Opinion category, Page 297
Gary Franks: We need better handling of Black issues
This is the third time in U.S. history that the “Black issue” is being handled poorly with a serious need for correction. All three instances were caused by greed, ignorance or “because they could.” No one was watching; little oversight. The Civil War is the first and most obvious instance....
Nicholas Dagen Bloom: Why the humble city bus is the key to improving U.S. public transit
Public transit in the U.S. is in a sorry state — aging, underfunded and losing riders, especially since the covid-19 pandemic. Many proposed solutions focus on new technologies, like self-driving cars and flying taxis. But as a researcher in urban policy and planning, I see more near-term promise in a...
Elizabeth Stelle: Tackling poverty in Pa. starts with understanding barriers to prosperity
It’s hard to save money. “I have a daughter that goes to after-school care that I have to pay for,” one Pennsylvania mother said. “I have the gas to get to work. I have to pay fees for the turnpike to get to work. There’s just a lot of cost...
Letter to the editor: Heinz Chapel spire among Overly’s work
Regarding the article “$11.5M preservation of Heinz Memorial Chapel’s spire planned” (Feb. 23, TribLIVE): I think your readers will be interested to learn that the Heinz Chapel spire was built, and possibly designed, by Greensburg’s Overly Manufacturing Co. My recollection is that it was the first of many architectural metal...
Letter to the editor: Where’s our government’s common sense?
I found it interesting that all letters in the Trib on Jan. 31 dealt with the lack of logic and common sense in our government. One letter showed how Westmoreland County plans to spend $3.6 million to build a 12-bed homeless shelter. As the author notes, that’s $300,000 per bed....
Laurels & lances: Birthday, blast off, settlement
Laurel: To a major milestone. In 2023, Westmoreland County marks its 250th year. Commissioners kicked off the yearlong celebration Monday with the sweetest start to a birthday — cupcakes. It is just the beginning of a long list of activities expected in coming months. Among those is a public meeting...
Letter to the editor: Vote out climate change deniers
Over the past 50 years, oil and gas companies have spent a small fortune spreading misinformation to the public about climate change. Not surprisingly, the Republican Party seems to be the only political organization to swallow their lies. In fact, they might be the only governing body in the world...
Paul Kengor: Tightening the noose around Putin
It has been an unhappy birthday celebration for Vladimir Putin’s one-year anniversary of his invasion of Ukraine. Rather than handing the Russian authoritarian a birthday cake at the United Nations last week, the international community slapped him with a condemnation calling for Moscow’s immediate withdrawal from Ukraine. The General Assembly...
Lori Falce: National divorce? Marjorie Taylor Greene has it all wrong
One of my favorite movies as a kid was “The Parent Trap.” Not the Lindsay Lohan one — although that was good, too. No, I was a fan of the old-school Hayley Mills version that came out when my mom was a kid. I found it doubly entertaining because my...
Colin McNickle: Evergreen issues in the coming Allegheny County executive race
The race is on for Allegheny County chief executive (ACE). And a number of evergreen public policy issues — some would argue nagging — should dominate the coming debate, concludes an analysis by the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy. “(W)hile aspects of those issues may have changed, over all there...
Letter to the editor: What would Jesus do?
Jesus was a refugee. Jesus welcomed the stranger. Jesus cared for the poor. Jesus healed the sick. Jesus fed the hungry. Jesus stood for the oppressed. Jesus forgave his debtors. Jesus blessed the meek. Jesus opposed the proud. Jesus loved his enemies. Jesus was anti-racist. Jesus didn’t carry a weapon....
Letter to the editor: Our country is crumbling from within
Thank goodness we have F-22 fighter jets using $400,000 Sidewinder missiles to shoot down a cheap, innocuous hobby balloon. Our circus sideshows have now taken to the skies. But no matter what the distraction, the inevitable collapse of the big-top tent can’t be stopped. No need to worry about China...
Letter to the editor: Commission should help, not hinder, Bushy Run
I am a past president of the Bushy Run Battlefield Heritage Society and have been a volunteer at Bushy Run for many years. During my term as president, the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission tried to close Bushy Run. Thanks to the society members, friends and Sen. Kim Ward, we...
Editorial: Teacher financial aid would fill state education needs
Pennsylvania needs teachers. The U.S. Census Bureau puts the number of children in the state at 20% of its population of 13 million. That’s more than 2.6 million. It has 500 public school districts with more than 3,200 individual schools. That doesn’t include charters, parochial schools, private schools, preschools or...
Jonah Goldberg: How the U.S. can turn China from a foe into a friendly competitor
The House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party held its first hearing this week. In interviews and joint statements Chair Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., and ranking member Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., have made it clear they are determined to make this committee a...
Peter Morici: AI programs like ChatGPT are going to serve us — and that’s the scary part
OpenAI’s ChatGPT3 is impressive and frightening. The artificial intelligence program can write authoritative-sounding scholarly papers, computer code and poetry, and solve math problems — though with some errors. It passed a tough undergraduate microbiology exam. and graduate law and business school exams from the Universities of Minnesota and Pennsylvania. It’s...
Letter to the editor: What Republicans voted against
One hundred percent of Republicans in Congress voted against prosecuting rich tax cheats, cheaper insulin and cheaper prescription drug prices. They voted against cheaper gas, voting rights bills, ending gerrymandering, fighting climate change, the stimulus checks, Roe v. Wade and the child tax credits. How will you vote the next...
Letter to the editor: It’s time to legalize marijuana
Regarding the article “Pa. Department of Health sues to keep medical marijuana program data secret” (Feb. 20, TribLIVE), on Spotlight PA’s open records request about how often physicians approve patients for medical marijuana use: Privacy and transparency often are at odds but don’t have to be. Pittsburgh’s Management Science Associates...
Letter to the editor: Fetterman should be removed from Senate
John Fetterman should be expelled from the Senate. Just look at a short timeline. In October, he tells the audience at the debate with Dr. Mehmet Oz to have a “good night” before it even started. Then we find out he needed a teleprompter. He wins in November and is...
Letter to the editor: Reschenthaler and socialism
I believe, after reading the letter “Does Reschenthaler know what socialism is?” (Feb. 17, TribLIVE), that there is a good reason to perhaps question his ability to represent the people in the area — or any area of the country. If he can’t recognize socialism practices in our own country,...
Editorial: The lessons of Mark Rozzi’s short-lived speakership
Mark Rozzi says he accomplished what he wanted as Pennsylvania’s speaker of the House of Representatives. That would be the two votes he oversaw last week, getting the House to pass its half of legislation that could lead to child sex abuse victims — like Rozzi — having a window...
Letter to the editor: Shapiro must protect RGGI
Pennsylvania recently joined the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a multi-state, bipartisan program to cut carbon pollution coming from power plants. This pollution is a leading contributor to climate change, and Pennsylvania produces more of it than all but four other states in the country. RGGI has been a big...
Letter to the editor: The wealthy do pay more
My thanks to the writer of the letter “The facts on who pays income tax” (Feb. 13, TribLIVE), for supporting my point that roughly 50% of wage earners don’t pay income tax (“What’s ‘fair share’ when it comes to taxes?” Jan. 24, TribLIVE). He correctly pointed out that the writer...
Cal Thomas: On Ukraine — pay any price? Bear any burden?
“…we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and success of liberty.” — John F. Kennedy Inaugural Address, Jan. 20, 1961 Those were simpler, though not less dangerous times. The Soviet Union was seen as America’s No....
Elwood Watson: Depression and the expectations of men
Sen. John Fetterman’s announcement that he has checked himself into a hospital was met with bipartisan praise. Far right politicians from Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas to fellow Pennsylvania centrist representative, Susan Wild, to New York left-wing congressmen Richie Torres lavished support on the senator for publicly disclosing and confronting...
