Editorials category, Page 45
Editorial: Was Westmoreland DA Ziccarelli’s crash really minor?
“Minor car accident” is one of those terms everyone has heard and yet is difficult to quantify. The Pennsylvania Insurance Department doesn’t have a measure for what makes a crash minor or major. An insurance company only deals in monetary amounts. There is no sliding scale. And so, when Westmoreland...
Laurels & lances: Loss, objection and dropped charges
Laurel: To a bittersweet farewell. On Tuesday, the community turned out to line the roads along a a twisting path from Baldwin to McKeesport, ending at Jefferson Memorial Cemetery on Curry Hollow Road. They were there to say goodbye to McKeesport police Officer Sean Sluganski, who was killed in the...
Editorial: Our children are under fire, and it’s time something gives
On Tuesday, Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey was stretched thin. Events called him in two directions. The funeral for slain McKeesport police Officer Sean Sluganski was scheduled for noon at St. Albert the Great Church in Baldwin. It was just a few hours later that he was speaking with media in...
Editorial: Is Westmoreland Republicans’ endorsement too early?
Endorsement is the stamp of approval that an organization — or an individual — gives a candidate in an election. Unions do it. Professional associations do it. Other elected officials do it. News organizations can decide to do it. Although the Tribune-Review and some other news agencies don’t believe it...
Editorial: Food banks need more support in face of SNAP benefit changes
Since 2020, the number of people depending on SNAP benefits — the government program previously called food stamps — has grown. In 2019, the number of Pennsylvanians was 1.6 million. Today, it is 1.8 million. The amount of money spent on the program in Pennsylvania has grown from $2.4 billion...
Editorial: Slamming shut the Medicaid and CHIP continuous enrollment door
The people who can least afford it are about to experience the blatant cruelty of a disappearing helping hand. The coronavirus pandemic prompted the Families First Coronavirus Act. In addition to things such as paid covid sick leave and testing, it also addressed additional SNAP benefits and continuous enrollment in...
Editorial: Pittsburgh’s bridge report needs to create urgent timeline
When Pittsburgh makes a bridge a priority, exactly what does that mean? In December, Mayor Ed Gainey released a comprehensive bridge report that assessed the spans that cross the city’s rivers, roads and valleys. The $1.5 million report was commissioned after the collapse of the poorly rated Fern Hollow Bridge...
Editorial: Government and media need to serve the people
The relationship between government and journalism frequently focuses on the adversarial. This is because there is a three-legged stool of public information. The government has the information, the people need the information, and journalists are the conduit for the exchange of that information. The adversarial nature comes about because, sometimes,...
Laurels & lances: Big save, big shame
Laurel: To co-workers you can count on. The people you work alongside can be just like family. That means they can be a confidante, a best friend or the person who bugs you more than anything. But sometimes they can also be real lifesavers. For Alexis Simon, a Penn-Trafford special...
Editorial: Pa. state House needs to get to work
It’s time for the Pennsylvania House of Representatives to get to work. On Tuesday, the voters in three Allegheny County districts did their jobs. They showed up for the special election to fill the seats of the late longtime legislator Tony DeLuca, newly installed U.S. Rep. Summer Lee and Lt....
Editorial: Support police by giving room to grieve
If you want to know the toll that a line-of-duty shooting can take, look at the pictures of McKeesport police Chief Adam Alfer. On Monday, he stood alongside other officials making statements and giving information about the death of one of his own, Officer Sean Sluganski, and the injury of another,...
Commentary: How does the U.S.-China relationship continue after the spy balloon saga?
If you thought the Chinese spy balloon saga would deflate as fast as the balloon did over the Atlantic Ocean, you’re sadly mistaken. Days after a U.S. F-22 destroyed the device with a single air-to-air missile at 58,000 feet, the story continues to hover over the news cycle like a...
Editorial: Addressing blight requires planning and action
Eliminating blight isn’t a one-time task. Like weeding a garden, it’s a continual battle against recurrent attacks. As one industry rises, another one falls. Coal to nuclear to gas. Steel to banking to health care. The same happens with evolving lifestyles. Downtown shopping districts gave way to massive one-stop malls...
Editorial: Reserve audit tells only part of story
There is little doubt that, as state Auditor General Timothy DeFoor recently reported, some public school districts move around money to avoid reporting excessive cash reserves that would preclude them from raising local taxes. But that is only part of the story. Public school districts don’t operate in a vacuum...
Editorial: Let’s not forget what working at home taught us
It’s back to normal for Pennsylvania government. Gov. Josh Shapiro announced Thursday that 2,300 state employees will be heading back to the office. That move came on the heels of President Joe Biden’s decision that federal emergency measures related to the coronavirus pandemic will end in May. These are positive...
Editorial: Is Pennsylvania using anxiety as a gateway to marijuana?
Feeling anxious? You aren’t alone. The National Institute of Mental Health puts the number of people diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder at about 6.8 million adults. That’s more than 3% of the population. It doesn’t necessarily include those suffering from social anxiety disorder, panic attacks or phobias that also could...
Laurels & lances: Vaping, heating and smiling
Laurel: To adding new tools. As the song says, “Everybody knows that smokin’ ain’t allowed in school.” That historically has been about cigarettes but has branched out to the modern version — vaping. It is illegal to sell any tobacco products, including vaping products, to those under 21 in Pennsylvania....
Editorial: Does Pennsylvania have a real-life ‘Groundhog Day’ problem?
In “Groundhog Day,” the 1993 Bill Murray movie, the holiday centered around a prognosticating Punxsutawney Phil is not the point. They are just the kick-off for the story about a weatherman trapped in the same 24 hours with the same events happening over and over again. There was never an...
Editorial: Is asking front line workers to train for crisis a good idea?
It would be great if everyone was trained to be a helping hand. But wishing doesn’t make it so. Neither does the vote of a city’s leaders. Last week, Pittsburgh City Councilwoman Deb Gross, D-Highland Park, put forward legislation that would create a training program to help people with crises...
Editorial: Museum commission needs to bring ideas for Bushy Run Battlefield
Teachers will tell you that finding a way to make a lesson come to life is the best way to make the material stick. It’s the difference between telling someone how to drive and putting them behind the wheel. There’s a reason that you take a book test to get...
Editorial: Colleges should stop hiding how much they cost
Whether President Joe Biden’s plan to forgive some $400 billion in federal student-loan debt goes forward will ultimately be up to the Supreme Court. For now, there’s more the federal government should be doing to rein in the costs of higher education — and thus reduce how much students borrow...
Editorial: Greensburg chief’s resignation after charges was a service
On Tuesday, Shawn Denning embarrassed the people of Greensburg when he was arrested at City Hall on federal drug charges. He immediately did what may have been the best service he offered to those same people. He resigned as the chief of police. Denning, 41, is free on $250,000 unsecured...
Editorial: The ticking clocks of Pennsylvania’s poor bridges
For the people on the Fern Hollow Bridge on Jan. 28, 2022, the unthinkable happened in a heartbeat. There was a banging sound. There was confusion. Was it a crash? There was a drop. One moment, it was a normal Friday morning, driving in the snowy January weather. The next,...
Laurels & lances: Police and consequences
Laurel: To carrying on. Though the hole created by the loss of Chief Justin McIntire remains, the Brackenridge police are getting back to business as usual. Police from across the region covered the department following McIntire’s death Jan. 2 in the line of duty, allowing the Brackenridge officers an opportunity...
Editorial: One-way public comment rules can be malicious compliance
Compliance is the term for acknowledging the rules and following them. You see the stop sign. You gently step on the brake pedal as your car approaches it. You note the speed limit and set your cruise control accordingly. But malicious compliance is different. It’s technically following the letter of...
