Editorials category, Page 23
Editorial: Why can’t Westmoreland County consider a cap on elected officials’ salaries?
Westmoreland County Commissioners need to talk about a change to how elected officials are paid. They need to do it openly, publicly and on the record, rather than lobbing comments back and forth via answers and interviews. But they aren’t. County law ties elected officials’ raises to the consumer price...
Editorial: Why the Fed shouldn’t stop worrying about inflation
At the recent central-bank symposium at Jackson Hole, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell delivered a widely expected message on interest rates: “The time has come for policy to adjust.” He all but confirmed the Fed will cut rates by at least a quarter-point when its policymakers next meet in September....
Editorial: There’s no excuse for not reporting child sexual abuse
How hard is it to report suspected sexual abuse of a minor? In recent years, we have been buried under an absolute avalanche of proof that children have been sexually abused, if not outright raped, by people in positions of authority. A 2018 Pennsylvania grand jury report indicated a minimum...
Editorial: The promise and the threat of Nippon Steel’s investment announcement
On Wednesday, Nippon Steel made a promise. The Japanese giant would invest “no less than $1 billion” into the U.S. Steel operations in the Greater Pittsburgh area. “Nippon Steel believes that a transformed Mon Valley Works will expand U. S. Steel’s ability to serve a broader range of markets and...
Laurels & lances: Potholes & potshots
Laurel: To demanding action. The bare minimum that should be expected of a shopping area is accessibility. Long before there were food courts and anchor stores, marketplaces realized that, to serve their purpose, they had to be easily traversed. In the modern era, that means they should have good roads...
Editorial: Juries, not judges, decide death penalty. That means judges must seat death penalty juries
Judges can’t pick and choose when it comes to death penalty cases. That’s the ruling of the Pennsylvania Superior Court. The case in question started with the Bellevue killing of Rachel Dowden in January 2022. Prosecutors say the crime was committed by her ex-boyfriend, Deangelo Zieglar, 28. The Allegheny County...
Editorial: Why did Westmoreland warden tell tall tale about tampered lock?
Children will make up elaborate stories to get out of trouble. The broken cookie jar is because of a monster. Or an imaginary friend. Or the dog. Yeah, that’s it. The dog did it. The child will tell that story with innocent eyes as big as the missing cookies. It’s...
Editorial: Trump shooting cannot stop political process
U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly opened his news conference at the Butler Farm Show grounds Monday with an explanation. Kelly, R-Butler, co-chairs a committee investigating the July 13 shooting in which former President Donald Trump was wounded, Buffalo Township volunteer firefighter Corey Comperatore was killed and two others also were hit...
Editorial: Iran’s attack on America: Criminal meddling in U.S. elections and protests
Back in 2016, it was the Russians who interfered with the U.S. presidential election, stealing emails and computer files from the Democrats and giving them to WikiLeaks to publish, seeking to embarrass the party and damage nominee Hillary Clinton. The culprit was the FSB, the Kremlin’s successor to the KGB,...
Editorial: U.S. Secret Service has no margin for error in protection
The U.S. Secret Service has a remarkable record when it comes to protection. It was born in 1865 — not because of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln but because of wildfire counterfeiting in the wake of the Civil War. The Secret Service is a child of the Treasury Department, transferred...
Editorial: Was Pittsburgh credit card scandal really no big deal?
It was just an honest mistake. That was the Pittsburgh Office of Management and Budget Director Jake Pawlak’s interpretation of the misuse of city credit cards to pay a former employee as a contractor. A six-page summary of the three-month Office of Municipal Investigations probe was issued Wednesday, assuring everyone...
Laurels & lances: Police and pests
Laurel: To obvious opportunities. Irwin police Chief Dan Wensel wants his borough leaders to authorize the department to join the Westmoreland County SWAT team. The group assembles members from eight other departments: Allegheny Township, Greensburg, Lower Burrell, Murrysville, New Kensington, North Huntingdon, Vandergrift and Washington Township. There are 25 operators,...
Editorial: Tight lips on investigations of police are unfair on all sides
Why isn’t the Arnold police chief at work? No one knows. Well, the people of Arnold don’t know. The people who have placed Chief Josh Stanga on administrative leave obviously do know. What they won’t do is divulge the reason, beyond Mayor Shannon Santucci stating that he is the target...
Editorial: Back-to-school safety: Everyone has a role to play
The first harbinger of autumn’s arrival is upon us, with public school students preparing to return to their classrooms for the 2024-25 school year. Over the next two weeks, classes will begin throughout the area — in Allegheny and Westmoreland counties, in public and private, parochial and charter schools. That...
Editorial: Time for the campaigns to really speak to Pennsylvanians
In Chicago, the last steps are being taken. With the Democratic National Convention in full swing and the Republican convention a month in the rear view mirror, we are in the last leg of what seems like the longest power struggle in history. And that leg is running right through...
Editorial: Kyiv hits back against Putin — Ukraine’s taking of Russian territory could be a turning point
About 2½ years into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the latter has turned the tables with an incursion into the Russian region of Kursk — once the site of a pivotal WWII battle — that by some estimates has left it with control of more than 1,000 square kilometers. While both...
Editorial: The pollution of our waterways belies their beauty
People are fascinated with finding things that have sunk in water. The wreck of the R.M.S. Titanic in the North Atlantic has been a draw since it sank in 1912, but especially since it was found in 1985. In 2023, billionaires died in an experimental craft trying to see it...
Editorial: Are police dog programs a community benefit?
Beware of dog. It’s a simple sentiment and one that requires little explanation. See a sign with those words on a fence, and you know there’s a guard on the other side whose bark could be worse than his bite — if you’re lucky. Similarly, the letters “K-9” on a...
Laurels & lances: Summer celebrations
Laurel: To the celebration of the summer. The event of the season is upon us — the opening of the 70th Westmoreland Fair. Maybe you come to the fair to show off the produce from your garden. Maybe you have a child entering livestock in the 4-H and FFA events....
Editorial: Should Pittsburgh voters decide to cut business ties with Israel?
The United States is a representative government rather than a direct democracy. Usually. There are times when we take the issues directly to the people rather than placing them in front of elected officials. It is called a referendum. Instead of picking the people who will make the decisions, we...
Editorial: Education is a responsibility, not a political game
The Department of Education accounts for 4% of federal spending. That’s less than Health and Human Services, Social Security Administration, the Treasury, Defense and Veterans Affairs. The 2024 federal education budget is about $79 billion. There are more than 54 million school-age children in the United States, according to the...
Editorial: Hard to run as a 3rd-party candidate, but it’s easy to challenge them when they try
George Washington was not a third-party candidate. He was a no-party candidate. He was adamantly opposed to the idea of political parties, believing them to be detrimental to the intent of the constitution. John Tyler started his political career as a Democrat, but it was the Whigs who nominated him...
Editorial: Butler shooting task force must resist shows of partisanship
The answers about what happened July 13 are coming, but they are coming slowly. Four weeks after the shooting at the Trump rally at the Butler Farm Show grounds, there has already been testimony in front of a joint panel of the U.S. Senate Homeland Security and Judiciary committees. The...
Editorial: Cheap fakes are dangerous knockoff of AI deep-fake threats
Deepfakes are getting attention as we creep closer to the election. These are things that spread like a bad flu with increasing reliance on technology. Often, they are a political weapon. Thousands of people in New Hampshire received robocalls ahead of the primary, with a voice that sounded like President...
Laurels & lances: Crime stopper & crime fighter
Laurel: To being a crime stopper. Bad things happen all the time, and people often wonder what would happen if someone was in the right place at the right time. Sharpsburg Mayor Kayla Portis can tell you because it happened Monday. Portis said a random passerby made all the difference...
