Featured Commentary category, Page 70
Elizabeth Stelle: Tackling poverty in Pa. starts with understanding barriers to prosperity
It’s hard to save money. “I have a daughter that goes to after-school care that I have to pay for,” one Pennsylvania mother said. “I have the gas to get to work. I have to pay fees for the turnpike to get to work. There’s just a lot of cost...
Peter Morici: AI programs like ChatGPT are going to serve us — and that’s the scary part
OpenAI’s ChatGPT3 is impressive and frightening. The artificial intelligence program can write authoritative-sounding scholarly papers, computer code and poetry, and solve math problems — though with some errors. It passed a tough undergraduate microbiology exam. and graduate law and business school exams from the Universities of Minnesota and Pennsylvania. It’s...
Cal Thomas: On Ukraine — pay any price? Bear any burden?
“…we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and success of liberty.” — John F. Kennedy Inaugural Address, Jan. 20, 1961 Those were simpler, though not less dangerous times. The Soviet Union was seen as America’s No....
Elwood Watson: Depression and the expectations of men
Sen. John Fetterman’s announcement that he has checked himself into a hospital was met with bipartisan praise. Far right politicians from Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas to fellow Pennsylvania centrist representative, Susan Wild, to New York left-wing congressmen Richie Torres lavished support on the senator for publicly disclosing and confronting...
Dr. Val Arkoosh: DHS needs help to prepare Pennsylvanians for Medicaid changes
As a doctor, I know firsthand the importance of having quality, affordable, consistent health care coverage in order to be healthy and thrive. Everyone deserves the dignity and peace of mind of knowing they can see a doctor they trust, or get essential preventive care like cancer screenings for themselves...
David P. Hardy: Where is all the education money going?
State and national media are spotlighting Pennsylvania’s education funding system in the wake of a long-awaited Commonwealth Court decision. While the court did not issue a specific remedy, it acknowledged failures within the state’s education funding system. The court called for reforms that give all our students a meaningful opportunity...
Alison Dagnes: Misperceptions of Pa.’s college students
Misunderstandings about college students run deep and tend to be alleged with sweeping generalizations. Those on the right boost the perception that college students are lazy elites who occasionally get out of bed to do drugs and yell about insufficiently woke Republicans. Those on the left reinforce the belief that...
Mikhail Alexseev: Biden’s visit to Ukraine should put Putin on notice
For almost a year now, my former homeland has been under a brutal attack. But even as Russia keeps hammering at Ukraine, hope has sprung up, too. Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians, and tens of thousands of foreigners, have come forward to defend the nation. More than 50 countries are...
Jim Warren: Putin disinformation machine is unrelenting toward Ukraine a year after invasion
No sooner had President Joe Biden arrived in Ukraine on Monday than the Russian state news agency Tass berated the surprise visit to “his ward Zelenskyy” and warned that Ukraine leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy will meet the same fate as others “who have sold their souls to the Americans.” “Damned by...
Michael W. Carroll: Supreme Court unlikely to ‘break internet’ over Google, Twitter cases — rather, it is approaching with caution
“These are not, like, the nine greatest experts on the internet,” noted Justice Elena Kagan — a reference to herself and fellow colleagues on the Supreme Court. Depsite this, the justices are being asked to negotiate complex arguments that could have wide implications for online providers and ultimately everyone who...
David Kennedy: Pa. has a growing crisis in recruitment, retention of police officers
As Pennsylvania families gather around their dinner tables, I hope they’ll say a small prayer for the three Pennsylvania police officers we’ve already lost this year: Brackenridge Police Chief Justin McIntire, McKeesport Police Officer Sean Sluganski and Temple University Officer Christopher Fitzgerald. McIntire, Sluganski and Fitzgerald made the ultimate sacrifice....
Peter Morici: What America needs to hear from Ron DeSantis
American presidential politics needs a shake-up. Enter Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Democrats are nervous about President Biden’s age, but judging by the State of the Union address, he’s running for a second term. Former President Donald Trump remains viable among Republican voters, partly because DeSantis is not well known enough...
Eugene DePasquale and Kate Harper: Common-sense energy policy bridges political divide
“The people chose divided government” is a common refrain in Harrisburg and Washington that too often misses the mark. In truth, the people chose their leaders — from both major parties — to govern Pennsylvania and the United States because they believe they can get things done. They weren’t choosing...
Maggie Rose Macar: Layoff, and off, and off — major tech job cuts and the ‘recession’
There’s no way to say it nicely, so I’ll rip it off like a proverbial Band-Aid — layoffs, especially in the tech sector, are rampant. Hundreds of companies, many of whom originated in Silicon Valley, are cutting jobs at an alarming clip. Strangely, these layoffs happen at a time when...
Timothy J. Kunselman: Wanted — serious people for leadership positions
As we contemplate the end of a glorious life on earth for former President Jimmy Carter, whose greatest achievements perhap came after his presidency, a stark contrast is obvious between past leaders of character and present leaders who are characters. It’s painfully obvious who they are, and the danger to...
Jonathan Bernstein: Republicans aren’t just thinking about Trump and DeSantis
The Republican presidential nomination is up for grabs. Given his enduring popularity with GOP voters, former President Donald Trump remains the front-runner. While he has yet to formally join the race, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has been cast as his principal opponent for the Republican nomination. In past elections, the...
Pete Shelly: So-called ‘skill games’ drain millions from senior programs
We all know the phrase from Pennsylvania Lottery commercials: “… benefits older Pennsylvanians.” But many people don’t realize just how important lottery proceeds are to charities and nonprofits across the commonwealth, and how many seniors rely on the services those organizations provide. Our lottery remains the only state lottery that...
Salewa Ogunmefun: It’s time to fix Pa.’s laws to make voting easier
In Pennsylvania’s first general election held using new legislative maps that are the most fair and inclusive in the history of the commonwealth, we saw historic gains in BIPOC communities statewide having the opportunity to elect the candidates of their choosing. Now this new crop of legislators has the opportunity...
Austin Sarat: Prisoners donating organs to get time off raises thorny ethical questions
In January 2023 two Democratic representatives, Judith Garcia and Carlos Gonzalez, proposed a bill that would offer prisoners in Massachusetts a new way to win reduction in their sentences: by donating their bone marrow or vital organs. The bill stated that the commissioner of the Department of Corrections should establish...
Brian Lawrence: Blight is a wicked problem
Regarding the editorial “Addressing blight requires planning and action” (Feb. 7, TribLIVE): The roots of blight are nuanced, varied and complex. Systemic factors like abuse of the federal tax code and individual factors, like the death of a loved one, contribute to the problem. Compounding the issue, 40,000 fewer people...
Jane Hoffman: With Big Tech making billions off our personal data, it’s time for the U.S. to pull in the reins
Every day, the $6.7 trillion Big Tech industry affects our lives in ways that empower and harm. Despite recent hits in earnings, current layoffs and Google getting slapped with yet another lawsuit from the Justice Department, the tech giants are still all-powerful in our society, economy and daily lives. These...
Elwood Watson: Underestimate Biden at your own political peril
Let’s face it, when Fox News gives a Democrat a B+, you know he or she really delivered an exceptional performance. That was the grade the rabidly right-wing media network gave President Biden on his State of the Union address. As someone who usually doesn’t watch these annual speeches to...
Makenzie White: Yukon hazardous waste facility expansion concerning for public health
In South Huntingdon Township — five miles west of New Stanton and overlooking the community of Yukon — MAX Environmental Technologies Inc. is applying to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) for the approval of a landfill expansion called Landfill No. 7. The facility accepts a variety of hazardous...
Cal Thomas: Monitoring the foreigners buying our farmland
While the military is focused on foreign objects flying over American and Canadian territory, a more disturbing threat to our national security is occurring on the ground. Federal, state and local governments are behind in their response to the acquisition of American land by people and companies associated with the...
Rep. Russ Diamond: Pa. Republicans need a 3-point game
I loved basketball when I was a kid. I spent my free time shooting hoops in my parents’ driveway. I played on my elementary, junior high, freshman and junior varsity teams in school. I got cut from the varsity team in my junior year because despite my love of the...
