Featured Commentary category, Page 122
Erin Wall: How I miss you, my high school students, but we will meet again
Erin Wall teaches AP English at Woodland Hills High School, where she has worked since 2005. The sounds of our schools are silenced. The tapping of pencil marks, the screeching of desks, the ticking of the clock, the chiming of the bell, the laughter and chatter of voices that flow...
Matthew Brouillette: What’s goal to win war against covid-19?
In any battle, clear objectives are imperative. Unfortunately, in fighting a virus invisible to the naked eye, the end goal has become nearly as intangible: flatten the curve, slow the spread, contain the virus. But how flat? How slow? How contained? When will we know if we’ve succeeded? Clearly, we...
Christopher Franklin: Give comfort to the essential
In the face of this unprecedented global pandemic, new phrases like “social distancing” and “flatten the curve” have quickly entered our American lexicon. But as government officials, business owners and frontline personnel around the world grapple with challenges we never could have imagined just weeks ago, there is one single...
Sen. Mike Regan: Covid-19 assistance for law enforcement
Last week, Pennsylvania law enforcement experienced its first loss related to covid-19 with the passing of Lt. James Walker, a 32-year veteran of the Philadelphia Police Department. My heart goes out to Walker’s family and colleagues during this difficult time. Additionally, my mind is on the other 52 Philadelphia officers...
Colin McNickle: Coronavirus economic damage ‘real and enormous’
A rough estimate of coronavirus-related unemployment levels can be made for the Pittsburgh metro area based on data through the end of March. And it’s quite the sobering picture that’s certain to grow worse, says a scholar at the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy. “The economic deterioration resulting from the...
Michael Bloomberg: To beat global pandemic, empower local leaders
While many Americans are watching the daily news conferences by President Donald Trump and some governors, the action behind the scenes is being led by the elected officials who are closest to the public, and who are directly managing the crisis in their communities: mayors. As we listen to public...
Michael Hiltzik: ‘Pharma bro’ Martin Shkreli wants out of prison to find a cure for coronavirus
One little-noticed consequence of the novel coronavirus crisis might be an outbreak of chutzpah. That’s a possible explanation for an audacious request by Martin Shkreli, the notorious “pharma bro” known for jacking up the price of old drugs to which he had acquired the rights, the better to reap profits...
Pat Buchanan: When covid-19 pandemic is over, will we be the same America?
“Depend upon it, sir, when a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully,” Samuel Johnson said. And as it is with men, so it is with nations. Dr. Deborah Birx, White House coronavirus response coordinator, has projected some 100,000 to 200,000 U.S....
Sen. Wayne Fontana: Voting by mail no longer the exception
As this frightening pandemic affects every facet of our lives, more and more citizens are doing what they can to keep safe by staying at home, practicing social distancing and keeping in touch with others as remotely as possible. We don’t know when this nightmare will end, or when we...
Wayne Campbell: Expanding broadband access a moral mandate
The covid-19 pandemic will long be remembered as a time that upended people’s lives and livelihoods and caused too many family tragedies to count. Each day, there is more depressing news about more cases and more deaths. It creates a shadow of doom over our society and world. Many ways...
Jonah Goldberg: Impeachment not a valid excuse for slow coronavirus response
A reporter asked President Trump last week what he thought of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s claim that impeachment distracted Trump from tackling the coronavirus epidemic earlier. The president gave a rambling answer but ultimately settled on a firm no. “I don’t think I would have done better had I...
Linda Smales: Protecting the people who are protecting us
Being a nurse isn’t easy. It’s not enough to master the clinical knowledge required; nurses also have to be adaptable, empathetic and most of all compassionate. As a professor of nursing, I have always stressed to my students that they need to master all of these skills to be a...
David Sanko: So many to thank … don’t forget local government
Pennsylvania Local Government Week is April 6-10, and we can think of no better time to recognize our townships, which are on the front lines of making sure life goes on as smoothly and safely as possible in their communities during the covid-19 pandemic. As the covid-19 emergency continues throughout...
S.E. Cupp: America’s lack of pandemic preparedness is unforgivable
In the movies, this all goes very differently. In Hollywood’s version of events, the federal government had been building a secret bunker in the limestone cliffs of Missouri to house a million people in the expectation of an extinction-level-event. Or the entire executive and legislative branches were relocated to an...
Paul Bojarski: I miss the alone
While most of the world is struggling with the issues that come from staying home from work — the loneliness, the lack of interaction with co-workers, the quiet — I am struggling with something else: I miss being alone. I miss the alone that comes with working from my home...
Douglas Morris: All American workers deserve military benefits
Right now every American worker is on the front lines of the war against a lethal viral pathogen, especially U.S. nurses, doctors and other medical personnel. So are our retail, food service, delivery and transportation workers, as well as many others who earn a low minimum wage without any benefits....
Lawrence McCullough: Restarting Pittsburgh’s arts economy
In late summer of 1606, one of the liveliest theater seasons London, England, had known was abruptly shut down by the sudden onset of bubonic plague. When public entertainments were allowed to resume almost two years later in April 1608, several drama companies that had flourished pre-plague were nowhere to...
John Stossel: Unsung heroes are innovating during covid-19 crisis
Congress passed and the president signed a $2 trillion “stimulus” bill. “Not enough!” shrieked politicians. They said the government must do more. They demanded President Donald Trump reactivate the Defense Production Act, a 1950 law that lets government force companies to make things. Trump hesitated. That upset lovers of big...
Walter Williams: Managing a disaster
I’m not sure whether covid-19, first identified in Wuhan, China, in the U.S. qualifies as a true disaster. Putting the disease in perspective, we might look at current influenza illnesses. According to Centers for Disease Control estimates, between Oct. 1, 2019, and March 14, 2020, there have been 390,000 to...
Keith Williams: System-focused bureaucracy is tying teachers’ hands
Anyone who has stood in front of a classroom knows: You must adapt to succeed. The coronavirus crisis has proven that flexibility is king when it comes to essential skills for teachers. Like the rest of us, teachers are being forced to adapt to statewide school closures and local quarantines....
Kim Stolfer & Klint Macro: Law-abiding citizens’ gun rights
In his op-ed “Congratulations on your new gun. Now lock it up.” (March 25, TribLIVE), Rep. Dan Frankel shows his contempt for the individuals who have decided to exercise their right to defend themselves and those they love. As professional firearm instructors, we teach that a firearm that is out...
Nuket Curran: Telemedicine a powerful tool in coronavirus pandemic
Nuket Curran, a doctor of physical therapy, lives in Shaler. She is director of compliance at Phoenix Rehabilitation and Health Services (phoenixrehab.com). Coronavirus has changed our lives completely. Each day we are making the choice to not to see anyone in person and rely on digital technology to connect with...
Joseph Otis Minott: Public policy matters, especially when it comes to our air
As we all stay home and learn to navigate this unprecedented health crisis affecting people not just in Pennsylvania but around the world, coronavirus understandably dominates our public consciousness. The pandemic starkly reminds us all that there is nothing more important than our health and the well-being of the people...
Alicia Santi: Charter schools under attack
My son, like many children in Pennsylvania, is a student with special needs — specifically, developmental disorders requiring him to receive individual tutoring. Like the experiences of many others who have found that the public cyber school option works best for their child, my son would easily get distracted by...
Eli Lake: When tracking virus means tracking your citizens
Since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, some democracies around the world have used technology to avoid having to impose draconian mass quarantines that were common earlier this year in China. That’s reassuring — and it’s also worrying, because the very strategies that can help fight a plague can also...
