Editorials category, Page 16
Editorial: Trump administration decisions have real impacts on real people
When incidents occur, it is human nature to do two things. We might empathize, recognizing the hardship others are enduring. We say “I understand,” or, “That could have been me.” The other reaction is to distance. We watch from behind a mental pane of glass. We don’t have to understand....
Editorial: Politics interferes with Pittsburgh police chief picks
The Pittsburgh Bureau of Police is, once again, without a leader. This time, it is losing even an acting leader. “Serving as your acting chief for the last four months has been one of the greatest honors of my career,” acting Chief Christopher Ragland told Mayor Ed Gainey at a...
Editorial: How can hospitals be made safe from violence?
UPMC Memorial in York County is a hospital. A hospital is a place where life or death struggles take place every day. It is usually a cardiac arrest or a stroke or an anaphylactic allergic reaction. It can be a traumatic injury. It might be a gunshot wound. It is...
Editorial: Never forget the WTC sick — Congress must finally fully fund their health care
We were relieved when House Republicans successfully pushed President Donald Trump to reverse the Elon Musk-imposed 20% cut to the World Trade Center Health Program, which provides medical monitoring and treatment to 137,000 responders and survivors sickened from the toxic plume from 9/11. Never forget, indeed. But having protected the...
Editorial: Medicaid doesn’t just provide care to the poor
Making cuts to one program often has a fallout beyond the intended recipient. For example, whenever a proposal is made to cut all benefits that might go to someone testing positive for drugs, there are voices in favor. It is understandable that many people don’t want to give assistance to...
Editorial: Police silence about shootings speaks volumes
How long can police remain silent about a shooting? Quite a while, it seems. On Feb. 14, yellow crime scene tape went up around McKinley Avenue in East Vandergrift. It happened after a raid on an apartment above the post office. The U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force was leading the...
Laurels & lances: Learning experiences
Laurel: To getting into education. A good book can put a reader into the story. Virtual reality video gaming can put a player in a new world. But how can that happen for a whole classroom? On Tuesday, East Allegheny School District became the first K-12 public school setting to...
Editorial: Pittsburgh’s Fern Hollow settlement filing is hard to swallow
Doing something audaciously bold is said to take gall. The saying comes from the word “gall,” referring to bile — in reality, secretions of the liver but generally any bitter, caustic, hard-to-swallow substance produced by the body. It “takes gall” to take some actions because, like swallowing bile, you have...
Editorial: Penn State must fulfill its land grant mission
On Sunday afternoon, after 46 hours of dancing and months of fundraising, Penn State celebrated what is the university’s proudest moment each year. The total of money pulled in for Thon, an event billed as the largest student-run charity in the world, to fight cancer broke records at $17.7 million....
Editorial: Ligonier Beach flooded with red tape
There is no beach in Ligonier. That isn’t surprising. Westmoreland County is more than 100 miles from Lake Erie and hundreds more from the Atlantic Ocean. There is water in abundance from the variety of creeks and springs and more peppering Pennsylvania. There is no stretch of sandy shore perfect...
Editorial: Credit card bill will hurt those it’s supposed to help
President Donald Trump has taken many productive steps during his first weeks back in the Oval Office. But supporting a bill to cap credit card interest rates — based on a campaign promise the president made — wouldn’t be one of them. The odd couple of Sens. Bernie Sanders, the...
Editorial: Mississippi editorial ruling is betrayal of constitutional role
An editorial is the one place on the pages of a newspaper where the job is different. It is not about reporting the facts. It is about interpreting them. It is not about exposing the failings of government. It is about calling for solutions. That is what makes a Mississippi...
Editorial: Mayor Gainey needs to own his mistakes instead of being defensive
Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey didn’t need to be defensive Thursday. He was speaking at an event celebrating the one-year anniversary of the opening of the Wood Street police substation. “I want to thank our officers,” Gainey said. That’s the way things should have gone: appreciation for the Pittsburgh police officers,...
Laurels & lances: Saying goodbye to the legendary Mike Lange
Laurel: To a defining voice. Mike Lange died Wednesday. He was 76 years old. That seems impossible. How could all of those marvelous Mike-isms come in so little time? Lange was a native Californian who came to the Steel City in 1974. From 1976 until his retirement in 2021, his...
Editorial: Esplanade has potential for splashy development
Pittsburgh needs developers. The city has real challenges that require solutions only found through the swing of a hammer. Empty, unused buildings can become warrens for criminal activity. Derelict areas don’t generate tax money, but they do use it up. There are all manner of businesses in need of space...
Editorial: What will the impact of carving DEI out of schools be?
During the pandemic, we directed a lot of criticism at Tom Wolf. As governor, he was taking a lot of steps to deal with the coronavirus and its impact on Pennsylvanians. Much of the criticism was directed at his handling of education orders and how districts should execute them. Even...
Editorial: Birthright citizenship helps make America great
Amid the flood of executive orders issued from the White House on Jan. 20, one is especially misguided, both in legal and policy terms: Beginning in 30 days, the order declared, children born in the U.S. to mothers who are undocumented immigrants — or even legal temporary residents — may...
Editorial: Is a big box closing the way to revitalize local business?
Joann is closing. The crafting and fabric retailer announced it was shuttering about 500 stores nationwide. Of those, at least 30 are in Pennsylvania and there are many throughout the Southwestern Pennsylvania region. Stores from Robinson and Monroeville in Allegheny County to Greensburg and Indiana and Johnstown in surrounding counties...
Editorial: A turnpike toll scam? Say it isn’t so
Do you owe the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission? Maybe. It can happen. The Toll By Plate system makes it possible to rack up tolls that can become fees that can become more. Even an E-ZPass transponder can end up with unexpected red ink now and then. But that doesn’t mean you...
Laurels & lances: Credit & quiet
Laurel: To a job completed. For three and a half years, Marc Fogel survived his stint in a Russian prison. But let’s give a laurel to the people who brought him home. There is President Donald Trump, who made a promise shortly before being shot in Fogel’s hometown in Butler...
Editorial: Freedom of speech is not freedom from consequences
Norwin School Board voted Monday to censure one of its members. Alex Detschelt has been a regular point of controversy on the board for years. There was his use of a slur regarding people with intellectual disabilities that he shared on social media. There was his subsequent opposition to a...
Editorial: Finally. Marc Fogel is free
It took 1,278 days, but it finally happened. Marc Fogel, 63, of Oakmont, was released Tuesday from the Russian penal colony where he had been imprisoned since August 2021. He was sentenced to 14 years for possession of 17 grams of medical marijuana legally dispensed in Pennsylvania. It’s about damn...
Editorial: Under-oath interviews aren’t Pittsburgh council’s fault
Pittsburgh City Council is taking steps to make sure it gets the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Council last week unanimously passed legislation that would change the way prospective department leaders communicate when called in to meet. They will do so under oath. The legislation, introduced...
Editorial: Trump shouldn’t push his luck on tariffs
So far, President Donald Trump’s tariff brinkmanship has worked out well for him. He forced Colombia to bend to his will on repatriating its migrants and brought the leaders of Canada and Mexico rushing back to the table to talk border security. But what happens should his luck run out?...
Editorial: Consumer advocate should be independent
To whom should Pennsylvania’s consumer advocate be answerable? The consumer advocate is a position created in 1976. The goal is to represent the people in state and federal proceedings involving utilities, including in front of the Pennsylvania Utility Commission. The point? The state’s interests and the people’s are often the...
