Laurels & lances: Fame, shame & hope

Laurel: To shining stars. On Monday, the Pittsburgh Walk of Fame was unveiled on Smallman Street in the Strip District.

The inaugural class of honorees featured 10 people who have shaped the history and culture of the region, from investigative journalist Nellie Bly and industrialist Andrew Carnegie to baseball great Roberto Clemente and everyone’s favorite neighbor, Fred Rogers.

Family members for some, like Clemente, Rogers and playwright August Wilson, were there to acknowledge the honor. Jazz musician George Benson accepted in a video because of health issues.

Oscar-nominated actor Michael Keaton attended in person to reveal his star. The “Batman” and “Beetlejuice” star is among the most well-known Pittsburgh celebrities.

That made it surprising for the plaque detailing Keaton’s accomplishments to feature an error, spelling his name as “Micheal.” The Walk of Fame’s founder and executive director, Nancy Polinsky Johnson, was genuinely contrite about the mistake — one she admitted to making before with her own son Michael. The plaque is being fixed.

Kudos to all of the honorees for their accomplishments — and to Johnson for an example of humility and accountability.

Lance: To another shutdown consequence. The hits just keep on coming. First Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program funds were frozen amid the federal government shutdown as of Oct. 16. Now the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) will be delayed by a month.

On Wednesday, the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services announced LIHEAP’s start date was being pushed back until Dec. 3 as the state had not yet received its federal funding. LIHEAP is a pass-through program that is paid for by the federal government but administered by the states.

Information on the state’s website follows the example of some federal web pages. Trump administration-run sites can include messaging blaming Democratic lawmakers for the shutdown. The Pennsylvania LIHEAP page, on the other hand, blames the federal government, while the SNAP page singles out congressional Republicans.

Laurel: To never giving up. It’s been 40 years since Cherrie Mahan, 8, was last seen in 1985. The answers to what happened to the third grader from Butler County have been an ongoing mystery. A suspect in the case has never been named.

But this week saw some action as state police and the FBI conducted a search along River Road in South Buffalo, about 10 miles from where the girl disappeared. A separate search with cadaver dogs occurred in September on a 26-acre parcel in South Buffalo.

No information about any search findings has been released. However, it is gratifying to know that even after four decades, people still care about a missing little girl enough to continue to hunt for answers.