Featured Commentary category, Page 72
Eugene DePasquale and Kate Harper: Common-sense energy policy bridges political divide
“The people chose divided government” is a common refrain in Harrisburg and Washington that too often misses the mark. In truth, the people chose their leaders — from both major parties — to govern Pennsylvania and the United States because they believe they can get things done. They weren’t choosing...
Maggie Rose Macar: Layoff, and off, and off — major tech job cuts and the ‘recession’
There’s no way to say it nicely, so I’ll rip it off like a proverbial Band-Aid — layoffs, especially in the tech sector, are rampant. Hundreds of companies, many of whom originated in Silicon Valley, are cutting jobs at an alarming clip. Strangely, these layoffs happen at a time when...
Timothy J. Kunselman: Wanted — serious people for leadership positions
As we contemplate the end of a glorious life on earth for former President Jimmy Carter, whose greatest achievements perhap came after his presidency, a stark contrast is obvious between past leaders of character and present leaders who are characters. It’s painfully obvious who they are, and the danger to...
Jonathan Bernstein: Republicans aren’t just thinking about Trump and DeSantis
The Republican presidential nomination is up for grabs. Given his enduring popularity with GOP voters, former President Donald Trump remains the front-runner. While he has yet to formally join the race, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has been cast as his principal opponent for the Republican nomination. In past elections, the...
Pete Shelly: So-called ‘skill games’ drain millions from senior programs
We all know the phrase from Pennsylvania Lottery commercials: “… benefits older Pennsylvanians.” But many people don’t realize just how important lottery proceeds are to charities and nonprofits across the commonwealth, and how many seniors rely on the services those organizations provide. Our lottery remains the only state lottery that...
Salewa Ogunmefun: It’s time to fix Pa.’s laws to make voting easier
In Pennsylvania’s first general election held using new legislative maps that are the most fair and inclusive in the history of the commonwealth, we saw historic gains in BIPOC communities statewide having the opportunity to elect the candidates of their choosing. Now this new crop of legislators has the opportunity...
Austin Sarat: Prisoners donating organs to get time off raises thorny ethical questions
In January 2023 two Democratic representatives, Judith Garcia and Carlos Gonzalez, proposed a bill that would offer prisoners in Massachusetts a new way to win reduction in their sentences: by donating their bone marrow or vital organs. The bill stated that the commissioner of the Department of Corrections should establish...
Brian Lawrence: Blight is a wicked problem
Regarding the editorial “Addressing blight requires planning and action” (Feb. 7, TribLIVE): The roots of blight are nuanced, varied and complex. Systemic factors like abuse of the federal tax code and individual factors, like the death of a loved one, contribute to the problem. Compounding the issue, 40,000 fewer people...
Jane Hoffman: With Big Tech making billions off our personal data, it’s time for the U.S. to pull in the reins
Every day, the $6.7 trillion Big Tech industry affects our lives in ways that empower and harm. Despite recent hits in earnings, current layoffs and Google getting slapped with yet another lawsuit from the Justice Department, the tech giants are still all-powerful in our society, economy and daily lives. These...
Elwood Watson: Underestimate Biden at your own political peril
Let’s face it, when Fox News gives a Democrat a B+, you know he or she really delivered an exceptional performance. That was the grade the rabidly right-wing media network gave President Biden on his State of the Union address. As someone who usually doesn’t watch these annual speeches to...
Makenzie White: Yukon hazardous waste facility expansion concerning for public health
In South Huntingdon Township — five miles west of New Stanton and overlooking the community of Yukon — MAX Environmental Technologies Inc. is applying to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) for the approval of a landfill expansion called Landfill No. 7. The facility accepts a variety of hazardous...
Cal Thomas: Monitoring the foreigners buying our farmland
While the military is focused on foreign objects flying over American and Canadian territory, a more disturbing threat to our national security is occurring on the ground. Federal, state and local governments are behind in their response to the acquisition of American land by people and companies associated with the...
Rep. Russ Diamond: Pa. Republicans need a 3-point game
I loved basketball when I was a kid. I spent my free time shooting hoops in my parents’ driveway. I played on my elementary, junior high, freshman and junior varsity teams in school. I got cut from the varsity team in my junior year because despite my love of the...
Jason Park: A 3-part strategy to reduce mass shootings
According to the Gun Violence Archive, there have been more than 60 mass shootings so far in 2023 — almost two a day. As a formerly untreated mentally ill person who angrily erupted into violence earlier in my life, I know the importance of keeping guns out of the wrong...
Chris Talgo: This Valentine’s Day, show some love for America
Although the last few years have been difficult for most Americans, there still is much to love about the country President Abraham Lincoln called “the last best hope of Earth” and President Ronald Reagan labeled “the shining city on a hill.” So, with Valentine’s Day right around the corner, here...
Patrice Onwuka: ‘Only in America,’ not ‘Once Upon a Time’
I love America because only in America can a poor “guy off the boat” speaking with a thick Croatian accent rise to become one of the most successful businessmen and recognizable TV personalities today, “Shark Tank’s” Robert Herjavec. Only in America can an aspiring female screenwriter from communist Russia (Ayn...
Hank Kalet: Adjuncts are the gig workers of higher education
Today’s word is “adjunctification.” Adjunctification is the process by which the gig economy is imposed on America’s colleges and universities and turns formerly tenured professors and instructors into contingent workers. Adjuncts are the part-time component of this, earning a fraction of what full-time faculty earn and having few of the...
Peter Morici: Powell shouldn’t let up in the fight against inflation
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, through the FOMC statement and press conference remarks this month, made clear we’ve made progress fighting inflation, but it’s far too early to quit. Financial markets are proving skeptical — forward contracts anticipate the Fed will increase interest rates a bit further, then start cutting...
Sen. Ryan Aument: How the Grinch stole the power grid
As a holiday cold snap gripped Pennsylvania in December, energy officials warned of rolling blackouts and called on families to turn down their thermostats and turn off the decorations. Truly, this was a Christmas gift with batteries not included. How did the power grid become so feeble that your Christmas...
Cal Thomas: Biden and Sanders, a fading star vs. a rising star
We’ve heard it all before. In fact, a recording of last year’s State of the Union could have been replayed, saving President Biden a trip to Capitol Hill. Numbers can be selectively used to hide reality and advance one’s political agenda. Both parties do this, but Democrats and their media...
Rep. Greg Vitali: Shapiro must lead on environmental funding
A new governor offers hope that the chronic underfunding of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection will finally end. This underfunding has compromised the department’s ability to regulate the oil and gas industry, monitor and reduce air and water pollution, protect the Chesapeake Bay and clean up hazardous waste sites....
Elwood Watson: Police interaction with young Black girl had happy ending
Last month, the Yale School of Public Health held a ceremony to celebrate Bobbi Wilson, a 9-year-old Black kid from Caldwell, N.J., who efforts to eradicate spotted lanternflies was seen as an environmentally progressive gesture. The ceremony also recognized Wilson’s donation of her personal spotted lanternfly collection to Yale’s Peabody...
Dr. Andrew Smolar: The balancing act of parenting adolescents
The task of parenting adolescents has changed a great deal, given how fast the world is moving. For one, information is plentiful and immediately accessible. When I was 17, we checked card catalogs and descended into the library’s catacombs to research a subject. Now, with the stroke of a thumb,...
John Hinshaw: Where is the Latino vote headed in Pa.?
Nationally, Latinos are flexing their growing political muscle. They now make up 11% of the U.S. House, for example. In Pennsylvania, however, Latino voters essentially sat out the last election. According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, turnout in the state’s most heavily Latino districts was less than half that of 2020....
Cal Thomas: Trial balloons
KEY LARGO, Florida — Say the words “espionage” and “communism” to a younger generation and they might think you’re talking about spy novels and Cold War history. Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo thinks both words describe contemporary threats. During a visit to a town made famous by the 1948...
