Opinion category, Page 200
Laurels & lances: Cooperation and cruelty
Laurel: To cooperation. Many state and local leaders will note that Pennsylvania’s overlapping jurisdictions and duplication of services can cause a lot of headaches. Do we need 500 school districts in 67 counties? Then there are the concentric circles of municipalities that can be contained within other municipalities like a...
Letter to the editor: Authorities like MAWC need greater scrutiny
Why is the headline “Greensburg law firm gets $72K raise for Westmoreland water, sewer advice” (Jan. 17, TribLive) interesting? Not because of the sidebar covering the 9% rate hike for many customers. Also, “interesting” is the wrong word. The right word is “outrage” — actually, it’s a double outrage. The...
Sara Harmouch and Nakissa Jahanbani: How much influence does Iran have over its proxy ‘Axis of Resistance’ — Hezbollah, Hamas and the Houthis?
From attacks by rebels in the Red Sea to raids in northern Israel and the Oct. 7 assault by Hamas, Western analysts have pointed a finger of blame toward Iran. Regardless of how involved Tehran is directly in the planning and carrying out of such incidents, the accusations get at...
Letter to the editor: Trump’s my guy
“Trump’s your guy” (Jan. 15, TribLIVE) made me wonder about the hate in the writer’s heart that prompted him to write such a letter. And to what end? Is he trying to change the minds of those who reveled in the low cost of gasoline and groceries and who were...
Letter to the editor: Dereliction of duty at our border
The writer of the letter “Trump was derelict in his duties regarding Jan. 6” (Jan. 23, TribLive): If we want to honestly talk about dereliction of duty, have you been paying attention to the southern border? That is a true dereliction of duty under President Biden. I will give you...
Letter to the editor: Learn from Hitler’s rise to power
As a lifelong reader of history books, nonfiction, textbooks, “popular” history books and historical fiction, I have learned much, but there are two lessons I continue to encounter: One, there is always more to be added about a history of anything, and two, I can look back into history to...
Editorial: PETA’s annual groundhog swap suggestion
It’s possible the good people at PETA — People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals — have seen the movie “Groundhog Day” one too many times. The Bill Murray classic features a Pittsburgh weatherman who journeys to the frozen hamlet of Punxsutawney for the annual rite where a groundhog emerges...
Letter to the editor: Post-season thoughts on Steelers
In reference to the end of the Pittsburgh Steelers season, the onus has been placed upon the coaches, which is mostly valid. I offer my own thoughts on this matter. Chuck Noll went from the basement to NFL history. He demanded discipline. He drafted the best athletes, not necessarily the...
Jonah Goldberg: Vague laws hand extreme power to courts and bureaucrats. Where’s Congress?
The Supreme Court heard oral arguments last week in a case about fishing boats, and it could spell the end of government as we know it. I hope it does. The legal questions might not be all that fascinating. What is fascinating, however, is how the legal issues help explain...
Edward Timmons: Cutting red tape will help nurse practitioners fill gaps in care in Pa.
Long wait times and long commutes to get access to health care have become commonplace in Western Pennsylvania . I always hesitated to cancel an appointment when I lived in Pennsylvania. I knew it was likely I would need to wait several more weeks or months to get rescheduled. Fortunately,...
Letter to the editor: Advocating for Kiski Valley
It appears that, for many years, industry has bypassed the Kiski Valley area. About a year ago, I heard about steel manufacturing via new arc furnaces coming to the Little Rock, Ark., area, providing hundreds of new jobs. There seems to be no advocates for our area. The Kiski Valley...
Letter to the editor: Misplaced priorities on fentanyl, school articles
I read two stories recently in the Jan. 14 Tribune-Review. One was on the front page, and the other was buried on page B7. Vastly different stories that made me wonder about their placement in the paper. The first story was the front-page “Fentanyl’s Fearsome Toll.” Not front-page material, quite...
Editorial: Data is important in Human Services, but so is humanity
Westmoreland County is taking steps to serve people better, and it is doing it by the numbers. The county’s Human Services Department amasses a lot of data from its daily operations. That’s to be expected with the amount of people who pass through its programs. Human Services is an umbrella...
Letter to the editor: Consider candidates’ behavior when voting
I am blessed to be the father of three adult women. We used a logic tool to help us judge our speech. We used the letters T, K and N. Three questions: Is what I am about to say True, is it Kind, and is it Necessary? As a society...
Charles R. Hunt: Why New Hampshire and Iowa don’t make sense as opening rounds of presidential campaigns
Iowa and New Hampshire have long been the first states to hold presidential contests in election years. But should they go first? As a political scientist who studies Congress and elections, I know this largely unquestioned influence of the two states raises serious concerns around fairness, diversity and political representation....
Luke Bernstein: Private companies help keep Pa.’s water safe
Pennsylvania faces a pivotal moment in securing clean, safe and reliable drinking water and wastewater services. Communities across our commonwealth contain pipes that have far outlived their normal service life. Many still contain lead, a known hazard, especially for children. And while many local governments have done a fine job...
Guy Ciarrocchi: Have suburban Pa. voters finally had enough?
Then they came for William Penn. The woke culture that already has targeted George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln has more recently come after William Penn, founder of the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, which he established to foster religious tolerance. Before their plan was derailed by a public outcry, cancel-culture...
Letter to the editor: County tax hike 1 more slap in the face
Wow! A 32.5% property tax hike passed on to Westmoreland County residents a week after county commissioners gave themselves and other elected officials raises. Not a good look. Three days before Christmas, no less. And speaking of elected officials, I bet the public would be interested to know that some...
Letter to the editor: Trump was derelict in his duties regarding Jan. 6
Dereliction of duty is a specific offense and applies to all branches of the military. A service member who is derelict has willfully refused to perform his duties (or follow a given order) or has incapacitated himself in such a way that he cannot perform his duties. Any person who...
Editorial: Another game of chicken as House averts shutdown, for now
With two funding bills passed just under the wire, the House under Speaker Mike Johnson has ensured that the federal government won’t run out of operating funds until … March 1 and March 8, depending on the agency. His right flank, predictably, was not happy. We suppose it’s better than...
Letter to the editor: Why Trump’s ‘our guy’
Unfortunately, we find the letter “Trump’s your guy” (Jan. 15, TribLIVE) riddled with — insert shocked face — misconstrued “facts” and in true leftist form, completely biased. A few examples and some points of our own. President Trump never had a peaceful transfer of power and stood by letting the...
Tom Purcell: Regulating fun is a slippery slope
The city of Toronto is in the news for outlawing sled and toboggan riding on 45 of its hillsides. According to the Toronto Star, the ban has sparked a robust debate about how far government should go to protect people from themselves while they’re having fun. To be sure, tragic...
Matthew Brouillette: Shapiro’s duck-and-dodge 1st year
In the 2004 sports comedy, “Dodgeball,” we learned the five Ds of that sport: “Dodge, duck, dip, dive, and … dodge.” In his first year in office, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro has perfected these five Ds. Campaigning for governor in 2022, Shapiro said that he’d take on big fights and...
Lee Ann Rawlins Williams: Students do better and schools are more stable when teachers get mental health support
When it comes to mental health at school, typically the focus is on helping students, especially as they emerge from the pandemic with heightened levels of anxiety, stress and emotional need. But as school officials seek to put resources toward student well-being, another school population is possibly being overlooked: teachers....
Letter to the editor: Trump’s call for unity rings hollow
After his win in the Iowa Republican caucuses, Donald Trump said with a straight face that it is now time for our people to come together. Does the call for unity include those who oppose him, whom he has characterized as “vermin”; the immigrants who he says are “poisoning the...
