Featured Commentary category, Page 47

The Supreme Court’s recent decision on the limits of federal authority under the Clean Water Act has been celebrated or condemned, depending on the ideological predilections of the observer. Everyone agrees, however, that the opinions themselves make for rather rough reading. They boil down to a squabble over the words...

Most of us have heard people say something along the lines of “I get more out of it than they do” when talking about the volunteer experience. Some will even couch that statement with “I know it sounds cliché, but …” as if others may not believe the genuine feeling...

Maybe the most surprising aspect of the debt-ceiling increase President Joe Biden signed into law last week is that, once all the kicking and screaming was done, it not only passed Congress but passed easily. And maybe the most intriguing question raised by this whole debate is whether we should...

A movie titled “Sovereign,” starring Nick Offerman, Dennis Quaid and Jacob Tremblay, is in the planning stages. It is based on a real-world event involving two sovereign citizens, Jerry Kane and his 16-year-old son, Joseph. They shot and killed two West Memphis, Ark., police officers during a traffic stop. Sovereign...

It wasn’t a difficult choice to watch the first of the NBA playoff games between Miami and Denver instead of Donald Trump’s appearance on “Hannity,” but when Denver built a 12-point lead, I switched channels to see if Trump might say something new? Nope, same old denouncing of opponents and...

Several years from now, we might wistfully be speaking about when college football was an amateur sport rather than a minor league for professional football. We might reminisce about when players chose to play for the love of the game and the pride of representing their school while obtaining a...

Workers at U.S. Steel’s Mon Valley Works make steel for the smart homes, energy-efficient appliances and high-tech vehicles in ever-greater demand as America exits the pandemic and charts a new course for prosperity. Their counterparts at other mills across Pennsylvania build steel for the military and for the modern roads...

You may think you’re proficient in another language, but are you really? People are using their phones more and more to learn new languages. I see folks glued to their devices, answering multiple-choice questions on their commute, in the office or at coffee shops — all to keep their streaks...

On a recent evening, 30 students from my high school gathered to share a meal of traditional Nepali foods like momos and chow mein noodles. We’re a pretty diverse mix — American born, immigrant, white and students of color. And we’re all members of Global Minds, a youth-led after-school program...

Pennsylvania’s primary reinforced recent trends, but it also showcased two very different faces of the Democratic Party — courtesy of the mayor’s race in Philadelphia and the county executive and district attorney’s race in Allegheny County. Openly progressive candidates won both races in Allegheny County — as has been the...

Firearms are now the No. 1 cause of death for young people in Pennsylvania. Not car accidents. Not cancer. Guns. As someone who is looking forward to becoming a father later this year, I think about that statistic a lot. Truthfully, I sometimes worry about what kind of world we’re...

Last week, Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff released the first-ever National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism. This is an acknowledgement by the entire federal government that the global rise in hatred against Jews is a fundamental challenge to the principles of American democracy. The national strategy details 100 concrete new actions the...

Pennsylvania adopted “42 PaCSA § 4561(a).Compensation of and travel allowance for jurors” in 1959, when minimum wage was $1/hr. Eight hours of jury service, plus one hour of travel time, equaled $9/day paid by the local county. The Act provided neither a sunset provision nor a cost-of-living allowance. This -well-intentioned-...

Two years ago, hell-bent on getting its hooks into the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) — the largest private workforce in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania — SEIU Healthcare Pennsylvania effectively bought the Pittsburgh mayor’s office. In November, the union intends to pay more than twice as much to consolidate...

Talking with a friend about the debt ceiling negotiations, I mentioned that there were incentives for centrists in Congress to cobble together a deal. My friend said, incredulously, “Do we actually have centrists in Congress?” Certainly, it is true that the country’s two major parties have sorted and separated over...

As the new governor and new state Legislature take the reins on their first budget, there is a sense of anticipation of what their leadership will bring to the commonwealth. While the Shapiro administration and General Assembly have developed their priorities, we urge them to seize this opportunity to build...

President Joe Biden’s industrial policies aim to make America a world leader in semiconductor manufacturing, but the effort could do more harm than good. Post-World War II U.S. foreign-trade policies promoted trade based on comparative advantages, but too often America’s trading partners put up import barriers and subsidized domestic industries...

The field of American history is in crisis. Earlier this month, the Department of Education released troubling data indicating that only 13% of eighth-graders met proficiency standards in history. Students are failing to understand the American story and our shared values — and the consequences are severe. To those of...

“Where there’s a will, there’s a way” is an old and familiar quotation, often attributed to Albert Einstein, who was on to something almost as significant as E=MC2. What if there is no will, is there still a way? It doesn’t seem likely. In Washington, will has come to die,...

Working a full-time job is no longer enough to keep a family from struggling financially. Take child care teachers, who tirelessly care for our children, or home care workers, who support our elderly loved ones. They are like so many Pennsylvanians, treading water just to stay afloat financially. This is...

We all believe that promises made should correlate to promises kept, especially when those promises are made by government leaders. When it comes to Pennsylvania’s energy policy and our newest governor, however, promises made have not been kept — at least, not yet. One hundred-some days ago, I joined the...

It’s not easy becoming a teacher in Pennsylvania. I should know. I’ve been working on becoming one for three years. I’ve seen fellow education majors come and go, some lured to other job prospects with more earning potential, others deterred by cynical political efforts to turn parents and communities against...

Should a health-care program for low-income seniors, the disabled, kids and pregnant mothers be co-opted by hundreds of thousands of healthy adults? Adults not even eligible for assistance? Since March 2020, that’s been the reality for the Medicaid program. But this spring, states regained their ability — for the first...

On April 12, Pittsburgh City Council held a post agenda and public hearing on the Spin e-scooter pilot, which launched in 2021, to hear how the program is affecting city residents. The contrast in testimony was notable. People who use the scooters love them as a fun and convenient way...

The human brain is hard-wired for spoken language, but we are not born with the natural ability to read. The skills that lead students to become competent, lifelong readers must be explicitly and systematically taught at a young age with ample opportunity for practice and improvement. Nearly half of Pennsylvania’s...