Hits & Misses
HIT: Joe Manchin, the Democratic U.S. senator from West Virginia who actually votes with Democrats once in a while (yes, we’re exaggerating), survived the toughest challenge of his political career on Tuesday, fending off a challenge from Republican West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey. The winner, who has been criticized at times for being a DINO (Democrat in Name Only) and was the only Senate Democrat to vote to confirm Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, actually came out firing at President Trump in his victory speech. He urged the president to stop “this absolute toxic rhetoric that’s going on in this country.” He added, “We’ve got to bring people together. Mr. President, I want you to be the president of the United States, not the divided states.” That’s a good message for the president to hear, even though it’s highly likely to fall on deaf ears. But it’s also a message that many folks across the country should consider.
HIT: John Fetterman’s tenure as lieutenant governor will not begin until January, but he is already off to a good start with the announcement that he and his family will not be moving into the commonwealth’s lavish and unnecessary lieutenant governor’s residence at Fort Indiantown Gap. “We’re not going to reside in the mansion,” Fetterman told the Associated Press following Tuesday’s vote. “My wife and I envision, and the governor supports, some kind of public usage of it. Particularly swimming for children.” The need for Pennsylvania’s lieutenant governor to have an official residence has never been quite clear, since the official duties of the lieutenant governor are limited to presiding over the state Senate, chairing the state Board of Pardons, sitting on the emergency management council and working with the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency. For that, the lieutenant governor needs a mansion? It should also be noted that the mansion was a source of trouble for Fetterman’s predecessor, Mike Stack, who, along with his wife, was accused of mistreating the mansion’s staff. At a cost of about $400,000 a year to maintain, a lieutenant governor’s mansion is one expense Pennsylvania could do without.
MISS: There’s perhaps no more potent symbol of the depopulation of the state’s rural areas than the closing of maternity wards, and that’s what happened this week at J.C. Blair Memorial Hospital in Huntingdon. This means that women needing to deliver babies or receive related services will have to travel to hospitals in Chambersburg, Altoona or other communities that could be at least 30 miles away. Unfortunately, hospitals in other corners of the commonwealth have done the same thing. While rural hospitals can hardly be asked to keep maternity wards open when there are few customers to be had, having to travel farther to reach a hospital increases the risks for expectant mothers and their children, and is hardly an inducement for younger people to stay in those communities. According to a 2008 study in the Journal of Rural Health, “Loss of obstetrical services may be a major factor in the decline and failure of small, rural communities.” This is a problem that defies an easy solution.
HIT: In the midst of Pittsburgh’s darkest hour, there was hope. Two days after a gunman killed 11 people worshiping at the Tree of Life synagogue in Squirrel Hill, a stranger lifted the spirits of members and staff at the South Hills Jewish Community Center 12 miles away in Scott Township. The mood was somber throughout the JCC until an anonymous person – or people – left flowers on the windshield of every car parked at the center. It immediately made the people at the JCC feel the love that the entire region was offering the Jewish community. “I get choked up thinking about it,” said Bing Nicholson, who is a teacher in the center’s child development department. “I can’t believe the impact it had on me.” It had an impact on all of us.