Editorials category, Page 95
Editorial: Pennsylvania gave women voice with vote
Women get to have a say. That shouldn’t surprise anyone. It should seem obvious. Of course a woman gets a seat at the table, a voice in a discussion. Of course all women should have that opportunity. But it was just 100 years ago that Pennsylvania said that, yes, every...
Editorial: Another Clairton fire, another shutdown
We barely finished talking about Clairton. The Tribune-Review spent months visiting the city and talking to the people in the wake of the Christmas Eve fire at U.S. Steel’s Clairton Coke Works that shuttered pollution control systems for 2½ weeks. It came together in a Sunday feature with the stories...
Editorial: Don’t let fear slam door on refuge
Refuge. It is a place of solace and sanctuary. Shelter from the wind and weather. Protection from wolves and want. Refuge is safety. So what do we do when it becomes less safe? Mustafa Mousab Alowemer, 21, a refugee from Syria who has been here for three years, was charged...
Lori Falce: We need real-life superheroes
My friends are evenly split on a critical topic of our times. It’s not Trump or Mueller. It’s not Bernie or Biden. It’s not paper or plastic. It’s superheroes. In short, why is so much of our entertainment today wrapped up in masks and capes and “up, up and away”...
Laurels & lances: Helping, parking and paying
Laurel: To stopping to help. Good Samaritans Kim and Alex Kelley, who work at Kelley’s Pizza at the corner of routes 22 at 819 in Salem, dropped everything to rush out of their business to lend a hand to three injured passengers and a bus driver on a Westmoreland Transit...
Editorial: School tax credits are taxes too
What are you OK paying more for every year? Automatically. Without question. What would you sign up for today knowing that it could — and would — escalate annually every Jan. 1? Is there anything? Gov. Tom Wolf vetoed a bill to that effect. The topic of the bill is...
Editorial: Antwon Rose case has no black-white answers
If there is anything we know a year after the death of Antwon Rose II, it is that nothing is black and white. Even when it seems that everything is black and white. Rose was black. He was 17. He was a kid running from a cop. Michael Rosfeld was...
Editorial: Defusing hate with healing
There’s nothing like a big ball of flame to show that there is more to stopping mass murder than gun control. While some people are pulling back and forth on the tug-of-war rope that is trying to tie up guns and bullets in fingerprint-locked safes, can someone please find a...
Editorial: Communities rally for lightning victims’ families
When lightning strikes. So often, that means something powerful. Something awesome. Something that comes out of the blue and dazzles with something you never realized before. When lightning strikes, it can mean good fortune. It can mean a great idea. It can mean a stunning opportunity. And lightning striking twice?...
Editorial: EPA, emissions changes have to make sense
Pennsylvania doesn’t have the same earthquake building code requirements as California. The state doesn’t demand you inspect your home for dinosaurs before you sell it. It makes sense that things that aren’t a problem aren’t regulated. Even if there was an earthquake in Central Pennsylvania this week, it’s not the...
Laurels & lances: Music, gators, basketball and Kennywood
Laurel: To sweet, sweet music for the community. SummerSounds kicked off its 20th anniversary season on June 7 with a packed St. Clair park for its 7 Bridges — an Eagles tribute band — concert. According to series chairman Gene James, more than 8,000 people filled the Maple Street park...
Editorial: The power of zoning and local government
If you want to know why you should vote, think about what you want to see happen next door. Zoning decisions can be hot topics. There is always someone who doesn’t want the new business or activity on the horizon. Landfills. Strip clubs. Methadone clinics. Halfway houses. Prisons. Factories. There...
Editorial: Facing facts about facial recognition
You may have gotten accustomed to using your face as your password with your iPhone. Then maybe you got used to using it via your phone to buy your lunch, pay for an online purchase or just pick up a soda at the vending machine in your office breakroom. But...
Editorial: Is restoring Pennsylvania enough?
“Restore Pennsylvania” is a good concept. Pennsylvania could use a little restoration. That’s not a revelation. Pennsylvania needs more jobs. It needs more business. It needs more industry. It needs more development. But Gov. Tom Wolf’s push to take $4.5 billion in severance tax that could be generated from Marcellus...
Editorial: Pennsylvania health exchange mousetrap
Everyone wants to build a better health care mousetrap. It’s a hot topic on the campaign trail. It’s a top concern for voters. In Pittsburgh, all eyes are on the UPMC-Highmark battle royale. People want to know how to stay healthy, how to get healthy and who is going to...
Editorial: What pushed UPMC on prepay?
For months, the deadline has loomed. June 30. The day Highmark patients would have to start paying for medical care at UPMC hospitals up front instead of presenting an insurance card and letting the process play out the way it does with other companies. But for UPMC, a different deadline...
Laurels & lances: Reach out, reveal, redd up
Laurels: To showing true colors. Pittsburgh police vehicles are sporting rainbow-skylined decals in June to celebrate Pride Month, a focus on the LGBT+ community. This is one of several decals the department will be using over the year to “focus on inclusiveness, community police work and building bridges,” according to...
Editorial: A world bought with sacrifice
The tide has come in and gone out every day for 75 years. The cold water has washed away the hot blood spilled by so many Americans on the beaches of Normandy. It hasn’t washed away what that blood bought us. It didn’t buy us a peaceful nation. It bought...
Editorial: How hot is too hot for classrooms?
It’s hot. You’re in a room full of people, trying to listen to the person talking but your mind keeps wandering. It’s hard to focus on your work. All you can think about is how uncomfortable you are, how much you want a drink, how you want to be anyplace...
Editorial: Virginia Beach joins tragic list
Hello, Virginia Beach. Welcome to the club no one wants to join. Like widows and parents who have lost children, cities that have experienced mass shootings are survivors that must learn to navigate in a new world while muscle memory tries to walk them through the layout of the old....
Editorial: Leechburg library closing is sad commentary
There may be no sadder commentary on the changing way we consume information than the demise of a local library. A library is one of those touchstone places that speaks to how a community comes together. Move to a new town and you have a list of things you need...
Editorial: Trump tariffs are Mexican standoff
A week ago, it was infrastructure versus a trade deal. “Before we get to infrastructure, it is my strong view that Congress should first pass the important and popular (United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement) trade deal,” President Trump wrote to Democratic leaders ahead of a planned meeting. The USMCA was negotiated between...
Editorial: Graduation ends journey for parents, not schools
That first day of school is hard. We drop the kids off for kindergarten. We dry their tears and push them to go. We hide our tears so they don’t know we’re scared, too. And that’s not the only first day. There’s the first time taking the bus, the first...
Laurels & lances: Flight, fire, art and weather
Laurel: To a high-flying success. The Memorial Day weekend Shop ‘n Save Westmoreland County Airshow drew thousands of visitors to the Arnold Palmer Regional Airport in Unity. The annual undertaking is a big one for a small staff, assisted by contracted performers, hired hands and hundreds of volunteers. For two...
Editorial: Court confident in UPMC, Shapiro showdown
Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice David Wecht clearly has a lot of confidence in lawyers. When the court issued a split-decision ruling Tuesday regarding Attorney General Josh Shapiro’s attempt to force a resolution to the ticking time bomb that is the end of the UPMC-Highmark agreement, Wecht showed a great deal...
