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Pope Francis, first Latin American pontiff, dies at 88
Andrew Cuff: Progressives sacrifice Pittsburgh’s prosperity for activist politics
The Republican National Committee recently narrowed down its list of cities to host the party’s 2024 national convention to two: Milwaukee and Nashville. But the original list from earlier this year included Pittsburgh. What scared the GOP off the Steel City? Considering its outsize role in U.S. politics, Pittsburgh would...
Mark Hendrickson: What is the proper policy response to today’s inflation?
If you get depressed easily, you may wish to skip this op-ed. Our country has suffered inflationary bouts to various degrees throughout our history, with perhaps the most severe having occurred during the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, and the 1970s. Sadly, we have never found a quick, clean way...
Counterpoint: Paying college athletes a bad idea
As March Madness comes to a close, once again we hear that college student athletes are being unfairly “exploited” by being denied salaries for playing sports. Should the NCAA and universities be pressured or forced to change longstanding policy? This notion, while seemingly sensible at first glance, is badly misguided....
Point: Pay college athletes
St. Peter’s University’s run of upsets wasn’t the only storyline from this year’s March Madness tournament. The other is that the Memphis Tigers men’s basketball team is in trouble for allegedly paying its players, in violation of NCAA rules. It is time for the NCAA to do the right thing...
Cal Thomas: JFK, Reagan and Biden
President Biden’s speech from Warsaw Saturday night reminded me of two previous presidents who delivered speeches confronting the autocracy that was then the Soviet Union and is now Russia, led by Vladimir Putin, a man Biden has rightly called a war criminal. On June 26, 1963, President John F. Kennedy...
Joseph Wright: Economic sanctions may make Russians’ lives worse — without stopping Putin’s assault on Ukraine
The economic sanctions levied upon Russia as a consequence of its invasion of Ukraine target the Russian economy and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s closest personal and business associates. The goal is to alter domestic politics within Russia, ultimately stopping Putin’s aggression. Yet our research into how economic sanctions affect the...
Harold Johnson: After 50 years, Vietnam vets still fight for recognition, treatment
Here I sit, a decorated, combat-related disabled American Vietnam veteran, on the annual National Vietnam War Veterans Day — an annual day of recognition of combat service associated with those who bravely and honorably service in the Vietnam War — and wondering why, after nearly 50 years of waiting for...
Ryan Liu: Vaccine hesitancy complicating physicians’ obligation to respect patient autonomy
Sitting barely 6 feet away from me, my patient yelled angrily, his face mask slipping to his upper lip: “No, I will not get vaccinated. And nothing you do or say will change that fact.” He provided no reason for why he was so opposed to the covid-19 vaccine. As...
Rep. Kerry Benninghoff: Pa. should take lead in hitting Russia in its budget
Russia’s unprovoked war against Ukraine has opened the eyes of the world to the true intentions of Russian President Vladimir Putin. It has also demonstrated the economic impact that can be made when democratic nations come together against those who do not share a commitment to national sovereignty and individual...
Greg Fulton: Diversity visa ‘lottery’ shows that we’re all lottery winners
Many of us dream of winning the Powerball or Megamillions jackpots and fantasize what we would do with the money — quit our jobs, travel to foreign places, buy a new car, help out family and friends, support our favorite charities. Few of us, though, realize that we already have...
Kyle Herrig: Blame greed for rising prices
Americans paying more at the grocery store and gas pump are told that supply-chain issues related to the coronavirus pandemic and the Russian war against Ukraine are fully to blame. But, in truth, corporate executives are also exploiting these crises to make record profits and line their pockets. Take the...
John Eckenrode: Staffing at Pa. state prisons creating dangerous conditions
Everywhere you turn, workers are in great demand. From restaurants and retail stores to manufacturing plants and hospitals, employers need more staff to make sure their operations run safely and efficiently. Nowhere is the need for more staff more critical than in our state prisons. Our corrections officers stand between...
Gene Barr: Probation reform a solution to Pa.’s workforce crisis
For over a century the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry has advocated for policies that help make Pennsylvania a first-rate state, attract investment and strengthen our communities. Today, we are focused particularly on policies to address workforce shortages that are holding back our economy and preventing employers from recovering....
Peter Harris: Madeleine Albright saw US as an ‘indispensable nation’ and NATO expansion eastward as essential
Madeleine Albright may have not coined the phrase “indispensable nation,” but she will always be associated with the concept. By the time she became secretary of state in 1997, the United States had become a beached superpower. During the Cold War, its forces had been deployed across the world for...
Jennie Sweet-Cushman: Women are worthy of your votes
This week, America watched while Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson faced the Senate Judiciary Committee’s questioning in a confirmation hearing that could lead to her being named the first Black woman to serve on the Supreme Court of the United States. Jackson brings with her a wealth of judicial experience, having...
Rep. Joanna McClinton: America deserves a high court that reflects the diversity of our people
America deserves a high court that reflects the diversity of our people. It took 148 years for the first African American woman to be elected to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, the esteemed Crystal Bird Fauset. Yet it has taken 232 years to even have a Black woman nominated to...
Rich Askey: Make education a priority in Pa. budget
I have a homework assignment for you. Put 100 people in a room and get 80 of them to agree on something. You’re shaking your head. You’re saying it can’t be done. Yet in a recent poll of public school parents from Hart Research and Lake Research Partners, a remarkable...
Michael Brevda: Pandemic staffing issues cause distress for nursing home residents
When pandemic lockdowns began in March 2020, many nursing homes suffered because of poor staffing. Sadly, both residents and staff were falling sick, some even dying, due to covid-19. Families, previously a source of informal care for residents, could not visit due to in-person restrictions at care facilities. New job...
Paul Petrick: The civil rights legacy of rock ‘n’ roll’s Alan Freed
Where were you in ’52? If among the 25,000 who attended the world’s first rock ‘n’ roll concert 70 years ago this month, you did not hear much music. Rock ‘n’ roll’s official coming-out party on March 21, 1952 at Cleveland Arena ended during the first set. The overflow crowd...
Counterpoint: What comes after Roe?
Roe v. Wade didn’t create abortion, and overturning it won’t stop abortions. In fact, the procedure was practiced regularly — and safely — in America before the country even existed. But Roe isn’t about abortion. It’s also not about religion, morality or saving lives. Plainly, it’s about controlling women. You...
Point: If Roe is overturned, children, women and science will be respected once again
After decades of working to protect children from abortion, pro-lifers have successfully advanced legislation that challenges the bogus legal holding of Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court case that legalized abortion in our country. The challenge comes from a 2018 Mississippi law protecting babies in the womb starting at 15...
Brad Simpson: Sunshine on government keeps you informed
A new Pennsylvania law protects your right to be informed about what issues government officials plan to deliberate or act upon at public meetings. That means you get a heads up that township supervisors might OK a cellphone tower behind your house. Or that the county could raise your taxes....
Paula Knudsen Burke: Sun is shining on Pa. government
Happy Sunshine Week! Wait. What? Last month Punxsutawney Phil emerged and declared six more weeks of winter, so we’re not talking about the weather. Sunshine Week is a annual celebration — this year March 13-19 — aimed at promoting open government. The annual observance was launched in 2005 by the...
Mark Hendrickson: Economic ramifications of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
As the world recoils in dismay and disgust at Russian aggression and grieves for the horrific suffering of the Ukrainian people, many Americans are just beginning to grasp the economic ramifications of this violence. After the devastation of two world wars in the first half of the 20th century, most...
Patricia DeMarco: Energy independence means good union jobs in clean energy
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has renewed calls for energy independence and increased domestic production of oil and gas. However, the call for “energy independence” is nothing more than a distraction, a disinformation campaign propagated by the fossil-fuel industry with the intentions of profiting off this crisis. Despite what they...


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