Hits and Misses
Washington County voters made it abundantly clear Tuesday that they do not want a commission to study how county government operates. Seventy percent of voters turned a thumbs-down on forming such a commission, and it appears that it was defeated across the ideological spectrum. Many voters might well have been scared off by the notion that the study would inevitably lead to the county adopting a home-rule charter, but that was not the case. If the commission would have come back with that specific recommendation, another vote would have been held at a later date. Nevertheless, voters have spoken. It’s a shame, however, that there won’t even be a conversation on how Washington County government operates, and how it might operate more efficiently.
The outcome was preordained, but Pittsburgh made history Tuesday night by electing Ed Gainey mayor. Gainey, a Democrat who defeated incumbent mayor Bill Peduto in the May primary, trounced his Republican opponent Tony Moreno, a retired Pittsburgh police officer. Pittsburgh does not have a spotless record when it comes to race relations, and Gainey took note of the city’s history of segregation in his victory speech Tuesday. He also pointed out to his supporters that his victory “proved we can have a city for all. You proved that everybody can change.” History was also made in Boston, which elected its first female and first Asian American mayor, and in Cincinnati, which elected its first Asian American mayor. These are all signs of a country that is growing more diverse and inexorably changing.
The Atlanta Braves won the World Series Tuesday night, defeating the heavily favored Houston Astros in six games. The Braves’ march through the playoffs and the World Series left egg on the face of many prognosticators – the team limped through the first half of the season, only coming alive in July. Even then, National League powerhouses like the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants were predicted to make short work of the Braves in the playoffs. And yet the Braves are 2021’s champions of baseball. It goes to show that it can be foolish to discount underdogs, and that ultimately all the confident predictions made by experts are ultimately of little value. You have to play the game, whether it’s in sports, politics, or any other endeavor.
Agriculture is a big deal in Pennsylvania. There are more than 50,000 farms in the commonwealth, which generate almost $11 billion in earnings each year. Local students are getting the opportunity to learn more about this important part of the state’s life through the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture’s Farm to School Grant Program. Washington and California Area school districts were among the recipients, as were Intermediate Unit 1 in Washington County and the East End United Community Center in Fayette County. California Area School District will be using the grant to start a poultry and pollinator curriculum, and Washington School District is using its grant to launch a healthy eating program for students up to fifth grade. A similar program was in place in the district years ago and, according to Kimberly Smith, the district’s supervisor of accounting and transportation, “It was surprising, after a while, to see the children eat something that I thought they would never touch in a million years.”