Opinion category, Page 250
Anita Prizio: Pennsylvanians deserve bold climate action — and accountability
We don’t need to imagine a future where climate change is devastating our communities — we’re living it right now. Deadly storms in Western Pennsylvania. Hotter and hotter summers. One-in-100-years floods arriving with regularity in Allegheny County. We all deserve to live in a safe climate where our children can...
Letter to the editor: Diversity vs. competence
Diversity? Just about every U.S. college and university now has a “dean of diversity” while our main global rival celebrates competence. Stick a fork in the good ol’ USA — we are cooked! Joe Marmo Cheswick...
Letter to the editor: Trump on Presidential Records Act
The Presidential Records Act states that, the moment the president leaves office, the National Archives shall have custody and control of all presidential records. Nothing in the act states that there should be prolonged talks or a negotiated agreement between a former president and the National Archives over return of...
Lori Falce: The impact of Pittsburgh synagogue shooting remains for all victims
Victim impact statements are an important part of the criminal sentencing process. After guilt has been decided but before a sentence is delivered, there is a period when the depth of the damage is demonstrated via statements — written or read or bravely spoken — by those keenly affected. With...
Laurels & lances: Working together and online fundraising
Laurel: To working smart. Pennsylvania is a checkerboard of municipalities. That board is overlaid with other grids and maps and boundaries, outlining the divisions of authority and responsibility of hundreds of agencies. It’s a layering that can be criticized as unnecessarily complicated and potentially problematic. One of those arenas can...
Letter to the editor: Health-care staffing crisis at jail
Another death occurred at the Allegheny County Jail last month, the 20th death since April 2020. The absence of health care staff is a major reason why the rate of death at our jail is so high. There are 94 vacancies for health care staff. Recently, a job satisfaction survey...
Paul Kengor: Fetterman on Trump’s ceiling
I don’t often agree with John Fetterman, Pennsylvania’s junior Democratic senator, but I found myself nodding vigorously at his recent assessment of Donald Trump’s prospects in Pennsylvania for November 2024. In a respectful, non-snarky, sober analysis, Fetterman responded to a question from The New York Times about whether he believes...
Rep. Chris Deluzio: Derailment rattled region 6 months ago; the fight for accountability, safer freight rail continues
The spotlight on the fiery train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, has dimmed over the past six months, but the fight for accountability and safety continues. Massive railroad corporations’ reckless pursuit of power and profit is nothing new. And without badly needed safety reform, it will be just a waiting...
Greg Fulton: America the Generous
In watching cable news, reading articles on the internet or listening to certain pundits, you might get the impression that Americans are greedy and selfish people. In fact it’s become good sport for the media periodically to highlight a particular “ugly American” who has shown exceptional greed and been uncaring...
Letter to the editor: Books and the sexualization of our children
Regarding the letter “Book-banning futility” (July 23, TribLIVE): Assuming an honest opinion here, not just more leftist hysteria, the letter expressed a concern for sexual material being used in schools. How anyone can defend the sexualization of children in our schools is beyond me. Is this truly necessary? The diatribe...
Letter to the editor: Trump unveiled our country’s corruption
Regarding the letter “Trump should pay the price” (July 25, TribLIVE), I ask the pertinent question: “It’s been almost three years since he’s been out of office; are people not seeing what President Biden and his sycophants have done?” Donald Trump, while crass and arrogant, showed the country just how...
Letter to the editor: Thanks to Biden for honoring Emmett Till
Leave it to a man of compassion, empathy, tolerance and decency like Joe Biden to spearhead the establishment of memorial statues to commemorate the savage murder of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old boy whose “capital crime” was to have allegedly whistled at a white woman. Young Emmett was kidnapped from his...
Jon Pushinsky and M. Jean Clickner: Personal reflections on the impact of the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting
We joined Congregation Dor Hadash as young parents over 30 years ago. We appreciated that the congregation was formed by a group of independent thinkers who were largely raised in the orthodox and conservative Jewish traditions. The congregational founders embraced their Judaism while striving to find new ways of applying...
Editorial: Pittsburgh synagogue verdict shines light on the enigmatic nature of justice
On Oct. 27, 2018, 11 people were killed in the largest, most savage act of antisemitism in American history. Rose Mallinger. Bernice Simon. Sylvan Simon. David Rosenthal. Cecil Rosenthal. Dan Stein. Irving Younger. Dr. Jerry Rabinowitz. Joyce Feinberg. Melvin Wax. Richard Gottfried. They were observant Jews worshipping with their three...
Jonah Goldberg: Can we shift the Republican conviction that only Trump will save them?
”They’re not indicting me, they’re indicting you. I just happen to be standing in the way,” Donald Trump declared (again) in the wake of a new updated federal indictment connected to the classified documents case. The claim is as effective as it is stupid. The federal government is not, in...
Cal Thomas: Look to Coolidge to fix today’s politics
PLYMOUTH NOTCH, VT. — One hundred years ago on Aug. 2, President Warren Harding died and Calvin Coolidge became America’s 30th president. The contrast between the two men is stark. While Harding was extremely popular with voters, later revelations doomed his presidency to the bottom rungs. Scandals included paying hush...
Letter to the editor: Elites, media moving to Newsome?
It looks like the judge in Hunter Biden’s plea deal, Maryellen Noreika, was not paid off and did not rubber-stamp his plea deal, which would have made him immune to future indictments. I think that the Washington elites and the news media dropped Joe Biden like a hot potato and...
Letter to the editor: Back Zappala over Dugan in Allegheny County
Recently, the majority of Democrats in Allegheny County voted for Mike Dugan as the Democratic candidate for district attorney in Allegheny County over Stephen Zappala, a tested Democrat. Do you who voted for Dugan know that he is a George Soros-backed candidate? Do you know what that means? Are you...
Editorial: Workforce development should have broad support
When establishing a business location, there are a number of factors to assess. Does this area have the infrastructure to support the company’s needs? Is there real estate that will accommodate things such as equipment, production and shipping? Is the state and local government supportive of the industry? Will there...
Letter to the editor: Garish billboards deface communities
Crossing the bridge into Tarentum used to be one of life’s simple pleasures, enjoying the topography, gentle town, the steel mill where Dad worked, the majestic Grandview School I attended. But now, the crossing elicits sadness and anger at the garish electronic billboard supplanting the familiar loveliness. Tarentum officials made...
Elwood Watson: Conservatives latest in long line of Barbie critics
Like many material icons, Barbie has had a complex history. When Mattel introduced Barbie to the public in 1959, America was beginning to enter deep into the throes of the Cold War. The modern civil rights movement was beginning to gain steam, and the nation was largely embracing the status...
Sens. Ryan Aument and Anthony Williams: Pa. students are struggling to read; we must help them
It’s time to sound the alarm on early literacy in Pennsylvania. Almost half of fourth-graders across our state are reading below grade level, a challenge that exists in every corner of Pennsylvania — from urban cities to our rural communities. Research consistently has shown early literacy is critical to academic...
Letter to the editor: Thanks to Reschenthaler for commonsense vote
On June 14, the House Appropriations Committee passed a bill that cuts federal spending while supporting critical agricultural research of national interest. As the plant manager for Flexsys’ manufacturing operation in Monongahela, I rarely, if ever, think about government-funded agricultural research. However, this year, I want to publicly praise Rep....
Editorial: Does a billion-dollar lottery jackpot make it hard to play responsibly?
For the second time in two weeks, there is a lottery jackpot topping $1 billion. The Mega Millions drawing will be $1.05 billion. It has grown steadily over 15 weeks, with drawings each Tuesday and Friday, as people pay $2 for each line of numbers printed on a small slip...
Letter to the editor: Bowers’ sanity shouldn’t be issue
As the Robert Bowers trial seemed to be winding up, I kept ruing the fact that I hadn’t composed a letter because I feared it would no longer be topical. I am finally putting pen to paper realizing that, damn, it looks like it might be topical for a while....
