Hits and Misses
MISS: Ten years ago, Pennsylvania enacted a law that allows nonprofit organizations and neighbors to take over homes and businesses that have been abandoned and fallen into disrepair for the sake of neighborhood safety and revitalization. The “conservatorship” law was enacted with excellent intentions, but a story in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette earlier this week highlighted flaws in the statute. Property owners who have received notices that their homes are being targeted say they have not received adequate due process, and some organizations are targeting properties in parts of Pittsburgh, such as Oakland and Lawrenceville, that are thriving and far from blight-ridden. It’s time for lawmakers to get to work and tighten up what they approved a decade ago.
MISS: Another week, another 78 reported cases of measles in the United States. So far this year, there have been nearly 500 measles cases in this country, prompting the mayor of New York to take emergency action against a major outbreak there. The worst year for measles in this century, according to a Washington Post report, was 2014, when 667 cases were reported. Measles cases that year were reported at a rate of 1.83 per day. The figure this year is 4.84 cases a day, which means the total from 2014 could be surpassed by June. Peter Hotez, an infectious disease specialist at Baylor College of Medicine, hit the nail on the head in remarks to the Post, calling the outbreak “a totally unnecessary and self-inflicted wound, and a direct consequence of an aggressive antivax misinformation campaign.” By the way, measles was declared eradicated in this country in 2000. But, as comedian Ron White says, “You can’t fix stupid.”
HIT: From the “Who says there’s no good news?” department comes word that a suspected poacher who was hunting rhinos in South Africa was killed by an elephant, his body mostly eaten by lions. Others who were in the poaching party with the “victim” reported the elephant attack to officials at Kruger National Park, according to an ABC News report. The officials investigated and found that a pride of lions apparently had dined on the poacher, “leaving only a human skull and a pair of pants” behind.
HIT: Gov. Tom Wolf has been an advocate for increased education spending throughout his tenure, but advocates for the commonwealth’s community colleges say they’ve been shortchanged in the governor’s 2019-20 budget proposal. It increases higher education funding by a little more than 1 percent, but funding for Pennsylvania’s 14 community colleges stays flat. Advocates for the commonwealth’s community colleges rallied in Harrisburg Tuesday to call for a budget increase, noting how important their institutions are when it comes to such sectors as nursing and manufacturing. Hopefully the governor and members of the General Assembly heard what they have to say and will boost funding accordingly.