline. He stood...
Laurels & lances: Wishes, dangers and partners
Laurel: To a hero’s dream come true. Seven military or first-responder brides received a fairy godmother moment in Greensburg when they participated in a Brides Across America event that put Cinderella-fantasy wedding gowns onto women who have served their country or their community — or are marrying someone who has....
Editorial: Could Congress vote conscience over caucus?
“Our Independent Voice.” That’s how a Bucks County congressman’s official website describes him. It takes digging on Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick’s website to uncover his GOP affiliation. You can find that he’s a former FBI agent and an attorney, a CPA and an EMT. It shows he is on his second...
Editorial: Medicaid waivers real roller coaster
It is easy to have a plan. It’s a little harder to assemble it. It is a lot harder to make it function the way it should. Kennywood can speak to that. The idea of the Steel Curtain roller coaster has been a hit from the beginning. It’s been months...
Editorial: Trump can’t block out criticism
President Trump can’t block his opponents from his Twitter account. That’s not because of last week’s federal appeals court ruling that upheld a lower court’s decision calling the presidential blocks unconstitutional. Trump has just shy of 62 million followers on the social media platform. He has used it to reach...
Editorial: Same old drug policy? Good grief
Charlie Brown is a cookie-cutter drug czar. The round-headed kid with earnest intentions and a fervent desire to just do the right thing would want to stop dangerous drugs from flooding the streets. He would want to save people from the downward spiral of addiction. He would do everything he...
Editorial: The ABCs and 123s of SATs and ACTs
If we care about educating our kids, let’s put the money into teaching them. Let’s not send millions of dollars to companies who can really just tell us whether our kids can take tests. According to Auditor General Eugene DePasquale, Pennsylvanians pay almost $18 million for testing high school seniors...
Editorial: Wolf’s voting veto a head-scratcher
Gov. Tom Wolf thinks that scrapping straight-ticket voting will lead to confused voters and long lines at the polls. Do you know what else confuses voters? Do you know what else leads to long lines? When no one knows what’s going on. How we vote might be the most important...
Laurels & lances: Airports, jobs, penguins and dogs
Laurel: To a high-flying honor. Pittsburgh International Airport has been named the seventh-best airport in the country, according to Travel & Leisure magazine, a publication that obviously knows a little something about arrivals and departures. That’s a pretty nice ranking for an airport that isn’t a major hub. And hey,...
Editorial: No thin line between self-defense and recklessness
Let’s talk about gun control. No, not the government controlling the weapon you have a constitutional right to own. We need to talk about the obligation to control the weapon and yourself when it is in your possession. The recent shooting at the North Versailles Walmart illustrates the importance of...
Editorial: Perot paved political pathways
Ross Perot wasn’t a guy who did things first. He was a guy who saw a way to do them a little bit better. Perot, who died Tuesday, wasn’t the first person to make money in Texas. He was one of the first to drill into technology instead of oil....
Editorial: Title IX scored USWNT victory
You can’t watch a glacier move. You can’t watch the continents shift. You can’t watch a redwood grow. The big things take a long time to come to fruition. But that doesn’t mean nothing is happening. The law can be like that, too. Something can be voted on and passed...
Editorial: Pennsylvania to blame for low Real ID applications
Pennsylvania is concerned that people aren’t jumping on the Real ID bandwagon. Hmm. It’s hard to figure out how 12.8 million people could have gotten the idea that it doesn’t matter. Pennsylvania has balked and delayed to implement Real ID at every turn for years. Yes, the state has finally...
Editorial: Body cameras protect everyone
Let’s go to the video. We believe our eyes, but sometimes our eyes might stretch the truth. They might say what we want to hear. They might pick a side. And that is why body cameras on police are important. Today everybody has a television studio in their pocket. Every...
Editorial: Wideman pardon part of painful justice reform
Forty-four years would have seemed like a lifetime to a 24-year-old man in 1975. Robert Wideman, now 68, was just 24 when charged with second-degree murder. He was convicted the next year and sent to prison for life. Nicola Morena was 24 back in 1975, too. Morena was the man...
Laurels & lances: Russians, crime, radar and story time
Laurel: To colluding with Russians — musically. It was the sounds of Chicago. Except it wasn’t Chicago. It was cover band Leonid & Friends. And they aren’t even from Chicago. They’re from Moscow. Yes, Russia. The 11-member band was a big hit in Greensburg last week, packing St. Clair Park...
Editorial: Regional police show real small government
While other municipalities in Pennsylvania are trying to find ways to work together on a DUI task force, two municipalities are joining forces. That’s not a metaphor. Springdale Township and Cheswick created the Allegheny Valley Regional Police Department. The eight-member force started patrolling Monday. There is a lot about this...
Editorial: Penn Hills can’t depend on state money
Good for the taxpayers of Penn Hills. The highly troubled school district is getting a $3.3 million cash injection from the state on top of the regular annual contribution all districts receive. State Sen. Jay Costa, D-Forest Hills, helped Penn Hills get the extra money from the Department of Education....
Editorial: Gerrymandering doesn’t represent us
Whether you are in a casino or a courtroom or state house, stacking the deck is wrong. You don’t get to load up your hand with aces. You don’t get to put your best friends on your jury. And you aren’t supposed to carefully, surgically carve out a constituency that...
Editorial: Budget behavior, childish tantrums
We don’t have time for leaders to act like children. The people we have elected are there to do a job. We might not like the job they do, but that’s why we get to shuffle the deck periodically. What we didn’t do was send grown men and women to...
Editorial: Buttigieg’s Pittsburgh summit is a good idea
Let’s get on this Pittsburgh summit. Not the top of Mt. Washington. The one tossed out by Pete Buttigieg at Thursday’s debate for Democratic presidential candidates. In a question about climate change, the mayor of South Bend, Ind., spoke as a leader of a not-coastal city that is still dealing...
Laurels & lances: Movies, memes, stealing and stress
Laurel: To summer fun with serious bite. As part of its new summer programming, The Westmoreland Museum of American Art hosted its first Summer Saturday on June 22. The Greensburg museum’s parking lot turned into a drive-in — or sit-in — of sorts, for an outdoor viewing of “Jaws,” marking...
Editorial: Is Sestak more primary background noise?
If there’s one thing the Democrats didn’t need going into the first presidential primary debates, it was one more candidate. Even one from Pennsylvania. Yes, the state’s got everything: rural, urban, left, right, industrial, agricultural, basic education, higher education, rich, poor. If you’re going to speak to any state, speak...
Editorial: Treat record-high drug addiction in jail
Addiction threatens our safety and our wallets. We know that people have drug problems. If it isn’t in your family, it’s an other-people problem. If you don’t take pills, or heroin, or cocaine, why is it something that you have to think about? It’s because more of the people around...
Editorial: UPMC, Highmark still need permanent solution
Break out the champagne. The crisis has been averted. No, not the tensions surrounding U.S. and Iranian relations. No, not North Korea. It’s not the war on drugs or the war on terror or even the war on Christmas. The peace treaty on the table is between Highmark and UPMC....
