Editorials from around Pennsylvania

Editorials from around Pennsylvania

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TIGHTER GUN LAWS WOULD REDUCE BLACK HOMICIDE RATE, March 31

Poverty, joblessness, and other societal problems may form the roots leading to a higher murder rate when African Americans are the victims, but too many guns are the fertilizer that makes that statistic grow.

A new report released in March shows African Americans make up only 13 percent of the nation’s population, but are half of its murder victims.

The annual Black Homicide Victimization in the United States study notes that the national black homicide victimization rate, 16.38 per 100,000, far exceeds the rate for whites who were murdered, which is 2.52 per 100,000. The analysis is based on unpublished data from the FBI Supplementary Homicide Report for 2014, the latest year for which data is available.

Pennsylvania had 387 murders that year, which produced the fifth highest black homicide victimization rate in the nation, 26.07 per 100,000. That’s one-and-a-half times the national black homicide victimization rate and six times the overall homicide rate nationwide, according to the Violence Policy Center’s analysis.

Missouri had the highest black murder rate, with 250 victims, or a rate of 34.98 per 100,000; followed by Indiana, 29.49; New Mexico, 28.48; and Nebraska, 28.17. New Jersey, with 217 black murder victims, had a rate of 16.43 per 100,000, ranking it 19th. Tiny Delaware had only 42 victims, but it ranked 14th in the country with a rate of 20.18 per 100,000.

The study found that of Pennsylvania’s 387 black homicide victims, 340 were male; the victims’ average age was 31 years old; 87 percent were killed with guns; and in instances where a relationship could be established, 87 percent were killed by someone they knew, typically as the result of an argument.

“Pennsylvania remains a dangerous place for African Americans, especially African American males,” said Shira Goodman, executive director of CeaseFirePA. “And while our legislature has the power to enact policies that could help reverse this trend, it not only fails to enact them, but also fails to give our cities the tools to better protect their own people.”

Making Goodman’s point is a renewed effort in the legislature to allow the weapons industry to sue Pennsylvania towns that try to enact tougher gun laws. “The gun lobby is obsessed with creating a special right for itself to sue our cities, punish elected officials for working hard to keep people safe, and divert tax dollars to frivolous litigation,” said Goodman.

Mayor Kenney, Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto, Lancaster Mayor Rick Gray, and Oxford Mayor Geoff Henry have signed a letter urging the Senate Local Government Committee to oppose the legislation.

The importance of better gun control is validated by the new statistics on black homicides, which show that in 83 percent of the cases where the weapon could be identified, the victim was shot; and in 73 percent of those cases a handgun was used. In 71 percent of the homicides, no other felony was committed, which weakens arguments that people need guns to fend off robbers.

The numbers show that most black homicide victims were shot by someone they knew after an argument. More police may prevent some of those murders, but not as much as by having fewer guns.

- The Philadelphia Inquirer

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MONEY FROM THE STATE THAT SCHOOLS CAN’T USE, April 3

Gov. Tom Wolf has been beating the drum for more state funding for public education ever since the election campaign of 2014. And, no doubt, school districts would welcome additional revenue from Harrisburg, both to pay for critical classroom needs and to give some relief to weary property owners whose real estate taxes keep going up.

Unfortunately for the districts and their residents, more state money sent to the schools won’t be much help if it comes with the same strings that are attached to current school subsidies.

Last week, David Matyas, business manager for the Central Bucks School District, detailed what actually happens to millions of dollars Harrisburg sends to CB. As Matyas explained during a budget presentation to the school board, “Most of these subsidies are things we can’t spend money on. It comes into the left pocket and goes out of the right pocket. The governor gives and the governor takes away, as well.”

What happens is this: The state counts as revenue money earmarked for such things as the mandated payments to the school employee pension system, Social Security and property tax relief from gambling.

“They send us a check that we pass through, but they count it as revenue,” said board member Paul Faulkner, who described the process as “smoke and mirrors.”

Central Bucks estimates it will receive just under $68 million in so-called state revenue toward its 2017-18 budget of $332.2 million. But $24.8 million of that subsidy is a reimbursement for half of the district’s $49.6 million payment to PSERS, the Public School Employees’ Retirement System. Another $5.8 million of the state money goes to pay half of the district’s $11.6 million in Social Security taxes. And casino money that totals about $5 million merely offsets the same amount homeowners aren’t paying in property taxes.

All of that money - over half of what the state sends to Central Bucks - arrives already spoken for. “We can’t spend it; we can’t touch it; we can’t do anything with it,” said Faulkner. “It’s not our money. It’s frustrating.”

Faulkner went on to say that when state lawmakers “claim they have increased our revenue for the year, when they say they’ve increased our budget by X percentage, you need to get into the weeds to find out what that really means.”

What it means is nothing good for Central Bucks, nor for every other school district that supposedly receives state money that in reality it doesn’t get to spend on education or anything else. The problem of Pennsylvania’s underfunding its public schools apparently is even more serious than it appears at first glance.

Add this to the to-do list for the Legislature and the governor. Increasing state funding for the schools will be an empty gesture as long as the money is spent before it arrives.

- The (Doylestown) Intelligencer

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WE REMAIN COMMITTED TO ’REAL NEWS’, March 29

In this age of astounding technological advances, people across the globe have access to more information than at any time in history. The question we all face, however, is whether it’s good information, or more examples of the “fake news” phenomena that dominates our culture today.

We saw it play out during last year’s election campaign, when outrageous claims took off on social media, sometimes to dangerous consequences. Many will remember the infamous “Pizzagate” story that claimed leaked emails showed members of the Democratic Party were behind a child pornography ring operating out of a Washington, D.C., pizza parlor.

The story had absolutely no basis in fact, yet it was picked up by several websites and spread through social media so extensively that the shop owner and his employees were besieged with threats. A man from North Carolina drove to the shop, supposedly to investigate the claims he had read, and fired a semi-automatic weapon into the building, leading to his arrest.

Fortunately, no one was physically injured as the result of that incident, but it showed the extent to which websites and social media outlets will spread a story with no investigation of the claims or any acknowledgement of a responsibility to the truth.

Newspapers and responsible news media outlets have been fighting this battle against fake news for decades. There have always been conspiracy theorists spouting allegations that have little basis in fact or reality, but today those claims can find a home - and a following - thanks to websites and social media.

What’s most disturbing is that some websites create fake news solely for profit. By using advanced software that manipulates the analytics attached to a story, the number of viewers can be made to look far greater than is actually the case. The more viewers, the more the story gets picked up by other social media, and more viewers means significant payment from some of the sites for corralling all those views.

A recent report on the CBS News show “60 Minutes” cited one former operator of an admitted fake news site who said that with totally fabricated stories, he could make as much as $10,000 a month, depending on how widely the stories were distributed and viewed.

And some politicians, even as high up as President Donald Trump, have taken advantage of the situation by claiming that stories they simply disagree with or don’t like are fake news. To be clear, that is simply not the case. Fake news is just as the name implies - fake, phony, a collection of lies or half-truths, often written with the intent of undermining the work of responsible news operations.

Today, March 29, the News Media Alliance and its partners are celebrating real news as the cure to fake news by making a commitment to news that is real, reputable and trusted.

David Chavern, CEO of the News Media Alliance, put it simply: “Making stuff up is easy. What is hard is checking facts and digging up stories that powerful people want to keep hidden.”

It’s become far too common to criticize and disparage the news media, from the national level down to local outlets. But in a time when fake news runs rampant, it’s important to trust and rely on the real media and the journalists who work hard to continue to do their jobs under increasingly difficult circumstance.

The Times news staff remains committed to responsible journalism built on the premise that facts matter and that we are obligated to provide readers with reliable, verifiable information. We stand ready to continue the fight against fake news sites and, on this day in particular, are proud to show our support for real news and real journalism.

- Beaver County Times

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PUBLIC DESERVES TIMELY DETAILS AFTER POLICE SHOOTINGS, March 30

The Pennsylvania Legislature is again endorsing a limited news blackout after police shootings or other actions that result in death or serious injury. HB 27, passed last month by the House of Representatives, would criminalize the release of the name of a police officer involved in such an incident for 30 days.

This is a bad law, even if it starts with the good intention to protecting officers from retaliation or harassment. In the wake of police shootings or other serious uses of force, the public is best served by having detailed information about what happened. In all but the most extenuating circumstances, that should include the identities of those involved.

HB 27 goes too far in promoting secrecy, especially when a community is expecting the knowable facts after a police shooting. Across the nation, many police departments are stepping up and expediting the release of information after potentially explosive situations.

Pennsylvania is going in the other direction. Right now it’s up police chiefs or district attorneys to decide when and how to release this information. In Philadelphia, a local law requires the identity of police officer involved in a shooting to be released within 72 hours of the incident.

In many communities, however, local discretion can be used to conceal a police officer’s identity - sometimes indefinitely - whether there is a security threat or not. That was the case in the shooting of Richard Scheuermann III by Easton police in October 2014. It wasn’t until the following March that authorities disclosed Easton Sgt. Dominick Marraccini had fired the fatal shot. Scheuermann crashed his truck after a high-speed police pursuit, and rammed a police car after he was hemmed in by police vehicles at 13th and Spring Garden streets.

Unless criminal charges are filed, HB 27 would prohibit the release of an officer’s identity for 30 days - earlier only if the officer authorizes it or the official investigation is finished before then. Anyone who violates the law would face a second-degree misdemeanor charge.

Last year the Legislature passed a similar bill and sent it to Gov. Tom Wolf, who vetoed it. This year the House and Senate, armed with larger Republican majorities, are promising to override a veto.

This shouldn’t be a partisan issue. In rejecting the bill, Wolf argued that an increasing incidence of police shootings and public mistrust of police power demand more openness, not less.

There may be times when police officers need protection from mob reaction or other fallout from a shooting. That’s a valid concern. We recognize and respect the difficult situations officers encounter in protecting the public.

But secrecy should not be the presumption of a law that seeks to balance police powers with the public’s right to know about the use of deadly force. It should be the other way around - police departments should be required to get court approval, during a brief cooling-off period, to withhold the identities of police officers who have a case for protection.

Municipal police chiefs, the state police and district attorneys should be encouraged to disclose who did what in a police shooting in a timely manner - without the harness of a month-long gag. Criminalizing the release of information that it is critical to public understanding in times of uncertainty or emergency is a bad precedent, to say the least.

-The (Easton) Express-Times

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KEYSTONE XL PIPELINE: PROGRESS AT LAST, April 2

Despite the implosion of the GOP’s half-baked American Health Care Act, and regardless of the latest firestorm over a tweet from President Trump, the administration did manage to move forward on a project stuck in the muck of liberal ideology for years: The Keystone XL oil pipeline.

The State Department’s recent approval of the Canada-to-Texas pipeline reverses nearly a decade of deliberate foot-dragging by the Obama administration, which ultimately rejected the project in 2015. And yet the reason for rejection - Keystone’s presumed climate-change detriments - was dismissed by President Obama’s own State Department, which back in 2013 found that any adverse effects from the pipeline would be minimal.

And whether this oil from Canadian tar sands is pumped through a U.S. pipeline or shipped off to China, it’s not going to stay in the ground.

Contrary to the foot-stomping hysterics from environmental elitists - who leave behind their own noxious emissions as they jet and motor from one cause to the next - America and the rest of the world run on oil, now and in the foreseeable future.

Moreover, incessant Keystone XL criticism is not credible when pipelines have a proven safety record and are considerably less risky than moving petroleum by rail through populated areas.

The 1,200-mile Keystone XL pipeline still has a long way to go through requisite state approvals and environmental groups’ lawsuits. But at least now it can advance after being idled at the federal level by ideological opposition.

- Tribune-Review

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