Featured Commentary category, Page 21
Christopher Nicholas: Is Pittsburgh’s mayoral primary déjà vu all over again?
The Democratic primary battle for Pittsburgh mayor, between incumbent Mayor Ed Gainey and Allegheny County Controller Corey O’Connor, looks to be yet another Western Pennsylvania-centered test case on the strength of the state’s progressive movement. Gainey, a progressive Democrat, has stumbled throughout his term and is widely seen as an...
Cal Thomas: Due process for all, or none
President Trump is using an 18th-century law, the Alien Enemies Act, to justify the deportation of hundreds of people he says are members of a vicious Venezuelan gang. That law was last used during World War II by the Roosevelt administration to justify the internment of Japanese Americans. The government...
Dan DeBone: Economic shock wave of Penn State New Kensington closure
Across the country, we are witnessing a troubling trend: the closure of regional college campuses. Some may see these as mere financial restructuring decisions, but I see them for what they truly are: economic earthquakes that shake the very foundation of local economies. The possible closure of Penn State New...
Cal Thomas: Putin on the blitz
The cliche has been that the ball is now in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s court. Not any longer. Putin has responded to U.S. appeals for a ceasefire in the war with Ukraine with a strong backhand, rejecting a ceasefire in his unprovoked invasion. Now the ball is in President Trump’s...
F. Willis Johnson: Liberation through the womanist perspective
Women’s History Month finds us at a critical crossroads. Nearly three-quarters of the world’s population faces increasing backlash against women’s rights, while technological disruption and economic uncertainty threaten to deepen existing inequalities. Yet, within this challenging landscape lies an opportunity to radically reimagine our approach to gender equality through a...
Aaron T. Redis: Public cyber charter school saved my life
Last spring, I read a lot of articles calling for cuts to public cyber charter school funding here in Pennsylvania. It’s hard to believe these schools continue to be targeted for cuts at a time when more people are moving away from traditional public schools and toward these public cybers....
Lara Williams: Woolly mammoths? Mars? Let’s take care of what we’ve got.
Earlier this month, science delivered a really cute experimental result. Researchers created a “colossal woolly mouse,” a fluffy rodent that’s purported to be a step on the way to resurrecting woolly mammoths from the age of dinosaurs. But that project — along with Elon Musk’s obsession with establishing a colony...
Counterpoint: STEM is key to our future
By nearly all objective measures, the U.S. education system is not fulfilling its primary duty of ensuring that today’s students are prepared to achieve in the world of tomorrow. As we all know, modern society is becoming ever more dependent on technology. Hence, if American students are to compete in...
Point: STEM is important, but economics is destiny
In late February, students at dozens of U.S. high schools participated in the first round of an international competition in economics. The top five American students will travel to historic Olympia, Greece, this year to compete against students from other countries. The Economics Olympiad, as the competition is called, is...
Jason Kavulich: Pa. is protecting its seniors
Regarding the editorial “Pennsylvania must be more diligent in monitoring protective service for seniors” (March 11, TribLive): As the former director of the Lackawanna County Area Agency on Aging (AAA), I couldn’t agree more that improvements were needed in Pennsylvania’s oversight of protective services at the local level — which...
Reps. Leslie Rossi, Jamie Barton and Martin Causer: You deserve affordable electricity
Gov. Josh Shapiro’s energy taxes won’t work. How do we know? The proof is right in front of you. Look at your energy bills. Talk to any Pennsylvanian. Unaffordable energy is a kitchen table topic for Pennsylvania households and a conference table topic for Pennsylvania businesses. And if you think...
Jasmine Rivera: The real goal of No Bail Out for Sanctuary Cities Act
The next few years are going to challenge our representatives in Washington to balance partisan politics against human rights and the interests of the people they serve. Pennsylvania’s members of Congress and senators have already been put to the test, and elected leaders like Sen. John Fetterman and Reps. Brendan...
Dan DeBone: Legislature must work to solve teacher shortage
A strong business community begins with a strong education system. The success of our local businesses is directly linked to the quality of education in our schools — public, charter, parochial and private. If our students are not receiving a high-quality education, the workforce pipeline that sustains our businesses will...
Stephen L. Carter: Claiming ‘reverse discrimination’ could get easier
I suspect that “reverse discrimination” plaintiffs are in for a big win in the U.S. Supreme Court. If recent oral arguments in Ames v. Ohio Department of Youth Services are any indication, the justices are poised to sweep away the procedural barriers that several federal courts have erected in the...
Commentary: One county’s plan to revive the American Dream
Resist the urge to publish the American Dream’s obituary. It’s alive, though unwell. It’s no secret that the hallmarks of the dream have become unreachable for many Americans. Homeownership seems impossible in communities. Marriage rates have dropped. Families have shrunk. Even lifespans are on the decline. The dream’s vital signs...
Andreas Kluth: America’s loss of soft power is Putin’s gain
One astonishing phenomenon (of admittedly many) in this second presidency of Donald Trump is his voluntary transfer of America’s greatest asset to his counterpart in the Kremlin, Vladimir Putin. That asset is soft power. The concept was developed at the end of the Cold War by the international relations scholar...
Dr. Susan Kressly: Why pediatricians are worried
Early in my career as a pediatrician, it would not be unusual to get a phone call in the middle of the night from the worried parent of a child with a high fever. I got out of bed, met the family in the emergency room and sat with them...
Jason W. Park: Battle Royale in Pittsburgh — the case of United States Steel
U.S. Steel has been in the news quite a bit within the last couple of years. It is enough to confuse the savviest of strategists. To make sense of it all, I list the two sides, their belligerents and their identities: Free trade — trade conducted freely with no tariffs,...
Andrew J. Lewis: Political hit job on cyber charter schools
Forget better schools. Apparently, Pennsylvania students need fewer schools, even if that means hurting the kids who need the most help. That’s effectively the message that two of our state’s leaders have sent in the past few weeks. First, Gov. Josh Shapiro demanded cutting funding for cyber charter schools by...
Cal Thomas: Ukraine ministers speaking truth
While President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy were duking it out in the Oval Office in a rhetorical version of the Ultimate Fighting Club that Trump loves, six Ukrainian Christian ministers from different denominations were coincidentally (or prophetically?) down the street telling guests at...
Colin McNickle: Tracking Pittsburgh’s stubborn office vacancy rate
There might be a glimmer of hope in Pittsburgh’s still-rising central business district (CBD) office vacancy rates. But an economist at the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy cautions that there remain numerous caveats. Of course, the pandemic ushered in a new age of office work, more from home than in...
Tyler Cowen: A $5 million gold card for immigrants makes economic sense
President Donald Trump would like to offer migrants who want to work in the U.S. a “gold card,” akin to a green card, with one significant difference: the price tag. A gold card would cost $5 million, compared to government fees of $235 for a green card. It’s a good...
Matthew Espenshade: IRA’s unfair drug pricing must be stopped
How many of us know what goes into the development of the medications we take? We take a medicine and hope it will work, that we’ll feel better shortly or we’ll be able to keep certain diseases in check. Very few of us have any concept of the years of...
Cal Thomas: A warning about pride for Trump
“Power is the ultimate aphrodisiac.” — Henry Kissinger President Trump is on a roll, claiming victory after victory against the “swamp.” Some of his decisions are being challenged in court, but others, like closing the border and deporting migrants with criminal records, are likely to be sustained. Polls show they...
Peter Morici: Fixing America’s broken health care system
The assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson triggered a disturbing avalanche of sympathy for his accused killer, often laced with sarcasm about health insurance systems for prior review for many services and claims reimbursement. UHC is a large multistate insurer subject to scrutiny for its generally high denial rates. A...
