Featured Commentary category, Page 100
Amy Zimmerman: ‘Imposter syndrome’ at work
What would you do if as an employer, you learned that some of your most trusted and high-performing workers lived many of their days in great distress? How would you react if you found out that these seemingly happy and productive people perceived themselves as fraudsters, compromising the forward progress...
Michael Brevda: Nursing home reform legislation offers opportunity for better care
Lawmakers realize we have a pervasive nursing home abuse problem in America. Nursing home covid deaths are nearing 200,000. More glaringly, a bipartisan Senate investigation revealed that poor resident care is overwhelming clustered around less than 5% of the nation’s facilities. A disproportionate amount of neglect cases occur in nursing...
Sheldon Jacobson: Emotion gets in way of covid consensus
People tend to overestimate or underestimate risk. The pandemic brings this into stark relief. Picture someone wearing an N95 mask while walking their dog through a deserted park. Contrast that with someone entering a crowded bar maskless in an area with high coronavirus transmission rates. Risk is a function of...
David Super: Vietnam mistakes repeated in Afghanistan; we must break the cycle
The rapid collapse of the Afghan government has lessons to teach us, if we will listen. Many of these are lessons we could have learned from the Vietnam War, but we did not. In both Vietnam and Afghanistan, the enemy was very real. The Viet Minh began as a nationalist...
Rich Askey: Follow CDC mask-wearing guidance in Pa. schools
Pennsylvania’s public school educators and support professionals are looking forward to returning to school to welcome a new class of eager students to their classrooms. As we do so, we are at a crossroads. We look ahead with enthusiasm but recognize that, in order to make this school year successful...
Nicole Molinaro: Criminal justice system failing domestic violence victims
The article “Police: Desperate notes in Walmart, Fallingwater led to woman held captive” (July 16, TribLIVE) described incidents of violence that shocked the mind and the soul. Like others throughout our community, I was horrified to read about the extensive abuse this victim survived, including being held captive, multiple physical...
Greg Fulton: The day St. Franco was anointed
Similar to today, in 1972 our nation was polarized. The Vietnam War, the Equal Rights Amendment providing equality for all sexes and busing of children for integration were dividing lines for many. Then, on Dec. 23, something magical happened in Pittsburgh, what some would call an early Christmas present. According...
Sen. Devlin Robinson: Abandonment of Afghanistan shameful
Watching as Afghans clung to the sides of American transports during takeoff only to plummet to their deaths as their allies flew off Monday is a spectacle beyond bearing. I once fought on the very ground their falling bodies struck. I fought in Afghanistan, and many of my comrades did...
Jay Sefton: Pa. lawmakers must stop denying justice to abuse victims
Had I been sexually abused by Father Thomas Smith 20 miles east in New Jersey, 20 miles south in Delaware or 80 miles north in New York, I would have had the opportunity to seek justice. I could have held Catholic Church officials accountable for protecting a known pedophile instead...
Gov. Bill Lee: Collaborating to improve lives in Tennessee
Supporting Tennessee’s rural citizens has been a top priority of mine since I signed my very first executive order. Executive Order 1 required each state department to examine its impact on our rural communities and make recommendations on how to better serve rural Tennesseans. As a result, we have implemented...
Antony Davies: Pa.’s alcohol monopoly — we told you so
Defenders of the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board (PLCB) fought for decades against alcohol privatization efforts. Principal among these was Wendell Young IV, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers Pennsylvania Wine and Spirits Council — the union that represents state store workers. Despite numerous studies and polls to the...
Jonah Goldberg: With eviction moratorium, Biden joins presidents who violated oath
President Biden has already violated his oath of office. The good news for him: He’s in fine company. In 2002, George W. Bush signed the McCain-Feingold campaign finance bill into law. At the ceremony, he expressed his “concerns” that the law he signed “restrains the speech of a wide variety...
Trey Grayson: Exporting the fraudit to Pa. would be disaster
In July, Pennsylvania State Sen. Doug Mastriano announced his intention to bring the Arizona audit to Pennsylvania. County officials have rebuffed his requests for election data, and Mastriano is threatening subpoenas to fuel the investigation. This is going to be a mess. Strange circumstances aside, a Pennsylvania audit is a...
Will Bardenwerper: Maybe Steelers can unite us
A few weeks ago, my wife, 4-year-old son and I joined my cousin’s family for Steelers Fest at Heinz Field. It was the kind of warm and sunny day that one dreams about during the frigid gray Pittsburgh winter. My son proudly wore a superhero cape over his Steelers jersey,...
Colin McNickle: A dichotomous jobs recovery
States with Right-to-Work laws continue to fare much better in their job recovery statistics following covid-19 lockdowns than states without such laws, concludes an analysis by the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy. But the now-prevalent Delta variant could produce new challenges to that recovery, cautions Jake Haulk, president-emeritus of and...
Sam DeMarco: The Shell cracker plant is a boon for business
Denial takes many forms, and while we often are exhorted to “trust science,” some dismiss the science of economics when it doesn’t suit their political agenda. That’s what we’re finding out about the natural gas industry in general and the nearly completed ethane “cracker” plant that is about to trigger...
Gov. Jim Justice: ARC and West Virginia — partners in a state of improvement
This commentary is part of a series from governors of the 13 states in the Appalachian Regional Commission. ARC is an economic development agency of the federal government and state governments focusing on 420 counties across the Appalachian Region. For every home improvement project, big or small, you need the...
Lori Jakiela: Duct tape is sane option when airline passengers go nuts
While some people are shocked by the current attacks on flight attendants — the biting, the spitting, the punching, the threats — this behavior doesn’t surprise me. When I became a flight attendant back in the 1990s, I didn’t realize I’d end up in one of the most-hated professions in...
Quentin Langley: Time’s up for Andrew Cuomo
Twelve months ago, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo was admired and seen as a future president. Some Democrats were wishing that Cuomo was the one limbering up for the fight with then-President Donald Trump. Had the Democrats made an error by not skipping a generation to choose Cuomo? Today, New...
Rep. Greg Vitali: Pa. should enact methane regulations
Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas, and Pennsylvania’s oil and gas industry is a major methane emitter. More than 5½ years ago, Gov. Tom Wolf promised regulations to reduce methane emissions from existing oil and gas industry operations. It’s time to finalize these regulations. Methane reduction is critical in addressing...
Addison Del Mastro: Pa. is a microcosm of America’s housing crisis
In recent years, an acute housing crisis has engulfed both America’s coastal metros and Rust Belt regions. California’s Bay Area, for example, confronts a crisis of affordability and limited supply that hastens a population exodus. Midwest cities like Detroit face low real-estate prices and low demand, intensifying urban decline. Pennsylvania...
Sheldon Jacobson: TSA must mandate covid-19 vaccines for airport security screeners
Airport security checkpoints have become the nation’ measuring stick for the state of our war with covid-19 and the Delta variant. The picture is not pretty, and is likely to get worse before it gets better. Over 8,500 Transportation Security Officers have been infected to-date, with 18 deaths. At the...
Gov. Tom Wolf: Strategic investments in Appalachia help make Pa. best place to live, work, play
With 52 of our 67 counties calling Appalachia home, Pennsylvania is no stranger to the rich geography of the region filled with stunning mountain views, rivers and streams, and wildlife. It’s home to tremendous cultural and historical resources and 5.6 million Pennsylvanians who live, work and play in our commonwealth....
Adam Marles: Wolf doubles down on nursing home crisis of his creation
Everyone knows America is experiencing a hiring crisis. Many local restaurants and stores are struggling to find staff to open. Now imagine running a nursing home, where the pandemic remains a real threat, and trying to retain and find new employees. Even if you could find potential candidates, nursing homes...
John Allison: Jury duty, the (possible) antidote to civic despair
American democracy has been taking a beating lately. When people are feeling lousy about their country, experts usually recommend civic pick-me-ups to alleviate the aches and pains. Attend a veterans parade. Play bingo at a volunteer fire department. Witness a Blue Angels air show. All of those are nice, and...
