Got to Category

Featured Commentary category, Page 73

Pope Francis, first Latin American pontiff, dies at 88
Madeleine Para: Clean energy transition would break Russia’s geopolitical hold
For years, our planet has been showing us the need to move away from fossil fuels. Extreme weather, driven by excess greenhouse gas emissions, continues to get more frequent and more expensive to recover from. But today, it’s not just the climate pressuring us to get off fossil fuels. Our...
Lena Surzhko Harned: How a cathedral of guns and glory symbolizes Putin’s Russia
A curious new church was dedicated on the outskirts of Moscow in June 2020: The Main Church of the Russian Armed Forces. The massive, khaki-colored cathedral in a military theme park celebrates Russian might. It was originally planned to open on the 75th anniversary of the Soviet Union’s victory over...
Randy Santucci and Dan Davila: Bring back Monday hunting opener
The Pennsylvania Game Commission arbitrarily changed the opening day of deer season, destroying a highly successful 60-year Thanksgiving weekend structure. Moving the opening day from Monday to the Saturday after Thanksgiving revealed a gross lack of knowledge and enormous disregard of the economic benefits linked to hunters. One of the...
Sheldon Jacobson: March Madness and advanced analytics
March Madness begins March 15. Blue-blood programs like Villanova, Duke and Kansas are locks to make the tournament. Mid-majors like Loyola-Chicago and Murray State hope to pull upsets and advance to the second weekend. Virginia Commonwealth and BYU are just hoping for a spot in the Big Dance. College basketball...
Dr. Andrew Smolar: An ode to friendship
When the virus struck, we were terrified. We saw people dying alone on television. Confused about how the virus spread, we washed groceries and hands repeatedly, changed our clothes and immediately modified our work. For me, that meant seeing my patients online. This felt heretical, because I’ve always sat with...
Stephanie Sowl: 3 things that influence college graduates from rural areas to return to their communities
When high-achieving students from rural areas go off to college and graduate, they often choose to live in suburban or urban areas instead rural communities like the ones where they grew up, decades of research have shown. Often they are following the advice of adults — or just deciding on...
Douglas Hannah: How a nondescript box has been saving lives during the pandemic — and revealing the power of grassroots innovation
One afternoon, a dozen Arizona State University students gathered to spend the morning cutting cardboard, taping fans and assembling filters in an effort to build 125 portable air purifiers for local schools. That same morning, staff members at a homeless shelter in Los Angeles were setting up 20 homemade purifiers...
John Metzler: Russia suffers stunning political setback on Ukraine
Russia has suffered a stunning political setback from the United Nations as Vladimir Putin pursues his ruthless attack against Ukraine. The diplomatic rebuff came amid Moscow’s widening military aggression on Ukraine which has created widespread civilian casualties and triggered a tragic refugee exodus from the East European country. In a...
Patrick Cicero and Bill Johnston-Walsh: Best defense against home heating bills is a good offense
With rising oil and gas prices, inflation woes and the ongoing covid-19 pandemic, these winter months are proving difficult for many Pennsylvania families, especially the 50-plus community. That’s why AARP Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania Office of Consumer Advocate recently teamed up for a telephone town hall to answer Pennsylvanians’ questions...
Anaïs Peterson: Fracked Gas in Appalachia won’t help Ukraine, but will hurt our communities
On Feb. 28, president of the Marcellus Shale Coalition David Callahan took to the press to exploit Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as an excuse to advance the coalition’s agenda to increase Appalachian natural gas (aka fracked gas) production, pipelines and exports. In his interview with KDKA, Callahan said “we have...
Joyce Davis: Putin will not stop at destroying Ukraine
We need a global peacekeeping force to stop monsters like Russian President Vladmir Putin. That’s what I told Sharon Reed, morning anchor for the nationally syndicated Black News Channel, last week, as reports emerged that Russia had bombed the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant. Putin is threatening to unleash World War III,...
Sen. Gene Yaw: American energy key to undermining Putin’s war
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s bloody and unhinged campaign to topple a democratic nation once subjugated by the former Soviet Union has resurrected the threat of global conflict from its deep, dark Cold War-era grave. It’s easy to paint the invasion of Ukraine as the delusions of a narcissistic despot desperate...
Cal Thomas: What is America’s foreign policy?
Oh, for the good old days of the Soviet Union. America’s foreign policy and goals were clear then: containment and opposition to communist expansion. Nuclear weapons were a deterrent, but neither side believed the other would use them. Russian President Vladimir Putin has changed the game by threatening to use...
Harry Litman : The consequential — and inconsequential — nomination of Ketanji Brown Jackson
Since Justice Stephen G. Breyer announced his retirement from the Supreme Court, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson assumed the front-runner’s position to replace him. President Joe Biden has named her his nominee, and if confirmed she will become the first Black woman on the court. Jackson, 51, is not the head-and-shoulders...
Presley Gillespie and Bruce Katz: ARP money should go where it’s needed most
The American Rescue Plan Act, signed into law by President Joe Biden March 11, represents a critical commitment to rebuilding the communities harmed by the covid-19 pandemic and is an unprecedented investment in our economy. The $1.9 trillion in federal dollars can be used for purposes as wide ranging as...
Michael Szanto: Russia remains a formidable nuclear threat, even to the U.S.
As is now clearer than ever, the greatest military threat to the United States and its allies in the near future is Russia. Many in the West have long lulled themselves into believing that Russian nuclear weapons somehow do not matter. Nothing could be further from the truth. Over the...
C. Daniel Hassell: Wolf’s strong fiscal management has us poised to deliver for Pa.
It was only two years ago this month that the covid-19 pandemic first reached Pennsylvania and dropped a hammer on the financial health of our commonwealth. By the summer of 2020, what had been a modest surplus of General Fund revenue in February plummeted to become a loss of $3.2...
Dennis Unkovic: Russia breaks yet another link in the supply chain
Russia’s invasion of the Ukraine, along with the immediate tragic consequences and diplomatic crises it is creating, will have long-lasting ripple effects, including further disruptions of the global supply chain. Indeed, if the lessening of the pandemic recently suggested signs of hope, we should now expect things to get worse...
Eric Barron: University innovation, investment keys to Pa. growth
Within the current state budget cycle, governors across the country are investing more heavily in higher education. This is encouraging to those of us who firmly believe that colleges and universities have the power to elevate individuals, as well as society overall. Progress is born from innovative ideas, diverse perspectives...
Rupert Darwell: Standing up to Putin means ditching net-zero
Vladimir Putin’s inflammatory speech, in which he set out his aim to reconstitute the Russian empire and blamed Lenin for its demise, and his decision to back this up with a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, signals the return of geopolitics. Until now, Western leaders have been saying that the biggest...
John Crisp: Ukrainian patriots are fighting for what we believe in
Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine last week happened to coincide with my reading of David McCullough’s Pulitzer Prize-winning biography of Harry S. Truman, our 33rd president. Clearly, Russia has been a problem for a long time. Near the end of World War II, Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill struggled to...
Keith Oldewurtel: Setting record straight on Veolia’s work in Pittsburgh
In response to the outrageous and misguided op-ed “The story of Pittsburgh’s water” by Jennifer Rafanan Kennedy and Taifa Smith Butler “The Story of Pittsburgh’s Water,” Veolia North America would like to state that we wholeheartedly agree with the desire of the authors to put the interests and safety of...
Gene Barr: It’s time U.S. energy policy stops empowering Russia
Russian President Vladimir Putin has plunged Europe into crisis with his invasion of Ukraine. His stated goals are to destabilize the country to bring the nation back under Russia’s control. In response, it’s time we hit Putin where he knows it will hurt — through the energy sector. Unfortunately, there’s...
Rep. Dan Frankel: Bridge collapse symbol of toxic politics, but doesn’t have to be
As political backdrops go, you can’t beat the collapsed Fern Hollow Bridge. Visits from politicians may gloss over the terror and bodily injury endured by people driving and riding over the bridge and the fears of the entire neighborhood as the smell of gas filled the air. They may overlook...
Mark Hendrickson: Inflation — who or what is the culprit?
Inflation — defined herein as a widespread increase in the prices of widely purchased consumer goods – has gotten worse since I commented on it last spring. According to the official Consumer Price Index (CPI), inflation is currently running at 7.5% year over year — the highest since 1982. What...


Editor's Picks

Front Porch Theatricals’ musical ‘Baby’ is a labor of love

Washington townhouse on the market for $1,225,000
Folk legend Bruce Cockburn gives uplifting performance at City Winery
‘Champagne & Chapeaux’: Westmoreland Symphony’s annual soiree for a good cause
Jimmy Stewart’s P-51 Mustang stops in hometown for museum anniversary
More Editor's Picks >