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Other newspapers: Election security task force can only do so much

Among the most important events to happen in Pennsylvania this year will be the primary election in April and the general election in November. It is important to every person in the state, as every state House of Representatives seat and a number of state Senate seats will be on the ballot. So will every federal House position and a federal Senate seat. It is important to everyone in the country because, yet again, Pennsylvania is poised to be a pivot point for the presidential election. Each election for years has not ended with the ballot box or the voting count. They have ...

Police officers need support, protection

We agree with Joseph Regan, president of the Fraternal Order of Police of Pennsylvania. “It’s time for America to return, once again, to putting the safety of the public — and those who protect them — first,” Regan wrote in an op-ed column in Wednesday’s edition of the Sun-Gazette. “The heroes who’ve already died — and those who continue to put it on the line every day — deserve nothing less.” Regan, in the column, advocated for a bill offering federal enhancements to prosecution and sentencing when criminals violently ambush law enforcement. As recent violent ...

Other newspapers: Time to grow up, share resources between towns

Some of the first lessons we try to teach children are the same ones Connecticut has failed to learn. Lessons about cooperation, empathy and resolving conflicts. Think of Connecticut as a massive sandbox and consider how well each of our 169 towns play along with one another. If we were shaping Connecticut out of sand in 2024, the result would look nothing like its current version. We are a balkanized state of fiefdoms. Towns cling fiercely to their identities and resist sharing with one another, resulting in some incredibly affluent small towns colliding with cities that have been ...

Unexpected costs a reason to keep government spending down

We will readily admit we may often sound like a broken record. Unfortunately, many of the issues confronting our communities and our state frankly require us to repeat ourselves. When we shared in Thursday’s edition an article from The Center Square’s Anthony Hennen detailing how the state Department of Corrections accrued an additional $40 million in overtime costs in the past two years, it is a stark reminder of why the state must get its spending under control and why the state should not dip into reserves and rainy day funds to cover what almost certainly will be recurring ...

Shortage of medicine needs probe

Young, healthy people are not likely to devote much attention to news reports about shortages of medicines. However, that changes as illnesses and other conditions creep into their lives — a fact of life as people age. Therefore, the news that the Federal Trade Commission is launching a probe of companies that help buy and distribute the bulk of medicines sold to U.S. hospitals will not attract much healthy Americans’ attention in the months ahead. Not so regarding Americans who lately or in the not-so-distant past have dealt with the uncertainties and stress associated with ...

Every election should be contested

According to a Post-Gazette report by Ford Turner, 83 of a sampled 98 incumbents running for reelection to the state’s House of Representatives are running unopposed in the primary. In almost all those cases, would-be candidates see no use in giving up time, energy and political capital to lose an election they are fated to lose. It’s a rational decision for people considering a run for office. It’s a bad phenomenon for democratic politics in our state. In Allegheny County, for example, 14 of the incumbent state representatives kept their seats in the 2022 elections. In the ...