Cheers & Jeers
Cheers: This region was once heavily populated by immigrants who came here to work in mines and industry and build a better life for themselves and their families. Immigrants are once again arriving, this time in the Charleroi area, which has seen an influx of new arrivals in recent years. They have been coming from Haiti, South America, China and Africa, often to escape violence and persecution. A story in the Observer-Reporter and Herald-Standard last weekend detailed the work the Charleroi Area School District has undertaken to make students from immigrant families feel welcome and help them learn. Among other things, it has taken on three English Language-Learner (ELL) teachers, has social workers and counselors working with students and families and is encouraging immigrant students to participate in clubs, sports and extracurricular activities. All told, 7% of the students in the Charleroi Area School District are English-Language Learners, the most in any school district across Washington, Greene or Fayette counties, and Superintendent Ed Zelich explained, “We truly embrace the opportunity. We believe diversity has now become our superpower in the learning community.” He also pointed out that the arrival of immigrants has boosted the local economy and given the district a stable number of students. He said they are “great people, hard-working people” who want “safe, inclusive and equitable opportunities for their children.”
Cheers: On Tuesday, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court brought an end to a six-year legal skirmish and sensibly ruled that the Pennsylvania State Police cannot conceal from the public its policies on how it monitors social media. Large parts of the policy had been blacked out, and representatives of the state police argued that making it public would hinder investigations. But the state’s Office of Open Records has previously reviewed the policy and said bringing it to the light of day would not likely harm investigations. Praising the decision, Andrew Christy, a lawyer with the ACLU of Pennsylvania, told the Associated Press that it “sort of puts law enforcement on the same playing field as all government agencies. If they have a legal justification to keep something secret, they have to put forth sufficient evidence to justify that.” And that is entirely reasonable.
Jeers: In a couple of weeks it will be Sept. 11, and again, Americans aged about 30 or older will remember where they were on that sunny, late summer morning 22 years ago when it seemed the world stopped. Republican presidential candidate and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy was 16 at the time, and went off on a bizarre tangent about it in a recent interview with the magazine The Atlantic. In a discussion about Jan. 6, 2021, another day that will live in infamy on the American calendar, Ramaswamy suggested that, perhaps, federal agents or police were on the planes that hit the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, as well as the plane that crashed in Somerset County. Ramaswamy said, “I want the truth about 9/11.” Of course, the truth about 9/11 has long been known — it was the result of a plot hatched by Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida. When you consider the candidates out there peddling election denial or vaccine denial, someone hinting at conspiracies around 9/11 seems positively quaint. It doesn’t make it any less odd.