Opinion | Pa. marijuana legalization necessary
By Julia Kreutzer, Staff Columnist
March 24, 2019
In the push for meaningfully combating racist practices, creating legal opportunities for medicinal and recreational marijuana users and bolstering the state’s economy, approving SB 350 is an instrumental move.
Opinion | Pa. is misguidedly trying to make video games a taxable sin
By Thomas Wick, Staff Columnist
February 19, 2019
Politicians have been trying to pin the blame for school shootings on violent video games for years, even though it’s a dated concept.
Pa. group offers legal help to sexual assault victims
By Mary Rose O'Donnell, Staff Writer
January 28, 2019
Legal expenses for sexual assault cases can often exceed $10,000, a prohibitively high cost for segments of the population that live paycheck-to-paycheck. One group is making it possible for Pennsylvanian survivors of sexual assault to get free legal help — particularly those who couldn’t otherwise afford it.
Editorial: Young people turn out: Pa. blue wave becomes tsunami
By The Pitt News Editorial Board
November 7, 2018
Midterm elections are traditionally Republican dominated — but young people came out in full force this year, giving Democrats a badly needed win.
Editorial: RMU’s new scholarship: great first step, but not enough
By The Pitt News Editorial Board
August 29, 2018
Since many students eventually settle in the same area where they went to college, keeping talented students in Pennsylvania is important to ensure a flourishing job market. Exorbitant college tuition rates only push students out of the state.
Panelists discuss being a woman in politics
By Briana Canady | Staff Writer
February 26, 2018
Aryanna Berringer grew up the youngest of 10 children in a family that had to rely on food stamps and free school lunches to get by. She remembers how her mother would wash the three different uniforms for her jobs at three different restaurants in their kitchen sink. All of this motivated Berringer to run for l...
Editorial: State gerrymandering decision needs action now
By The Pitt News Editorial Board
January 24, 2018
As midterm elections loom and Pennsylvanians prepare to deliver their opinion on President Donald Trump’s first two years in office, the Commonwealth’s Supreme Court added to the drama Monday when it ordered a change to the lines of battle themselves: Congressional district borders. In a long-...
Republican debate should disappoint conservatives
By Neena Hagen, Columnist
January 22, 2018
If the four Republicans running for governor of Pennsylvania want my vote, they'll have to work harder for it than they did Saturday at their first debate. Four Republican candidates — retired health care consultant Paul Mango, lawyer and Pitt Law alumna Laura Ellsworth, state senator Scott Wagner...
Editorial: Peduto demands non-profit conscience — Pitt included
By The Pitt News Editorial Board
November 15, 2017
Pennsylvania’s lawmakers may have struggled with a budget crisis this year, but Pittsburgh feels a little more confident of its financial competency. In his annual budget address Monday, Mayor Bill Peduto asked the state to remove Pittsburgh’s Act 47 status, an inhibitory financial oversight status meant to aid financially distressed municipalities placed on Pittsburgh in 2003. Now, he claims, the city doesn’t need the oversight. Recognizing the im...
Editorial: PA ballot question doesn’t solve property tax problem
By The Pitt News Editorial Board
November 9, 2017
If you voted Tuesday in Pennsylvania’s election, you were presented with an interesting ballot question — should the state legislature allow local taxing authorities to exempt 100 percent of any family’s primary residence value when collecting taxes? Pennsylvania voted yes by a margin of 54 to 46 percent, effe...
Gubernatorial candidate gives take on economy, health care at Pitt
By Rose Luder | Staff Writer
November 7, 2017
When Paul Mango was at U.S. Military Academy at West Point, he had calculus six days a week. “I hope sitting here and listening to me is less painful than calculus at West Point on a Saturday morning,” the Republican primary candidate for governor joked before a crowd of Pitt students Monday ni...
Editorial: Slow start highlights flawed state cannabis law
By The Pitt News Editorial Board
November 6, 2017
A new era in Pennsylvania drug policy started last week with the opening of the Commonwealth’s new Medical Marijuana Program. But for many Pennsylvanians, that new era is now on hold — perhaps indefinitely. When the Pennsylvania Department of Health opened applications last Thursday for medical mar...
Editorial: State budget should react to rising prices
By The Pitt News Editorial Board
October 30, 2017
When Gov. Tom Wolf signed Pennsylvania’s budget for the upcoming fiscal year last week after a four month impasse, it came as a relief to many. Some, however, were more cautious about the release of funds. Republican Speaker of the Commonwealth’s House of Representatives, Mike Turzai, warned speci...
Editorial: PA Republicans’ education bill offers little choice
By The Pitt News Editorial Board
October 23, 2017
The first full school year under new Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos is well underway and, in a bill passed last week, Pennsylvania’s state legislators are mirroring the federal administration’s school policy. House Bill 178 is this year’s iteration of the state’s annual list of propose...
Editorial: Marino is a mistake for drug czar
By The Pitt News Editorial Board
October 16, 2017
If President Donald Trump wanted to spit in the face of his most ardent supporters, he probably couldn’t have chosen a crueler way to do it than with his nomination of a new drug czar last month. Rep. Tom Marino (R-Pa.), who represents one of the whitest, most rural and most pro-Trump districts in...
Editorial: Trump breaks promises on CHIP funding
By The Pitt News Editorial Board
October 15, 2017
Policy changes stalling have been a hallmark of President Donald Trump’s first several months in office. But for a politician who’s promised health “insurance for everybody,” Trump should find the events of the past two weeks an especially striking reversal. The Children’s Health Insurance Program — a federal project designed to provide health care coverage fo...
Editorial: Trump’s big, empty tax promises
By The Pitt News Editorial Board
October 12, 2017
President Donald Trump visited Harrisburg Wednesday, Oct. 11 to discuss his plans for tax reform in front of a crowd of roughly 1,000 people. The crowd comprised mostly of truckers and small manufacturing business owners — the types of people Trump promised to help while campaigning for the presiden...
PA ‘Right to Try’ bill: who is it really helping?
By Ana Altchek | For The Pitt News
October 11, 2017
Several years ago, my next door neighbor was diagnosed with stage four cancer — within six months she tragically passed away. Not only was this an agonizing experience for her, but it was painful for her devoted husband, children and grandchildren. While she was too sick to consider any options, the...
Editorial: Now’s the time for redistricting reform
By The Pitt News Editorial Board
October 1, 2017
After nearly six years, Pennsylvania residents dissatisfied with the current scheme of representation for the commonwealth in the House may finally get some relief. A lawsuit from the League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania, originally filed in June, received new attention last week as a Republican staffer in the state legislature came forward in...
The American prison system: justice or exploitation?
By Vaibhavi Patria | For The Pitt News
September 27, 2017
In Washington, Pennsylvania, a county jail captain was charged this week with stealing more than $2,000 from inmates. Charges like this are nothing new — especially in Pennsylvania. According to Prison Legal News, at least 14 Pennsylvania prison and jail guards were arrested between 2012 and 2014. Som...
Piazza case should be a lesson: to be an adult, be accountable
By Anne Marie Yurik | For The Pitt News
September 14, 2017
Imagine you’re an average college student at a fraternity party. It’s cold — February in central Pennsylvania always is. Suddenly, someone falls down the stairs. They’re drunk enough that they don’t wake up when they hit the floor of the basement. Through the rest of the night, you see ...
Editorial: House revenue plan threatens Pennsylvania
By The Pitt News Editorial Board
September 13, 2017
In an email sent to the student body Friday, Chancellor Patrick Gallagher warned Pitt students that if the state fails to pass appropriation bills that fund state-related universities, our school will face serious consequences. But this merely demonstrates the broader issue at hand. The state has y...
Editorial: Toomey isn’t listening to constituents
By The Pitt News Editorial Board
September 1, 2017
After months of relentless pressure from voters all across the state, Pennsylvania Sen. Pat Toomey finally attended a town hall meeting last night to hear his constituents’ grievances — sort of. In a PBS-organized special, Toomey appeared for an hour on stage in front of an audience of about 50 c...
Editorial: Toomey is either lying or misinformed, and it will hurt Pennsylvanians
By The Pitt News Editorial Board
June 28, 2017
Regardless of what Sen. Pat Toomey may say, the new Senate health care bill does cut federal spending to Medicaid, and does so in a significant way. Medicaid is a federal program designed to provide health insurance to those who otherwise cannot afford it, and as of April 2017 nearly 75 million Ame...
Editorial: Pitt’s public funding should result in public accountability
By The Pitt News Editorial Board
June 14, 2017
“Tell your elected officials: With Pitt, PA Wins.” So begins the University’s recent plea for students to lobby on its behalf for state funding. And while the statement is true — many of the state’s greatest achievements have come from Pitt, such as the recent development of a new HIV detector or t...
Editorial: PA moratorium doesn’t solve costly death penalty problem
By The Pitt News Editorial Board
May 31, 2017
Execution proceedings happen in the state of Pennsylvania five times each year — yet the state hasn’t executed an inmate since 1999. Mock executions are routinely performed to ensure that in the event of an execution, the prison guards and doctors would be prepared. But right now the state isn’t ...
Among short-term fixes, Pitt develops long-term plan to combat nationwide opioid crisis
By Rashi Seth | Columnist
May 31, 2017
Two months ago a couple from Lower Burrell mourned the loss of their son who didn’t live to see his 25th birthday. David Makara’s refusal to get treatment drove him to move out of his parents home as he could not pass a drug test to get a job. Without any notice he moved out to Light of Life she...
Editorial: Hold police accountable with public body camera footage
By The Pitt News Editorial Board
April 17, 2017
In Pennsylvania, whether police officers will wear body cameras is, thankfully, no longer up for debate. They will, but the public viewing and obtaining of footage is turning into a contentious issue. The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania hosted a panel discussion in Lawrenceville Thurs...
Pennsylvania draconian liquor laws need rethinking
By Nick Eustis | Columnist
April 14, 2017
The beauty of turning 21 meant I could finally purchase alcohol whenever I pleased, a fact I was more than thrilled about. But in traveling to other states, I quickly found that not all alcohol laws are created equal. One night in January, my boyfriend and I walked into a grocery store in Washingt...
Pittsburghers talk gerrymandering
By Stephen Caruso / Contributing Editor
April 7, 2017
Sue Broughton likes squiggles. And as a speaker for Fair Districts PA, she gets to show concerned voters a lot of them. Fair Districts PA, is a non-partisan activist group against gerrymandering — when a political group moves the boundaries of electoral districts to help their own election odds...
Editorial: Wagner’s words influence run for governor more than actions
By The Pitt News Editorial Board
April 3, 2017
State senator, gubernatorial candidate and York, Pennsylvania, businessman Scott Wagner certainly had a colorful March. He spent the month promoting new legislation to seal criminal records and also causing a ruckus with some illogical comments about climate change. The stark contrast between th...
The polls are open in Pennsylvania!
November 8, 2016
Still confused about the ballot? Check out our Guide to the Allegheny County ballot. Polls are open until 8 p.m. Follow and contribute to our live coverage on Twitter with the hashtag #OaklandVotes. And check back in on this page throughout the day. Remember, if you are voting in this precinct fo...
State budget woes vary among filmmakers
By Elaina Zachos / Staff Writer
December 8, 2015
Lights, camera, no action on the state’s budget is shoving film production crews out of Pittsburgh, hurting the hospitality industry and pulling the curtains on the city’s reputation as the next Hollywood. With Pennsylvania’s state budget in flux since July, the state’s reserved $60 million film...
Editorial: PA universities stuck at the top of the tuition climb
By The Pitt News Editorial Board
November 5, 2015
Pennsylvania’s education system is in a state of disarray. The budget crisis is leaving primary schools without state funding, forcing many to rely on bank loans to pay the bills. Meanwhile, the situation for our state colleges is similarly dire, with students shouldering the weight of the problem....
Editorial: Wolf must compromise to pass budget, save schools
By The Pitt News Editorial Board
October 29, 2015
Our state has been without a budget since July, meaning public services — like education — have been without funding for more than 100 days. This lack of a budget exemplifies Harrisburg’s inability to compromise, but the time for partisan debate has long been over — Pennsylvania’s represe...
Editorial: Environmental justice requires more than reviews
By The Pitt News Editorial Board
October 21, 2015
Many environmentalists thought when Tom Corbett left the Pennsylvania governor’s mansion in January, his silver shield around oil and gas companies left with him. Yet, oil and gas companies are just as present as they used to be — at least in the form of fracking. As of now, fracking, the proces...
Editorial: Fund public defenders more, or pay for unnecessary prison sentences
By The Pitt News Editorial Board
September 15, 2015
According to the Social Science Research Center, more than 80 percent of people charged with felonies are indigent — or poor. These people cannot afford attorneys, and therefore, must rely on public defenders. However, since Pennsylvania is charging indigent people at such a high rate, 73 percent ...
Playing the ball
By Courtesy of Pitt Athletics
October 29, 2014
Julian Dickenson in action in 2013. He has missed nearly all of the 2014 season due to a foot injury.
2014 Dick’s Sporting Goods Pittsburgh Marathon
May 7, 2014
The race route took participants down Forbes Avenue. (Courtesy Pittsburgh Marathon)
Roosa Arvas
By Pete Madia / Pitt Athletics
August 25, 2013
Roosa Arvas has been one of the Lady Panthers top scorers since arriving in the United States.
Rob Blanc recognized as Head Athletic Trainer of the Year
By Pete Madia / Pitt Athletics
April 19, 2013
Blanc has worked at Pitt for 25 years. (Courtesy Pitt Athletics)
Football: Pitt ends with losing season after bowl game defeat against Ole Miss
By Pete Madia / Pitt Athletics
January 7, 2013
Senior wide receiver Mike Shanahan catches a fourth quarter touchdown in Pitt's bowl defeat against Ole Miss. (Photo Courtesy Pete Madia / Pitt Athletics)