Opinion category, Page 281
Letter to the editor: World immunization week
World Immunization Week and National Infant Immunization Week, April 24-30 this year, aims to educate the public about why vaccines are necessary for the health of millions of people around the world. For numerous reasons, children and adults miss out on essential vaccines, which increases their risk of contracting preventable...
Tom Purcell: A taxing ‘Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day’
“Junior, this year to prepare for ‘Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day’ I want to teach you about all the taxes that you’ll have to pay as a working adult.” “What are taxes, Dad?” “Taxes are what the government will take out of your paycheck, and will tack...
Letter to the editor: Racially motivated violence must stop
The April 13 shooting of Ralph Yarl in Kansas City, Mo., allegedly by Andrew Lester, is god-awful. It is shocking that some white citizens still view a portion of minority people as a threat to society. Violence like this should not be happening with today’s generation. We all have to...
Letter to the editor: Recycling in Allegheny Township
A small committee of volunteers recruited by the Allegheny Township supervisors has been working to investigate the possibility of recycling in the township. The committee spoke with industry people, went to recycling sites and investigated how nonprofit agencies could help. We also spoke with officials from surrounding communities. We discovered...
Editorial: Revamp laws for legal guardians
Most older people understand, by experience, the adage that “old age doesn’t come alone.” And, as people live longer, old age often comes with a legal guardian. In Pennsylvania, more than 18,000 people are under legal guardianships, and about half are older than 60. Guardians oversee more than $1.7 billion...
Letter to the editor: Founders’ thoughts on guns
Regarding the letter “Thoughts and prayers not enough to stop school shootings”: To think the Founding Fathers didn’t anticipate weapons of the future has no bearing on the Second Amendment. The Founding Fathers put in the Second Amendment to control a tyrannical government should it turn on the populace and...
Editorial cartoons for the week of April 24
Editorial cartoons for the week of April 24....
Mallard Fillmore cartoons for the week of April 24
Mallard Fillmore cartoons for the week of April 24....
Dana Kellerman: It really is the guns
This week, the trial begins for the man accused of shooting and killing 11 people at my Pittsburgh synagogue 4½ years ago. Reports say he was motivated by antisemitism, white supremacist ideology and hatred for immigrants, but what made the attack deadly was the guns. On April 13 of this...
Michelle Lockette: We should not tolerate loss of identity in education
I teach in a district that supports culturally affirming practices, which made it all the more surprising when I was asked to remove the word “identity” from a unit title in a ninth grade course. Even though I was not asked to change the curriculum, I could no longer call...
Anne M. Litz: Celebrating National Library Week
April 23-29 is National Library Week! But maybe you haven’t been to the local library in a while. Quite a while. Your library card expired, say, a couple of decades ago. Maybe you remember having to pay for a card back then. Maybe you’re not “into” books that much. Maybe...
Letter to the editor: Don’t vote for incumbents for Westmoreland County commissioner
No incumbent Westmoreland County commissioners deserve your vote. They are the ones who sent millions of dollars back to the federal government because they could not find the time to figure out how to award the money — money that was needed by small businesses and the needy. No incumbent...
Letter to the editor: Censorship not the way to prioritize students’ well-being
My first Hempfield School Board meeting concerned the policy for challenging school library books. Points from both sides were presented, along with those of a sexual abuse survivor who identified being “triggered” by scenes described in a book. As a licensed counselor and survivor of sexual assault myself, I am...
Letter to the editor: Reasons for Methodist disaffiliation
Regarding Natalie Frydryck’s op-ed “Young Methodists concerned about disaffiliation, too” (April 9, TribLIVE): I’m a member of a former United Methodist church that chose to disaffiliate. I’ve heard and read opinions about the disaffiliation and have not heard one that told the entire truth. Our church chose to join the...
Editorial: The solemn duty of the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting jury
On Monday, the trial of Robert Bowers will begin with jury selection. The 12 people in the jury box — and the alternates who will back them up — will comprise the backbone of one of the most important trials Pittsburgh may ever see. It will decide whether Bowers is...
Letter to the editor: God didn’t give us guns
I’m not opposed to gun ownership, but like an overwhelming majority of Americans I support commonsense gun legislation. Neither the Christian Bible nor the U.S. Constitution forbids reasonable limits on gun ownership. Based on this, I am intrigued by politicians and recent letter-writers who proclaim that unbridled gun ownership is...
Letter to the editor: We’re not ‘good or evil’ based on our political views
A recent letter to the editor claims that America has devolved into a battleground of good vs. evil (“Pick a side, good or evil,” April 10, TribLIVE). The view(s) of the author insinuate that conservatives (Republicans) are good, God-fearing Christian people who know exactly what God wants in our country....
Joseph Sabino Mistick: Will Fox’s big payout bring any changes?
If you were looking for Fox News to beat its chest and say “mea culpa” as part of the settlement last week with Dominion Voting Systems, you were probably disappointed. But for many people, there is some comfort in the $787.5 million that Fox agreed to pay Dominion. Dominion’s lawyers...
Michael Zoosman: The Tree of Life — and a plea for life
Editor’s note: Many family members of victims of the Tree of Life shooting have advocated for prosecutors seeking the death penalty. Robert Bowers faces 63 federal charges in the case; jury selection is scheduled to begin Monday. We, the thousands of members of L’chaim! Jews Against the Death Penalty, are...
Letter to the editor: Girardi for Springdale district judge
As a Springdale resident voting for district judge, I strongly support Michael Girardi. My family has had political ties in the past, and I still have family here. I was born and raised in Springdale and attended Springdale High School, now retired. My father Jack was the chief of police...
Sounding off: Discriminatory church, Narcan, ‘assault weapons,’ climate among week’s topics
Does Catholic Church discriminate, demonize? Regarding the letter “Pick a side, good or evil” (April 10, TribLIVE): How dare the writer declare “you cannot be Catholic and vote Democrat.” Who made him pope? According to him, you can discriminate against God’s children who he made LBGT, and still be Catholic....
Letter to the editor: Celebrate with a meat-free Earth Day
Today, Earth Day, is a good day for a simple action we can take to benefit the planet: going meat-free for the day. The Ecological Society’s academic journal declared “animal agriculture is the leading cause of climate change,” producing 57% of global greenhouse gas emissions, not including deforestation costs. A...
Editorial: Why did Fitzgerald pick Doven-Hallam race for endorsement?
With just over three weeks until the primary elections, Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald weighed in with his first endorsement of 2023. You might think he was prepared to recommend his pick to replace him. Fitzgerald is finishing his third term. He is just the third person to have that...
Letter to the editor: The latest targeting of Trump
During Josef Stalin’s purges of anyone he considered a threat, the ruthless chief of the Soviet secret police, Lavrentiy Beria, stated, “Show me the man, and I’ll show you the crime.” The Democratic Party has been employing this strategy against Donald Trump for over six years. The indictment of Trump...
Gary Franks: The root causes of mass shootings and inner-city homicides
Democrats should stop demagoguing the gun issue on “how” people are dying and focus instead on “why” people are dying. When guns are involved, there is a 84% homicide rate for Black youths under the age of 18, according to a recent Pew Research Center study. The use of guns...
