Editorials from around Pennsylvania

Editorials from around Pennsylvania:

___

RECYCLING E-CYCLING, March 29

It’s time to recycle electronics like there’s no tomorrow.

York County residents who have old TVs, computer monitors and other electronic equipment have until the end of the year to drop them off at the York County Solid Waste and Refuse Authority.

No one will buy the items or even take them away to use as parts. They can’t be thrown away thanks to the Covered Device Recycling Act, which says most household electronics cannot go to a landfill and must be recycled. Retailers that ran recycling programs became overwhelmed and quit. As oil prices dropped and the old devices started to pile up, recycling companies discovered they were spending more money taking the tablets and monitors apart than they made off the parts, and they stopped collecting the bulky items.

So when York County suspended its electronics recycling program in December, law-abiding citizens were left with little alternative besides letting old TVs and computers gather dust in corners, garages, attics and basements. And there are those who have taken to dumping the old devices filled with lead and other toxic materials in a ditch or in the woods.

“When it snowed earlier this year, people were talking about putting their old electronics in the streets to save their parking spots in hope that the city would come through and take them,” York City resident Jess Ensminger said.

But now the program is back.

Starting April 5, York County residents will be able to load up their old electronics and drop them off at the solid waste authority’s yard waste site off Flour Mill Road every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

But don’t wait. The new contract with Philadelphia-based ECOvanta to recycle the e-scrap expires at the end of the year, and there’s no guarantee it will be renewed.

Meanwhile, York County isn’t the only county in Pennsylvania having trouble with its e-cycling. Counties across the state, from Chester to Allegheny, have stopped their e-cycling collections. In northern Pennsylvania, Elk County is the only one of seven counties that offers electronics recycling, according to the Pocono Record. The Pennsylvania Resources Council has stopped its Hard to Recycle collections in eastern Pennsylvania, and western collections might soon suffer the same fate.

That’s why state Rep. Chris Ross, R-Chester County, who wrote the original Covered Device Recycling Act in 2010, is ready to amend it. The change would have manufacturers take on a share of the cost of recycling the devices, since the recycling itself is no longer a paying gig.

We have to wonder if there could be a state program to help counties with this dilemma in the meantime, either by giving residents whose counties have given up on e-cycling a central place to drop off their devices or by giving counties grants to continue their programs with private recyclers.

For now, anyway, York countians can clear out those old electronics for free. So grab that old TV and haul it off to be recycled before it’s too late.

And while you’re in the recycling frame of mind, get rid of any old tires you have around by also dropping them off. Residents can call the authority through May 20 and get a placard to drop off up to 10 tires for free.

- The York Dispatch

___

VISA OVERSTAYS: STOP FUMBLING & PICK UP THE BALL, March 28

Given more than 500,000 U.S. visa “overstays” in 2015, a House committee wants the Department of Homeland Security to produce a more accurate record on these interlopers.

What’s needed is what was called for in the 1996 Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act: an electronic entry/exit system. Yet decades later, implementing this system is paid lip service by politicians.

In a letter to Homeland Security, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is demanding more accurate reporting on the number of visa overstays, which some immigration watchers insist was low-balled. Those same critics also remind that four of the 9/11 jetliner hijackers overstayed their visas. Of the visa applications that could be found for the 19 hijackers, none had been properly filled out.

Even after 9/11 and the recommendation by the 9/11 Commission for a biometric entry/exit system, the foot-dragging continues. Although funds reportedly have been appropriated, no system has been put in place.

Meanwhile, it’s estimated that up to 40 percent of illegal aliens entered the United States by visa, then simply ignored the expiration date, reports Genevieve Wood for The Daily Signal.

Three successive U.S. presidents have all dropped the ball on visa enforcement, pre- and post-9/11. The incoming president must pick it up.

- The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

___

AT LAST, March 25

There was a huge sigh of relief in Harrisburg Wednesday, which echoed throughout the commonwealth. Gov. Tom Wolf announced that he wasn’t going to veto a $6.6 billion GOP appropriations bill, essentially ending a nine-month budget impasse that threatened the survival of schools, nonprofit organizations and local governments.

Wolf said he couldn’t sign the measure because it failed to fund the state’s education needs appropriately and didn’t deal with a $2 billion structural deficit. However, he said he would let the bill become law because, “It was the right thing to do.”

So, give credit to Wolf for showing some signs of being reasonable and able to compromise. Of course, also give him some credit for being able to read the handwriting on the wall.

The appropriations bill passed by the state House of Representatives included the approval of 13 Democrats, despite Wolf threatening to veto the measure. So, House Republicans needed only three more Democrats to override Wolf’s proposed veto. State Rep. Pete Daley, D-California, had predicted that such support was very likely, especially with school closings on the horizon.

Among those Democrats voting for the measure last week were state Rep. Tim Mahoney, D-South Union Township, and state Rep. Pam Snyder, D-Jefferson. While they didn’t comment on how they would have voted on the veto override, Mahoney and Snyder both said they were relieved that Wolf was going to let the measure become law.

In the end, there was give and take on both sides. Gov. Wolf did get $200 million in new direct aid from the state to public schools, including a last-minute, $50 million addition in the basic education subsidy. That’s only about half his initial request but still the biggest single-year increase for schools since former Gov. Ed Rendell was in office.

He also held firm against Republican proposals to privatize the sale of alcohol and to overhaul the state’s public pension plans.

Republicans, though, were able to get their number one goal of holding the line on taxes. No doubt, Republican lawmakers will crow about that achievement all the way through the upcoming election season.

It came down to a compromise among both sides that we said was inevitable from the beginning, with a Democratic governor and a Republican-controlled state Legislature. It’s just a shame that it had to take nine months after the July 1 budget deadline for the two sides to finally agree on a spending plan. All the financial suffering and worrying caused by the deadlock could have been avoided if both sides had come to their senses earlier in the year.

Going forward it remains to be seen if either side has learned any lessons from this debacle. Will it be possible for them to reach a budget deal in the next three months? Or will they stick to their guns and preside over another budget impasse?

Both sides will have to seriously weigh the worth of a compromise as opposed to holding their ground. Either way neither side will get everything they wanted. It’s quite possible that we could end up with another similar budget deal next year, with the Republicans holding the line on taxes and Wolf standing firm against any GOP proposals. If that happens, let’s hope we don’t have to endure another nine-month standoff. Commonwealth residents should never have to go through such pain and misery again.

- The (Uniontown) Herald-Standard

___

MUCH OBLIGED, March 24

Throughout Europe on Tuesday afternoon, heads of state made pledges similar to that from German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Her country stands in “full solidarity” with Belgium, where 31 people were killed and nearly 200 wounded in bombings by Islamic terrorists, Merkel said.

European Union leaders promised to use “all necessary means” to defend member states against terrorists. They will be “united and firm,” they insisted.

But will they? And, more important to Americans, how will the U.S. government react to what happened in Belgium?

With one important exception - Russian intervention in Syria - action against Islamic terrorists has been primarily defensive for several years. President Barack Obama still will not refer to the threat as “Islamic terrorism.” For most of his seven years in office, he spoke of containing, not destroying, terrorist groups.

What happened Tuesday was a clear warning from the Islamic State to leaders in Belgium and elsewhere: Become too aggressive in fighting us, and suffer the consequences. The bombings occurred just after Belgian police arrested an IS operative who was involved in the massive attack last year in Paris.

Islamic terrorist leaders want those they would destroy to remain on the defensive, like sitting ducks.

For too long, leaders in this country and many others have obliged them.

As long as that continues, Islamic terrorists will be able to stage attacks like those in Brussels and Paris - and in the United States. Civilized people will be safe from them only when the organized murderers are destroyed.

- The (Warren) Times Observer

___

HOTLINE RESPONSE VALIDATES LIFTING STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS, March 30

The fact that 250 calls have been made to a child-abuse hotline since the recent report of decades-long sexual crimes across the Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown is tragic, but not surprising.

On March 1, the Office of Attorney General said priests and others associated with the diocese had been abusing children for decades across eight counties. The AG’s report directly named 35 alleged abusers, and said their crimes had been hidden by bishops who chose to move the priests from parish to parish rather than involve legal authorities.

A subsequent grand jury presentment on March 15 accused three former leaders of the Third Order Regular, Province of the Immaculate Conception, of allowing Brother Stephen Baker to work among local children knowing he had been accused of sexual assault previously in Ohio and Michigan.

As many as 100 former Bishop McCort High School students have said Baker abused them when they were students.

Past Franciscan group officials Giles Schinelli, Robert D’Aversa and Anthony Criscitelli were formally charged with conspiracy and endangering the welfare of children on March 18 in Blair County.

At the arraignment for the three Franciscans, Daniel Dye, a deputy with the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General, reiterated that the indictments involving the three did not signal an end to the investigation of abuses.

“We’re looking at absolutely everything,” Dye said.

That would include the 250 calls made to the hotline in the past month - including one by an 85-year-old who said he had been victimized as a child.

Dye said the volume of calls, some involving alleged crimes dating back many decades, should strengthen the movement to lift the statute of limitations for reporting child sexual abuse, in both criminal and civil cases.

We agree, and support House Bill 1904 - introduced two weeks ago by state Rep. Bryan Barbin, D-Johnstown - which would remove civil and criminal statutes of limitations for victims of rape, statutory sexual assault, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, sexual assault, aggravated indecent assault, incest, sexual abuse of children and sexual exploitation of children.

Despite the high volume of calls to the hotline, we suspect many victims are waiting to see if the statutes of limitations are lifted before coming forward.

And while the response does validate the push to eliminate the civil and criminal restrictions, it also reinforces the notion that this remains an open and ongoing legal matter.

We urge Dye and others at the AG’s office to pursue tirelessly every potential victim, each possible new case of abuse.

Certainly, some could fall within the existing statute of limitations - which allows victims born before Aug. 27, 2002, to file charges until they reach 30 years of age, and those born after to do so before they turn 50.

The AG’s investigators must continue to name names as new allegations come forth, and must report anyone - regardless of community or church standing - who they believe abused children or knowingly failed to stop others from doing so.

That includes bishops and other officials with the Altoona-Johnstown diocese.

That includes those in law enforcement and criminal prosecution at the county and municipal levels.

That includes current and former administrators, teachers and coaches at Bishop McCort, Bishop Carroll and other schools - both Catholic and secular.

“If a victim makes that very personal decision to report, we will take the call and worry about everything else,” Dye told reporter Dave Sutor last week in discussing the hotline response.

On the day of the AG’s presentment against D’Aversa, Schinelli, and Criscitelli, Dye said: “Keep in mind, you have what at this time is still an active investigation. This might not be the last time we bring charges against someone.”

Children were not safe at Bishop McCort and at locations throughout the Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown.

Their abusers, and those who failed to stop or prevent that abuse, have for too long found protection outside the reach of the law.

- The (Johnstown) Tribune Democrat

___