Featured Commentary category, Page 107
Nathan Benefield: Pa. budget should care for kids, communities
Pennsylvania confronts overwhelming challenges: a structural deficit; an educational system in free fall; mass business closures and widespread unemployment; and barriers to health care. No doubt, Pennsylvanians expect Harrisburg to deliver education lifelines to families, regulatory and tax relief for business owners, and improved access to care for patients. In...
Dr. Paul Carson: Pittsburgh Public Schools leaders failing our kids
As a parent of two remotely schooled Pittsburgh Public Schools students, I am extremely concerned about my children’s education and mental health during the pandemic. For almost a year now, I’ve watched my children stare at screens for eight hours a day and complain that they think they are learning...
Gov. Tom Wolf: Meeting the needs of Pa. citizens
I want to lower taxes for working families in Pennsylvania. I know in the days since my budget address you’ve probably heard a whole lot from other people about my plan — what they like, what they hate, what they wish I had said instead. This year, because of the...
Baruch Stein: GameStop affair shows need for better regulation
Despite discussions about “common people outmaneuvering Wall Street,” the GameStop affair harmed many of those who think they beat Wall Street and illustrates the need for better regulation. Keith Gill, the man behind the affair, is himself a professional financial adviser who used the GameStop rally to turn an investment...
David Osborne: Union policies force all teachers to strike at Keystone Oaks
Students in the Keystone Oaks School District didn’t attend classes this week, thanks to the strike just initiated by the local teachers’ union — and not every teacher in the district is happy about it. Given the pandemic’s effect on schools, this is already a difficult time for students, parents,...
Rick Stafford: What Dick Thornburgh meant to Pittsburgh
When I first met Dick Thornburgh in 1971, I was one of a small group of graduate students at Carnegie Mellon. We were working under a federal grant to develop a computer model for more effectively allocating law enforcement funds for Allegheny County. In our 20s, idealists about government, none...
David Henderson: Understaffing, underfunding risk health and safety of workers at 24/7 facilities
Front-line workers have never stopped serving the public and keeping society afloat throughout the devastating and difficult battle against covid-19, including those at 24/7 facilities like jails and prisons, nursing homes and hospitals, 911 centers, veterans centers, centers for the intellectually disabled, and emergency response services. Understaffing continues to be...
Rep. Greg Vitali: A realistic climate agenda
There are many things Pennsylvania state government should do this year to address climate change — but won’t, given the political composition of the state Legislature. But a few significant things are possible. Pennsylvania emitted about 215 million metric tons of carbon dioxide in 2017 (the most recent data available),...
Chris Rosselot: Pittsburgh City Council should get more involved with city schools
The covid-19 pandemic has exposed the fragility of our social and educational systems, and nowhere is this truer than with Pittsburgh Public Schools. From laptop distribution to district communication, it is an understatement to say intervention is needed. Last week, Pittsburgh Councilman Ricky Burgess introduced (and council passed unanimously) an...
Sheldon Jacobson: TSA firearm catch rate doubles, but are flyers safer?
The TSA announced that the rate of firearm detection at airport security checkpoints doubled from 2019 to 2020. At the same time, the number of passengers screened dropped by 500 million. Does this mean that air travelers were safer in 2020, or were there more firearms being carried onto airplanes?...
Ron Klink: Right and wrong ways to address drug prices
In what may have been the last significant action of his presidency, President Trump issued two executive orders designed to lower prescription drug spending in Medicare. The first order would eliminate the current system of “rebates” for prescription drugs covered by Medicare Part D. The second order, dubbed the “Most...
Dave Kitzinger: Toomey must continue to do the right thing
One of the reasons I used to be Republican is that I thought of the GOP as the party of brass tacks. While Democrats had wild and ambitious ideas about how the world should be, Republicans always struck me as the ones who took what the world gave them and...
Shannon Chambers-Aguilar: ‘Elective’ surgery not always optional
For my son Ethan, “elective surgery” is a misnomer. For Ethan, the word “elective” doesn’t mean optional. It doesn’t mean his surgery isn’t urgent or necessary, and it certainly doesn’t mean that he doesn’t need it as soon as possible in order to live a full, healthy, safe and happy...
Ryan Navarro: March for Life virtual but just as important
For the first time in 47 years, thousands of pro-life activists from around the county are forgoing the journey to the National Mall for the annual March for Life. A combination of the coronavirus pandemic and security concerns in Washington, D.C., has led to the decision to keep participants at...
Randall Rutta: Another pandemic is coming — it’s time to prepare
Even as we confront a still-surging covid-19 pandemic in advance of global vaccination, another looming pandemic threatens us. This threat comes from rising numbers of drug-resistant bacteria and fungi. These “superbugs” are immune to most antibiotics. They already kill 700,000 people around the world each year. And they’re evolving faster...
Sylvia Neely: Bipartisanship crucial for our world’s future
Last year I read Ezra Klein’s book “Why We’re Polarized.” He traced the history of partisanship, explaining the ways parties have evolved, the changing role of the media and the crucial influence of identity politics. The horrifying events on Capitol Hill on Jan. 6 were the culmination of this corrosive...
Earl Fowlkes: To save lives, clinical trials need diversity
I’ve spent my career fighting for vulnerable patients, especially people of color. So I was ecstatic to hear about a new initiative from dozens of biotech companies. These firms pledged to enroll more people of color in “clinical trials” — years-long tests that show whether experimental drugs are safe and...
Signe Espinoza: Reflecting on 48 years of Roe v. Wade
There is no doubt Roe v. Wade is a landmark Supreme Court case, due to its historical and legal significance, but I find it difficult to celebrate its anniversary, even as someone who has accessed abortion and who fights to protect and expand access to safe, legal abortion every day....
Robert Sroufe: Pa. can reap financial, health benefits from RGGI
In Pennsylvania, we see more extreme weather, more deaths from heat and respiratory ailments like asthma, and a disruption to agriculture, all attributable to climate change. Greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels such as coal, natural gas and oil contribute substantially to climate change in Pennsylvania and across the globe....
Andrew Swensen: Faith in one another should be our 2021 story
We are hardwired for story. It is our nature to weave the experiences of life into narrative, both as individuals and societies, and this storytelling nature is as intrinsic to our species as purring is to cats and singing to birds. Here we wrestle with the deepest questions of humanity,...
Nancy Patton Mills: We voted for Biden to begin rebuilding
On Wednesday — some 75 days after resoundingly defeating Donald Trump at the ballot box and two weeks after his election was certified by Congress — Joe Biden will take the oath of office and finally become the president of the United States of America. It can’t come soon enough....
Charles Mitchell: The last line of defense against executive overreach
In the face of an emerging crisis, swift and extraordinary action can be warranted. This was certainly true last March, when Gov. Tom Wolf — confronting a deadly, mysterious virus — issued a disaster declaration that granted him emergency powers. There was little time to debate details and build consensus....
Sheldon Jacobson and Janet Jokela: Airport security checkpoints are nation’s covid-19 canary
We welcome the new year with nearly 22 million confirmed covid-19 cases and 365,000 deaths. The U.S. leads the world in total confirmed cases and deaths, while also ranking second in confirmed cases per capita and seventh in deaths per capita (for countries with a population over 10 million). The...
Caleb Verbois: The Constitution, a demagogue and a coup
Every semester in my introductory American Government class, I have my students read a short speech written by a 28-year-old over 150 years ago. It turned into one of the most important speeches in American history, even though many people have forgotten it today. The speaker, a relatively unknown Midwestern...
Steve Johnson: It wasn’t all bad, was it? 9 things to keep from 2020
I think most of us would gladly erase 2020 from our memories, in the same way that certain tall buildings fail to acknowledge the 13th floor. By almost any measure, it’s been a trash fire of a year. I could list what makes this true — the various fuels feeding...
