Laurel: To honoring excellence. The Pittsburgh Walk of Fame has announced its second class of inductees.
The list of luminaries isn’t limited by time. The oldest were born before the Civil War. The youngest? That’s Penguins legend Mario Lemieux, 60.
They aren’t confined to one arena. There are artists like actress Shirley Jones and photographer Charles “Teenie” Harris, sports figures like Steelers great Franco Harris and iconic broadcaster Myron Cope. There are industrialists like H.J. Heinz and George Westinghouse.
They aren’t bound by the city limits, spanning the region. Composer Henry Mancini grew up in West Aliquippa. Classic Hollywood star Jimmy Stewart was born in Indiana.
It’s an excellent representation of the diverse pool of talent and hard work that has come out of Southwestern Pennsylvania — and continues to flow from the area.
The ceremony unveiling their stars on the walk will happen in October in the Strip District, but it is not too soon to applaud the selection of these amazing individuals.
Lance: To lack of progress. Arnold Palmer Regional Airport still has no good information about next steps in the wake of the departure of Spirit Airlines, which shuttered nationwide in May.
The collapse of the airline meant the end of passenger operations at the Unity airport. Spirit was the airport’s only commercial carrier.
That started a chain reaction, with Transportation Safety Agency employees also being pulled. With no TSA on site, that affected charters as well. Preferred Casino Tours, an Aliquippa-based company that does regular jaunts to Atlantic City, has pivoted to Pittsburgh International Airport instead.
There are tours scheduled out of Arnold Palmer in August, September and October. Preferred Casino Tours owner John Mitchell, however, told the Westmoreland County Airport Authority board he is prepared to pull his operation out.
“We’re here fighting for this market, and it seems as if we’re not getting any respect for that, we’re not getting anybody to tell us what’s going on,” he said Tuesday. “We’ll reposition these aircraft.”
Authority board members say efforts are being made and politicians are being pushed to help return the TSA.
“Everybody’s doing everything they can to help you,” board member Mark Gera said.
Imploring letters are not going to cut it. With
$22 million poured into recent expansions at the airport, there needs to be an all-out, full-time campaign to not just bring back the TSA but recruit other carriers and operators.
Were there assurances that Executive Director Maurice Haas is “walking the beat every day” to bring things back? Yes.
But this is bigger than a one-person job, and the authority needs to realize that.