Opinion category, Page 376
Sheldon Jacobson: NHL general managers should study computer science
Ron Hextall, the Pittsburgh Penguins’ general manager, holds the 21st overall pick in the upcoming National Hockey League entry draft to be held July 7 . This pick gives him the opportunity to add outstanding hockey prospects. Pittsburgh has not been particularly effective with its selections, with 2015 the last...
Sarah Fay: I received 6 psychiatric diagnoses in 25 years. They were a dead end.
The day I sat in my psychiatrist’s windowless office and was told I had bipolar disorder, I’d already been in the mental health system for 25 years. It was my sixth diagnosis. Starting at age 12, I’d also been told I had anorexia, generalized anxiety disorder, major depressive disorder, obsessive-compulsive...
7 letters: Readers sound off on guns, cars, Mastriano and Juneteenth
Bad guys will always get guns In response to recent letters about sensible gun control: Background checks are a must and registration is good, but I’d like to think these writers would agree the evil element can bypass background checks and certainly won’t register illegal firearms. So where does that...
Letter to the editor: Kudos to CMU for honoring Pittsburgh’s Billy Porter
At Carnegie Mellon University’s commencement May 14, Billy Porter and several others were awarded honorary Ph.D.s. Porter also was commencement speaker. What a wonderful choice. He’s a credit to CMU and a treasure for the entire Pittsburgh region. Best speech I ever heard. I was disappointed when he finished; I...
Editorial: Does the primary really have to move?
Every year, the closer we get to the polling stations opening, the more pious the exhortations become. Get out and vote. Do your duty. Show up. You can’t be part of the solution if you aren’t part of the process. The Pennsylvania Legislature has to stop being part of the...
Letter to the editor: Government not doing its job on guns
Why is it OK for the NRA to fight for you to have the right to have a gun, but they can’t give you the OK to buy a gun? Only the government can give you that OK after you pass the “instant gun check.” You either pass or fail....
Letter to the editor: Six-figure salaries don’t belong in Freeport schools
Tom Yerace’s article “Freeport Area property taxes to increase; amount depends on where you live” (June 10, TribLIVE) was very informative. Apparently they decided not to fill six positions that had been costing $900,000. That’s an average salary of $150,000. In an area where you have taxpayers living in $19,000...
Gary Franks: When politics and theater mix, the public loses
Theater — I cannot help but mix a theatrical incident that attempted to portray a narrative meant to hurt one political party. No, not the Jan. 6 congressional hearings. I am referring to the Jussie Smollett saga. You will recall that Smollett was found guilty of orchestrating his own beating....
S.E. Cupp: GOP weaponizes faith; will atheists object?
Back in 2015, I interviewed presidential hopeful and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee for C-SPAN’s “Book TV.” His newest book at the time, “God, Guns, Grits and Gravy” was a chicken-fried paean to all the “Bubbas” of the American heartland. The god-fearing superiority of Bubbaville over the folks in coastal...
Colin McNickle: The school ‘rescue’ dollars boomerang
A third round of government school “emergency relief/rescue” dollars is wending its way to school districts in Pennsylvania and nationwide. Whether it is the final round of funding related to issues wrought by the covid-19 pandemic remains to be seen. But there are critically important questions that still envelop such...
Gabriela Suarez: Kids’ neighborhoods can affect their developing brains, study says
Children growing up in more disadvantaged neighborhoods — meaning those with poor housing quality, more poverty, and lower levels of employment and education — show observable increases in brain activity when viewing emotional faces on a screen, according to our team’s new study. But importantly, we found that this association...
Letter to the editor: Juneteenth explained
There seems to be confusion about the significance of the Juneteenth holiday. Allow me to explain. On July 4, we celebrate Americans not having to pay taxes to England. On June 19, we celebrate that Americans are no longer bought, sold and owned by the people who didn’t want to...
Letter to the editor: Mastriano’s dangerous plans
In his letter “Hit piece on Mastriano yellow journalism” (June 15, TribLIVE), Joe Schmidt said Doug Mastriano, the state’s Republican candidate for governor, is being unfairly attacked by the media because he’s a Christian nationalist. Christian nationalists interviewed in an article that appeared in the Penn Capital Star on May...
Lori Falce: Staking a claim for the word “the”
For years, former president Bill Clinton has been the butt of jokes about his cagey answer in grand jury testimony in which he showed his lawyer stripes and true politician colors by parsing the definition of the verb “to be.” “It depends on what the meaning of the word ‘is’...
Letter to the editor: Media biased against Mastriano
I concur with Joe Schmidt’s excellent letter accusing the Tribune-Review and Associated Press of unprofessional attacks on Sen. Doug (“Hit piece on Mastriano yellow journalism,” June 15, TribLIVE). I cannot understand why anyone in the media, especially a Western Pennsylvania newspaper, would not only be shocked, but legitimately impressed by...
Paul Kengor: Cheaper and saner times, when gas was 33 cents per gallon
My father-in-law (his name is Al) recently handed me something he came across in a box of old stuff. It was a receipt from Wilson’s Pleasant Valley Station, in McMurray dated June 13, 1958. The receipt was signed by Al, a hustling teenage boy working at the gas station. What...
Laurels & lances: Storms, gas and taxes
Laurel: To fast action. The June weather has been wild, with both bouts of high temperatures and strong storms. On Wednesday, a powerful thunderstorm came through Southwestern Pennsylvania, leaving its mark on area communities. West Penn Power reported about 12,500 customers without electricity throughout the region early Thursday. Duquesne Light...
Letter to the editor: Republicans don’t represent working class
Republicans do not represent the working classes. Never. Francois Vukosic Bridgeville...
Letter to the editor: Plan to raise minimum age for guns has flaw
Somewhere in this country there’s an 18-year-old who would really like to have one of those cool high-powered people-killers. Just for self-defense, of course. I know President Biden means well, but, if I was a White House reporter, I would ask him this: What’s to prevent his 21-year-old friend from...
Editorial: Easier teacher certification isn’t the problem
“The teacher shortage is real, large and growing, and worse than we thought.” This quote, from an Economic Policy Institute report titled “The Perfect Storm in the Teacher Labor Market,” is not hyperbole. The most surprising thing about it is how prophetic it is. The report was released in March...
Letter to the editor: Too much importance placed on athletics
The article “Hempfield Area officials get sneak peak of ideas for high school project” (May 27, TribLIVE) reported that the new design could include a new athletic wing. Have nonathletic students been pushed to the back of the school board’s priority list? I believe putting school athletics first has gotten...
Jonah Goldberg: The GOP may win in the midterms, but it can’t hang on to power
For congressional Republicans, the election can’t come soon enough. In the modern era, it’s hard to think of a time when the party out of power had more things going its way. Harry Enten, CNN’s political data analyst, recently noted that, going by the generic ballot, things haven’t looked this...
Kevin Hensil: PASSHE continues system redesign with funding update that supports students, universities
The editorial “Funding formula is PaSSHE pipe dream” (June 20, TribLIVE) is built on a misunderstanding of a new formula to distribute state funds among the state-owned universities. The editorial suggests the formula isn’t viable without an increase in state funding. While the formula and funding are separate issues, to...
Letter to the editor: Higher wages can solve home care worker crisis
It may start with driving your mom to a doctor’s appointment or stopping by to make sure your uncle remembered to take his medication. Support from family is often the first step in keeping aging loved ones independent. However, at some point, the care needs may be more than you...
Rep. Kerry Benninghoff: We need smart policy to bring down inflation, reduce energy costs
The status of our state and national economy is at the forefront of many people’s concerns as they go out to spend their hard-earned money to purchase the necessities of life. As such, a realistic assessment of our economic picture today and tomorrow is crucial to understanding where our priorities...
