Dec 23, 2022 3 min read

Today is the 50th anniversary of the Immaculate Reception, one of the greatest plays in NFL history – maybe the greatest of all – and a play that needs no explanation in this region since it’s become such a part of Pittsburgh lore. The celebrations that had been planned for this weekend will be bittersweet, though, with the unexpected death on Wednesday of Franco Harris. The Immaculate Reception defined Harris’s career. Perhaps not unexpectedly, it was in the first sentence of his New York Times obituary. But there was more to Harris than just that one play or the entirety of his football career. In the decades after his gridiron heroics ended, he settled in Pittsburgh, started a successful bakery and fitness gear brand, involved himself in philanthropic endeavors and was a regular presence at community events. Following Harris’s death, Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey said he was “a great man off the field whose kindness and generosity was felt by many.” You’d be hard pressed to find anyone who would disagree with that sentiment.

The surprise arrest this week of Keith David Wilk, a 39-year-old Pittsburgh resident, for the fatal shooting of Vincent Kelley during a bank robbery at the Citizens Bank branch inside the South Strabane Giant Eagle store in July 2013 will undoubtedly bring a sense of resolution to friends and family of Kelley. They had to wonder if Kelley’s killer would ever be caught. But a break in the case finally came when a woman who dated Wilk said he had confessed to robbing a Citizens Bank branch, and that he shot someone when he was making his getaway. Police were finally able to match Wilk’s DNA to an umbrella that was left at the scene. Of course, Wilk should be accorded the presumption of innocence, but it is gratifying to see this longtime mystery move one step closer to being resolved.

Women have made enormous progress in the last century. Women have led Britain, Germany, Australia, New Zealand and a host of other nations, have been at the helm of Fortune 500 companies and make up the majority of students at American colleges and universities. But in Afghanistan, the rights of women have taken an enormous step backwards since the Taliban took control of the country. It was announced Tuesday that women will be barred from attending colleges and universities, and on Wednesday The Wall Street Journal reported that girls are now prohibited from even attending primary schools. Education for women in Afghanistan is effectively banned. Women are also not allowed in most professional roles and cannot even engage in activities as simple as visiting a public park. That this is happening in the 21st century is simply astonishing.