Hits and Misses
Observer-Reporter
The marker from the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission was one of 18 granted in 2019.
Mike Jones/Observer-Reporter
Pennsylvania Auditor General Timothy DeFoor speaks last June at a news conference in Pittsburgh during which an audit of the Washington County Clerk of Courts covering from 2016 to 2019 was released.
With more than a half-century of hindsight, it’s easy to chuckle about the days when the Cuyahoga River caught fire in Cleveland because it was so polluted, but surely no one would want to return to those times. Turn the clock back to the 1960s or before and there were plenty of other waterways in America that were noxious, unhealthy dumping grounds for waste and trash, including the rivers flowing through the Pittsburgh region. While our rivers and streams are hardly perfect, they are better than they were, and for that we can at least partially credit the Clean Water Act, which created national water quality standards and became law in 1972. On this 50th anniversary, state and federal officials should redouble their efforts to make the waterways that belong to all of us safer and cleaner.
When President Gerald Ford, a Republican, nominated John Paul Stevens for a seat on the U.S. Supreme Court in 1975, Democrats had a commanding 61-seat supermajority in the U.S. Senate, yet Stevens was approved by the chamber 98-0. Now, it appears that Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson will only muster a couple of Republican votes in the Senate for her confirmation. And consider this observation made by North Dakota Republican U.S. Sen. Kevin Cramer to The Wall Street Journal: “The Senate may have entered an era where the only way to confirm a Supreme Court nominee is the party of the president has to be in control in the Senate. And I’m pretty certain that the founders didn’t have that mind.” Let’s hope that Cramer’s prediction is wrong.
There are scores of historical markers throughout Washington, Greene and Fayette counties, an indication of the region’s rich history. There’s undoubtedly room for more, though, and local history buffs will have the opportunity to submit nominations for state historical markers to the Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission by June 1. Last year, markers were approved for subjects as varied as Chinese workers in Beaver Falls and the song “Winter Wonderland.” This year, individuals or organizations making nominations are not responsible for the costs of marker fabrication, which is a plus, but they are still responsible for the costs of installation. It’s time for local history buffs to put their thinking caps on.
Pennsylvania’s auditor general’s office has in recent years uncovered excessive and unwise spending practices in some school districts across the state, but the opportunity to make these discoveries could be significantly diminished as a result of a decision by Auditor General Timothy DeFoor in March to do away with the school audit bureau and shift that responsibility to the commonwealth’s education department. DeFoor said staffing cuts made this necessary, but observers say the education department is also short of resources, and its employees don’t have the necessary skills to perform detailed audits. Yes, most school officials spend money responsibly and thoughtfully. But, if you are one of the miscreants looking to take some expensive trips or adopt a more lax approach to spending, this might be your moment.