Opinion category, Page 237
Letter to the editor: Preparing for winter heating bills
As fall approaches, one of the best weather periods of the year begins. It’s also a reminder to begin preparing for winter heating bills. For families with limited incomes, Pennsylvania’s Responsible Utility Consumer Protection Act (also known as Chapter 14 of the Public Utility Code) can help. Enacted in 2004,...
Editorial: Is the Senate dress code that big a deal?
People in Pennsylvania knew who they were electing to the U.S. Senate in 2022. After a knock-down, drag-out statewide battle that included Republican Dr. Mehmet Oz talking about the price of crudité and then Lt. Gov. John Fetterman trolling him all over social media, Fetterman had a stroke days before...
Elwood Watson: The puppet of the House
Get your popcorn ready, because a gut-wrenching level of drama has gripped the House of Representatives! To quote Democratic minority leader Hakeem Jeffries, “The Republican Party is currently in a civil war.” Last week, Speaker Kevin McCarthy slid over to a lectern and called for an impeachment inquiry into President...
Cal Thomas: Sex and the city, political edition
The Republican Party, the party that for years has styled itself as the party of “family values” and “traditional marriage” has lost all credibility on these issues. Not only do polls show a huge majority of Republicans supporting the thrice-married, serial adulterer Donald Trump, but now three Republican women have...
Letter to the editor: Pittsburgh should be celebrating life
Oh, Pittsburgh City Council! The city authorities who allow our bridges to decay and fall down while protecting cats from declawing is at it again. First, you encourage the shedding of the blood of innocents in the womb, proclaiming Pittsburgh to be a sanctuary for abortion. Now, you welcome the...
Letter to the editor: Why we walk to ‘End Alzheimer’s’
The Alzheimer’s Association Walk to End Alzheimer’s is the world’s largest event to raise awareness and funds for Alzheimer’s care, support and research. Join us for the Pittsburgh Walk to End Alzheimer’s on Oct. 14 at Highmark Stadium as we come together as a community to fight the disease, honor...
Editorial: New Shuman Center plans don’t mean Allegheny County responsibility is over
In August 2021, the Shuman Juvenile Detention Center in Allegheny County closed its doors. It wasn’t just that the county decided to get out of the business of detaining young people who are accused or adjudicated of crimes. The closure was not the county’s idea. It came after the Pennsylvania...
Letter to the editor: Funding our public schools
There are three bills dealing with public school funding that the Pennsylvania Senate must address. Contact Sen. Kim Ward to let her know you support House Bill 1422, the cyber charter reform bill. In 2021-22, these schools pulled $1 billion away from our public school districts. Almost one-half of that...
Tom Purcell: Dressing up for Senate success
I suppose it was just a matter of time before casual dress hit the U.S. Senate. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has told the Senate’s sergeant-at-arms to no longer enforce the hallowed chamber’s informal dress code, which had required senators and their staffers to wear business attire. Schumer’s directive appears...
Commentary: How are Russians overall reacting to the war in Ukraine? With indifference.
“The special military operation in Ukraine unified Russian society. An absolute majority of Russians support the special military operation.” In September, this war propaganda trope will become a part of the official school curriculum in Russia. It will be among many other lies about the war in Ukraine that will...
Erwin Chemerinsky: When is it wrong to urge social media platforms to take down false information?
A recent decision by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit puts in jeopardy one of the few tools that exist to deal with false speech on the internet. The court ruled that the White House, the FBI, the surgeon general’s office and the...
Letter to the editor: Clean energy expansion a Pittsburgh climate win
Clean energy is something that we need more of in Western Pennsylvania. The announcement of the expansion of the Mon Valley Eos Energy facility (“Federal loan to support $500M expansion at Eos Energy’s Mon Valley facility,” Sept. 1, TribLIVE) is a step in the right direction. For too long, the...
Letter to the editor: Boys in girls’ locker rooms
In my letter “Biden’s proposed Title IX changes no way to help children” (April 16, TribLIVE), I wrote of the danger of the Biden administration’s proposed rule change to Title IX. Among other harms, I speculated that it would lead to a mixing of boys in girls’ locker rooms. Unfortunately,...
Letter to the editor: Educational cuts bad for our future
The problem with cuts to education is that you are shorting the future. The future is bright for certain people who possess certain skill sets. If they don’t develop, we as a nation on’t develop. Lost potential leads to decline in the individual and the nation. It’s expensive, yes. But...
Editorial: Dental care would spread more smiles
Fear of visiting the dentist is a long-running trope in American culture, but in terms of maintaining good health, the bigger problem is not having access to dental care. Dental health long has been treated as a separate part of the health care system, even though a large and growing...
Letter to the editor: Dangers of pre-pouring jail medicine
In a recent Allegheny County Jail health care staff survey, there were 10 responses that spoke to the dangers of health care staff being forced to pre-pour medications on a previous shift, which they feel violates licensure and puts the resident at risk. Jeffrey Leonatti, president of Reliant Staff, which...
Editorial cartoons for the week of Sept. 18
Editorial cartoons for the week of Sept. 18....
Mallard Fillmore cartoons for the week of Sept. 18
Mallard Fillmore cartoons for the week of Sept. 18....
Peter Kastor: Hunter Biden joins other presidential children who stained White House reputation
Hunter Biden, the surviving son of President Joe Biden, was indicted Sept. 14 on gun-related charges — facing a possible criminal trial while his father is campaigning for reelection. The charges relate to Hunter’s alleged lying about his drug use when he purchased a gun in 2018. And a conviction...
Letter to the editor: Vote for moderates
Most people are moderate. Most people are in the middle. Agreement is found in the middle among moderates. Only disagreement is found in the extremes. Extremism = repression. Extremism breeds hate. Extremism reflects lost perspective. Extremism eliminates critical thinking. Extremists are not concerned with the greater good. Your vote is...
Letter to the editor: Tax hike and new schools in Latrobe
Alert to those folks who may be planning to reside in the Unity Township/ Latrobe area in the future: The Greater Latrobe School Board is considering building a brand new junior high school which would increase the property tax rate by at least 11 mills (8 mills within the first five years)....
Editorial: Marc Fogel is becoming the forgotten prisoner among Biden administration officials
On Wednesday, the U.S. Ambassador to Russia, Lynne Tracy, visited Paul Whelan, the former U.S. Marine convicted of espionage in 2020 and sentenced to 16 years in prison. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Whelan, who has been in Russian custody since 2018, showed “tremendous courage” and reiterated the often...
Letter to the editor: Hunting in Pittsburgh parks
The City of Pittsburgh recently approved an inhumane plan to kill some of its most gentle and beautiful inhabitants by allowing the cruel bow hunting of deer in Frick and Riverview parks (“Pittsburgh approves limited deer hunting program in city parks,” Sept. 6, TribLIVE). Claims that these native animals, who...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: Yan Carlos Pichardo Cepeda, justice and common sense
If you want to know why some communities are pushing back against progressive criminal justice reformers, consider the case of Yan Carlos Pichardo Cepeda, who was recently arrested and then released by Pittsburgh District Judge Xander Orenstein. At the time this column was filed, Cepeda was “in the wind,” having...
Cal Thomas: The ‘hypocrisy’ label has lost its power
There was a time in bygone America when calling someone a “hypocrite” or claiming they were guilty of hypocrisy was equivalent to branding them with a scarlet letter or the mark of Cain. Today, in an era of opinion polls, trendsetting and ever-shifting political winds, hypocrisy means little to nothing....
