Hits and Misses
Mike Jones/Observer-Reporter
Washington County Prothonotary Laura Hough points to sign boards being held by her row office staff during a 2021 commissioners meeting.
Associated Press
A Fox News poll released last week found that 87% of voters support criminal background checks being carried out on everyone purchasing a gun.
Associated Press
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro signed into law a measure that requires insurers to cover preventative breast and ovarian cancer screenings for women at high-risk at no cost.
MISS: In 2020, Washington County Prothonotary Laura Hough was allowed to use the LexisNexis database so she could send civil court documents, but Hough is accused of using the database for searches “beyond the scope of its official purpose,” as it was put in an Observer-Reporter story last week. In December, Hough’s access to LexisNexis was terminated after it was found that she went searching for information on prominent political figures in Washington County, including the three commissioners, as well as Lawrence Tabas, the Philadelphia attorney who is the chairman of the Pennsylvania Republican Party. Hough was not directed by the county court to use LexisNexis, which can be used to unearth an individual’s credit history, financial details and driver’s license records. Hough claims it’s all part of a campaign season “hit piece,” but did not say why she used LexisNexis to, it seems, fish around for information that is none of her business. Commissioner Diana Irey Vaughan put it this way: “This is a terrible invasion of privacy and misuse of the office.”
MISS: There are plenty of divisions in American society right now, but on one point, voting-age adults are remarkably united – the need for stricter regulation of guns. That’s the finding of a Fox News poll released last week. It found that 87% of voters support criminal background checks being carried out on everyone purchasing a gun. The poll also found that 80% support mental health checks on gun buyers, and the same number said police should be able to remove guns from people who are deemed a danger to others or themselves. Raising the legal age to purchase a gun to 21 had 81% support. Banning semi-automatic weapons and assault rifles had the support of 61% of those polled, and while that is a smaller number than the others, think about this way – Richard Nixon won the popular vote in the 1972 presidential election with almost 61% of the vote, and that was considered a crushing landslide. The American people clearly believe there needs to be sensible restrictions on guns. It’s time that lawmakers listened.
HIT: Pennsylvania may be stuck decades behind the rest of the country with its outdated liquor laws, but this week it became the first state in the nation to institute a law that could go some way toward saving the lives of many women. It requires that insurers cover preventative breast and ovarian cancer screenings for women at high-risk at no cost. It passed the state’s House and Senate unanimously, and was the first bill Gov. Josh Shapiro signed. The legislation was introduced by Senate President Pro Tempore Kim Ward, the Westmoreland County Republican who is a survivor of breast cancer. She explained, “My personal experience with breast cancer presented me the opportunity to see where some of the gaps were in the system. She said the law will “have a huge positive affect on women’s health and lives.” Pennsylvania lawmakers and the governor can be proud that they are leading the way with this legislation.