Editorial: The election's over, and unfinished business beckons locally

Guess what? Not everything is about the election.

It’s true. There are still things happening in the world that have nothing to do with who won the presidency — or attorney general or auditor or treasurer or one of the legislative seats.

And maybe one of the best things about the end of the 2020 election and its laserbeam focus on Southwestern Pennsylvania is that we are free to focus on them again.

We can get back to what’s happening in Harrisburg. Like the budget. Remember — that plan for how the state is going to make and spend money until June 30, 2021? We still don’t have one, even though it should have been done five months ago. Wouldn’t it be nice to get back to pushing the Legislature and the governor to do their jobs and pay the bills?

There’s the coronavirus pandemic and its various impacts on the state. How is the state addressing the number of covid-19 cases diagnosed in nursing homes? What is happening with rising numbers of hospitalizations statewide? Are schools going to reopen or shut tight? There is a lot to unpack as we close in on a full year since the disease was first identified.

But not every story is even as big as the state. We have a lot of smaller stories to address closer to home.

There is the distinctly poor air quality in areas of Allegheny County like Liberty and Clairton, which spreads around the city. Local mall owners have declared bankruptcy. Pittsburgh-based Kennametal is the most recent local manufacturer to post significant losses in 2020. Westmoreland County is looking for a new prison warden. Greensburg is about to have a casino open at the Westmoreland Mall — yes, one of the malls dealing with bankruptcy.

And that’s just a random sampling. It doesn’t even include regular things from this time of year, like counties and municipalities making their own budgets for next year. The state might be scattershot about making its own spending plans but doesn’t let the lower levels of government off the hook. Why is that, by the way?

There are still school boards spending public money that need to be observed. There are hiring and firing and salary decisions being made by the counties that may need to be questioned.

There is a lot going on. It will be nice to get back to those stories, and more, after being swept into the stream of a massive national event.