Editorial: Let’s see the receipts on data centers
Pennsylvania lawmakers are embroiled in the annual dance in balancing our collective checkbook — the state budget. At the same time, the Keystone State is offering a tax exemption to data center developers that the Department of Revenue acknowledges it cannot fully track. It’s an odd thing to justify. Qualifying...
Editorial: Why does transparency have to be so partisan?
The City of Pittsburgh Republican Committee has called for an itemized ledger tracking how $12 million in private donations will be spent. Coming from a political party, it’s easy to read that as partisan. It very well might be. That doesn’t mean that should be the assumption — or the...
Laurels & lances: Consequences & community
Laurel: To correcting mistakes. Greensburg’s police pension commission this week approved the forfeiture of pension benefits paid to a retired officer, Regina McAtee, convicted in federal court of drug conspiracy charges. That includes repayment of $75,400 already received. The process was deliberate, with a public hearing and submitted briefs. A...
Editorial: When local control means working together
Regionalization is becoming a reality in Pennsylvania. You can see it with police departments. In the Alle-Kiski Valley, departments that were questioning their future are now serving broad swaths of territory. Freeport once struggled to provide round-the-clock coverage with a small roster of officers. Today, as part of the Southern...
Editorial: Reading between the lines of the First Amendment
There are two ways to read information. One is to look only at the black-and-white letters. You take in the text exactly as written and process it on that basis alone. If you were on the Supreme Court, this would make you an originalist — someone who does not bring...
Editorial: RFK Jr.’s vaccine skepticism is entering a new phase
The stability of the U.S. vaccine market rests on an obscure $4 billion fund known as the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., long a critic of the fund, now appears intent on dismantling it. Vaccine production can be a fickle business....
Editorial: A closed door doesn’t mean disappearing help
A closed door is often read as an ending. It marks the moment a business shuts down or an opportunity slips away. But sometimes a closed door is not the end. Casa San José has closed its front door. At the same time, it is buying a building. The nonprofit...
Editorial: Savannah Guthrie, Cassandra Gross and the hard truth about missing-person cases
Watching Savannah Guthrie sit on a couch and look into a camera is nothing new. It is how many Americans start their day — with a cup of coffee and the “Today” show. But for two days this week, the usually upbeat host has not been interviewing others about their...
Laurels & lances: Podiums & plumbing
Laurel: To going for the gold. Winter or summer, whenever the Olympics roll around, Americans tend to get into the flag-waving support of Team USA. This year, Westmoreland County has particular reason to cheer. Jasmine Jones, a Hempfield graduate and former Eastern Michigan sprinter, is competing as a brakeman for...
Editorial: Adding up the state’s structural deficit versus rainy day fund math
Debt and savings are different columns in the same ledger. Any business can tell you that. So can anyone working on their taxes right now. Like blood circulating in the body, the amount of money in and out of any operation is always in flux. Pennsylvania’s numbers show just how...
Editorial: Pennsylvania is more than a political stand-in
Pennsylvania is often described as a microcosm of the nation, its blue population centers offset by wide stretches of red and its elections swinging from cycle to cycle. But that political shorthand can obscure something important: what looks tidy on a map becomes far more complicated when policy reaches real...
Editorial: Good neighbors, hard moments
There may be few places where being a good neighbor carries the weight it does in Southwestern Pennsylvania. “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” was not just a television show here. Fred Rogers was an actual neighbor. That instinct often shows itself when something goes wrong close to home. People show up at...
Editorial: Warsh looks like a smart choice for the Fed … for now
The nomination of Kevin Warsh as next chair of the Federal Reserve is good news. He’s amply qualified for the role, having served as a Fed governor from 2006 to 2011. He has argued throughout for the central bank to narrow its focus to controlling inflation and to rely less...
Editorial: Fixing the Sunshine Act’s notice problem
Since 1957, Pennsylvania has codified a responsibility to make public meetings accessible to the people. The state law also evolved, eventually becoming what is now known as the Sunshine Act. The earlier Open Meetings Law required only the most basic transparency. If a vote was taken, the meeting had to...
Editorial: U.S. protection must not end at the border
On July 30, 2022, Marc Fogel’s name first appeared on this opinion page. It would not be the last. The Butler County native and Pittsburgh resident was a recurring topic in editorials for four years as TribLive did two things: We kept the story of his detention in a Russian...
Laurels & lances: Truth & consequences
Laurel: To local lore. A long-overlooked land grant tied to Upper Burrell offers a tangible reminder that the nation’s founding era was not confined to famous cities or grand halls of debate. Signed by Benjamin Franklin, the document connects the area directly to the practical work of building a new...
Editorial: Different places, different faces of homelessness
Homelessness is a problem people often try not to see. There are places where that takes effort. In urban areas, homelessness is more visible — in park encampments and on sidewalks, where people learn to look past it. That is homelessness in Pittsburgh, much as it is in New York...
Editorial: Frozen rivers are not playgrounds
Snow days make you want to be out in the stinging wind, feeling the crunch of drifts under your boots, making angels on the lawn and building a fort to fight off your friends with a volley of solidly packed snowballs. It is the quintessential winter memory, the one adults...
Editorial: Immigration action is no distant story
On Thursday morning across Southwestern Pennsylvania, many families were going through the same familiar ritual. Breakfasts were eaten. Winter coats and backpacks were wrangled. Parents and children headed out the door expecting an ordinary start to an ordinary day. But as Hariett Flores was starting her day in Oakmont, that...
Editorial: News on dementia is a call to action for our future
The latest report on CTE is both enlightening and alarming. A groundbreaking study from Boston University researchers found that those with CTE have a much higher chance of being diagnosed with dementia. The largest study of its kind from the Boston University CTE Center reveals that the progressive brain disease...
Editorial: Elections don’t wait for a spotlight to matter
Everyone knows 2026 is an important election year. It is a midterm, carrying the familiar post-presidential pressure that takes the political temperature of the country. In Pennsylvania, it is also a gubernatorial year. State Treasurer Stacy Garrity, the presumptive Republican nominee, recently secured an endorsement from President Donald Trump, and...
Editorial: Reliable funding matters more than generosity
Thirty-one years is a long time for any vehicle to remain in service. More than 100,000 miles takes a toll. That is not what you want when lives are on the line. And yet that was the backdrop for a donation this week — a well-worn ambulance in need of...
Laurels & lances: Digging out & digging in
Laurel: To real-life learning. When winter storms dropped more than a foot of snow across Southwestern Pennsylvania, young people responded the same way — by getting to work. Members of Valley Jr.-Sr. High School’s ski club traded skis for shovels, spending afternoons clearing heavily used bus stops in New Kensington...
Editorial: Why phasing out French is a lesson in local control
Public education is at the intersection of individual growth and collective responsibility. Schools exist to help students become their best selves while also preparing them to contribute to the economic and social life of their communities. That balance is not always comfortable. Serving one goal can feel like sacrificing the...
Editorial: Fetterman, McCormick and why ICE matters in Pennsylvania
U.S. Sen. David McCormick is among Republicans calling for a full accounting in the Minneapolis death of Alex Pretti, 37, a Veterans Administration intensive care nurse who was shot during an encounter with Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers. “We need all the facts,” he said. McCormick is joined — to...
