Featured Commentary category, Page 118
Gene Torisky: Why I marched
No one asked why I participated in the Greensburg and Latrobe rallies for George Floyd — not that I expected it. A few observers in Latrobe seemed to assume all 100 marchers were violent members of “the antifa.” I say this because of the matching “(expletive) antifa” T-shirts those onlookers...
Saleem Ghubril: A message for Pittsburgh region’s children — you are special and loved
It was Friday evening, May 29, the end of a rough week, but not yet the end of a challenging season that has caused all of us to be under lockdown. Mr. George Floyd was killed that week, another life taken while being black and male in America. I got...
Rosanne Granieri: Finding the goodness during pandemic
As we enter the green phase of the coronavirus pandemic recovery, I have reflected on the past few months. I listened to stories of families torn apart by the death of loved ones. I observed individuals and groups display false bravado as they ignored expert scientific advice, claiming invulnerability to...
The Rev. Randy Bush: What fills the space between us?
Dog walks are now both an excuse and a necessity. They are an excuse to get out of the house and walk around the neighborhood. And they are how we see other people during these days of “stay at home” orders and pandemic precautions. To the dog, the walks are...
Corey May: Mystery complicates Lyme disease treatment
On Sept. 22, 2015, I received a kidney transplant at Allegheny General Hospital. Ever since, I have done everything within my power to be grateful for and reverent to my new kidney, which has served me well — until now. It is under attack. Even with total clothing cover, I...
Jennifer Smith: Addiction an epidemic within a pandemic
For decades, people battled addiction with a shadow cast over them as the treatment and recovery community made tremendous strides in bringing the disease into the light. They are some of the most courageous people that I have ever known. In 2018, the commonwealth saw an unprecedented 18% decrease in...
Frasat Ahmad: Seek justice for George Floyd the right way — vote
“Momma, Momma!” “I can’t breathe! I can’t breathe!” No innocent human being should have to die with these words on their lips. A police officer, tasked to protect George Floyd’s life, mercilessly crushed George’s neck for 9 long minutes. He has been charged with murder. Is George’s death an isolated...
Donnell Drinks: I cherish the right to vote
Voting in our democracy carries different meanings for different people. For some Americans, voting is a proud exercise of a franchise they have had since this nation’s founding. For others, voting represents the culmination of generations of struggle to secure that franchise. Whatever a person’s path, I believe voting in...
Chris Woods & Matt Yarnell: Badge bill would help protect health care workers
One change could help to keep health care workers safe Every day they risk their lives so that you and I can be safe. But are we doing enough to ensure nurses and other caregivers are safe and protected? Our health care workers have been holding Pennsylvania together during covid-19....
Josh Gray: Opposing PIAA’s wrestling weight class plan
We’re parents, coaches, former wrestlers, trainers, doctors and fans who oppose the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association’s (PIAA) weight class reduction proposal. We’ve come together to protect Pennsylvania wrestling from reducing its participants and putting student athletes’ health at risk. Pennsylvania high school wrestling stands at a tipping point. The PIAA...
Andrew Smolar, M.D.: Technology binds us, separates us
In 2016, I was president of our psychoanalytic organization, when progressive colleagues aimed to train new psychoanalysts in China — which would mean providing intensive telehealth psychotherapy for them. The faculty was divided about the idea, as some favored treating patients in-person only. I was torn. I am traditional, but...
Kristen O’Toole: Masks mean life or death
Wearing a mask is not a political statement for me. It is life or death. I have multiple sclerosis (MS), an autoimmune disease that is different in everyone. My body attacks its own central nervous system. The disease-modifying therapy I get every 28 days at the hospital intravenously suppresses my...
Bea Spolidoro: Aging in (a safe) place
Aging-in-place has become the preferred option for many when planning for their future. Independence is precious. This said, entering a dedicated facility is an extreme step that for many families, unfortunately, often becomes the only feasible and safe option. Yet around the world, the covid-19 crisis has claimed many lives...
Arthur Allen: While the U.S. rushes to develop a covid-19 vaccine, here’s what science tells us
If there is a silver lining to the flawed U.S. response to the coronavirus pandemic, it is this: The relatively high number of new cases being diagnosed daily — upward of 20,000 — will make it easier to test new vaccines. To determine whether a vaccine prevents disease, the study’s...
Joe Nocera: Lockdowns haven’t proved they’re worth the havoc
My junior and senior years in high school were 1968 and 1969; five decades later, I can still remember some of the main events of that era: the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert F. Kennedy, the bombing of Cambodia, the Apollo 8 spaceflight that orbited the moon, and...
Page Gardner: Coronavirus must not endanger health of our democracy
Instead of standing in line at polling places, hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvanians are signing up online to vote by mail in the state’s June 2 primary — a herculean effort to avoid the spread of the deadly coronavirus (the deadline to apply for a mail-in ballot is May 26)....
Dr. David Macpherson: Shared sacrifice needed in our war on coronavirus
There’s been an enormous amount of talk lately about viruses. For the SARS-CoV-2 virus, given its ability to sicken and kill us, we speak as if we are fighting a war against an enemy bent on destroying us, as if the virus has a consciousness and developed a war plan....
Charlie Melancon: Pennsylvania on forefront of energy technology, development
History is being made in the energy industry. But that history has been both positive and negative. The latter, of course, is best showcased by the recent “contango” in the crude oil industry that pushed futures prices well into the negatives as reported by outlets worldwide. Those prices have since...
First lady Frances Wolf: Let’s be kind, grateful on 143 Day
Fred Rogers called upon us to look for the helpers during dark times. And right now, our helpers are everywhere. They’re in our hospitals, driving our buses, stocking our shelves, delivering our packages and so much more. They’re keeping us safe and healthy while we get through this pandemic. Last...
Nathan Benefield: Pennsylvanians deserve an apology
Insults. Threats. Bullying. Last week, Gov. Tom Wolf’s video statement featured all three. Wolf launched these salvos against his fellow Pennsylvanians — local elected officials, job creators, and workers in eight counties — seeking to provide for themselves and their families. He called them “cowards” and “deserters” for assessing local...
Jennifer Christman: Mental Health Awareness Month critical for covid-19 front-line workers
Prior to covid-19, our nation was silently witnessing another growing epidemic — suicide. Specifically, among first responders. Many members of this at-risk population are now on the front lines of the pandemic, working in high-stress professions where the nature of their work leads to experiencing trauma or post-traumatic stress disorder....
Sen. Vincent Hughes: Republican reopening plan worst kind of politics
In the last few weeks, Pennsylvania Republicans have ramped up the political theatre in a brazen attempt at politicizing the Wolf administration’s response to the coronavirus pandemic. From staged political rallies organized by out-of-state, extreme right-wing agitators to attempts at strong-arming local officials to ignore the governor’s executive order on...
Eric Failing: Private schools should share in CARES Act funding, too
In late March, Congress passed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act. In part, it calls for $13.2 billion to be provided for K-12 education across the country, with an estimated $523.8 million for Pennsylvania, according to the U.S. Department of Education. That money has been earmarked for...
Christine Toretti: Blue-collar workers stepped up for us; let’s step up for them
Pennsylvania manufacturers helped save countless American lives during the coronavirus pandemic — the least we can do in return is to help protect their jobs in the upcoming presidential election. As the coronavirus outbreak spread throughout the world, many health care experts and journalists speculated that the U.S. would not...
Ray Werner: The Depression shaped my generation. But what legacy will we leave?
Like many of us out there, I’m worried about a new Great Depression. And like fewer of us, I was born in the last one — in 1938. My parents, Chuck and Pauline, met and married in 1926. They started their family a year later in Freedom, Beaver County, in...
