Editorials category, Page 97
Editorial: Who won the Michael Rosfeld homicide trial?
No one won. On Friday, when a jury concluded the four-day homicide trial of Michael Rosfeld with three and a half hours of deliberation and an acquittal, there was no real victory. Rosfeld didn’t win the case. He just won’t go to jail. He can walk away from the courthouse,...
Editorial: Act 44 taking its toll on turnpike
On Thursday, state Auditor General Eugene DePasquale released an audit of the Pennsylvania Turnpike. The results were conclusive. Where some states build bridges to nowhere or roads without a destination, Pennsylvania knows exactly where things for the toll road are headed. Down a path to bankruptcy. Act 44 of 2007...
Laurels & lances: Treats, charges, legends and speaking out
Laurel: To spring being sprung. Regardless of predicted snowflakes Friday, spring is officially here and high temperatures in the coming week are predicted to stay in the 40s and 50s and all the way to 60s. It’s the perfect time to appreciate those longer days and brighter evenings, so thanks...
Editorial: Why use a mass shooter’s name?
We name names. The goal of journalism is to disseminate information. We find out who made a decision, who bought a business, who staged a protest, who won a prize, who died in a crash, who saved a life. And we name names. There are times that we pull the...
Editorial: Adults need to be informed about vaping, JUUL-ing
Do we really need another way to be addicted? We have internet and we have cellphones. We have alcohol and we have drugs. Lots of drugs. From the legal to the illicit to the things we use as substitutes for drugs when drugs are too hard to find. And we...
Editorial: What do we expect from black boys, rich kids?
Former East Pittsburgh police Officer Michael Rosfeld’s trial starts Tuesday. Barring a plea or other last-minute changes, a jury will decide if he is guilty of criminal homicide in the June 19th death of Antwon Rose II. Rose’s story is one in a long line of high-profile shootings of black...
Editorial: Mental health has to be prioritized
As the trial of former East Pittsburgh police officer Michael Rosfeld for the shooting of Antwon Rose is set to begin, another police shooting has happened. While the Rose shooting brings attention to the nationally felt tension between the black community and law enforcement, the death of Nina Adams, 47,...
Editorial: Veto shows how Washington is supposed to work
President Trump has signed his name on a lot of things since taking office. Executive orders. Bills he signed into law. Bibles for fans in tornado-torn Alabama. But on Friday, he signed something new. A veto. For the first time in his presidency, the Senate and the House of Representatives...
Editorial: Shooting shows high cost of cheap hate
Words have a high price. Thoughts have a cost. We make a mistake terming these things “free” when we really mean “unrestricted.” Nothing valuable comes without cost. Like guns, ideas can be valuable tools or deadly weapons. Like bullets, words can hit with pinpoint accuracy or spray like a hose,...
Laurels & lances: Musicals, memes, gadgets and guns
Laurel: To all the kids raising the curtains. Musical season at schools all over the area is in full swing, with cast members singing and dancing and hitting their marks while crew members build sets, prep props and focus the spotlights. Every show is as physical as a football game...
Editorial: Boeing crash, FAA delay test confidence
Confidence is what makes transportation work. We have confidence in painted lines on the road keeping lethally fast cars in their lanes. We have confidence that a bus will follow its route and get us where we need to go. And we have confidence in all of the dominoes that...
Editorial: Social media meets Social Security
If you put your life on social media, you may have to worry about security. Social Security. While Russian hackers and Chinese cyberattacks get all the attention for how they break into a system, the government here at home can use what you put out there without resorting to ransomware...
Editorial: How do you ask charities for charity?
Charity begins at home, and Allegheny County is home to a lot of charities. After six years, the county has only been able to review 72 percent of the tax-exempt properties owned by “complex nonprofits.” Out of 2,800 parcels, about 700 have not been reviewed to see if they really...
Bonnie Kristian: America’s costly and futile war
“America would be more secure and stronger economically if we recognized that we have largely achieved our objectives in Afghanistan and moved aggressively to bring our troops and tax dollars home,” Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Tom Udall (D-N.M.) write in an op-ed article. “Today, despite vast investment in training...
Editorial: Is daylight saving time that big a deal?
Daylight saving time is upon us again. So are complaints about the hour that gets lost when clocks jump ahead an hour. The grumbling is as sure a sign of spring as the first robin and more reliable than that rodent in Punxsutawney. We wonder why we do it. What...
Editorial: Nursing homes need answer to flat funding
Getting older isn’t cheap. The cost of taking care of the elderly just keeps rising, but not at the same speed the state is willing to pay for it. This week, the Pennsylvania Health Care Association, which represents about 500 Pennsylvania nursing home operators, expressed concerns about the increase in...
Editorial: Campaign finance ethics should be transparent
Can we ever really be too ethical? Especially when it comes to running for office? Can we be too transparent about where the money for our campaigns comes from? Can we be too honest about where it is going? Campaign finance regulations tell us all of that. They provide a...
Laurels & lances: Let the sun shine in
Laurel: To rebirth of local communities. Slowly — and cautiously — but surely, some downtowns’ formerly empty storefronts are filling again. Open a brewery, or an on-trend eatery, or turn a multi-level building — perhaps a department store in an earlier life — into loft apartments, and “they” will come....
Editorial: Toomey bill addresses Trump’s tricky trade
Negotiating trade is not a crossword puzzle with a solution you can find in the back of the book. It is the building of a house of cards. The rules are simple. Balance. Lean. Nudge. Repeat. But little things can tilt the table — weather, growth in one area, development...
Editorial: Why do we demand apologies?
We need to stop demanding that people apologize. Every day, people in the public eye say things that are mean or stupid or wrong. They are sexist, racist, anti-Semitic, ableist, partisan, homophobic, classist and varieties of discriminatory for which we have no “ist” words. They may be vague microaggressions that...
Editorial: Pittsburgh schools reduced pot penalties puzzling
Pennsylvania has yet to decide on the future of marijuana. Yes, it’s legal for medicinal purposes. Yes, the possibility of recreational use is being explored. There are very real reasons why that should be on the table. Why should alcohol be OK for frivolous consumption but marijuana isn’t? Valid question....
Editorial: Virtual infrastructure critical in Pennsylvania
Infrastructure. It’s not just for roads and bridges anymore. For years, when people talked about access and connection, it was about roads. We wanted our small towns to be able to reach our bigger towns, and our suburbs to be able to glide gracefully into our cities. We wanted to...
Editorial: Methodists might lose people with LGBTQ decision
Homosexuality will not go away by voting it off the island. This week, the United Methodist Church took a vote on whether or not it would permit a church in Pittsburgh or Poughkeepsie, Portland, Ore., or Paris to celebrate a same-sex wedding or hire a minister who is openly gay....
Editorial: Why do civil suits mean cops can’t be charged?
A civil suit is not the same thing as a criminal case, and the two should never be confused or conflated. O.J. Simpson, for example, is not a convicted murderer because, regardless of the decision in a civil case that he was responsible for the deaths of his ex-wife Nicole...
Laurels & lances: Cyber school, a hero’s honor and what happens in Vegas
Laurel: To public school districts such as Leechburg, Hempfield, Jeannette, Seneca Valley, Norwin and a growing list of others across the state that are reaching out to families in search of cyberschool options with district-based cyber programs that save taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars. Those programs also offer high-achieving...
