Opinion category, Page 52
Letter to the editor: Supporting public education will make US great
School vouchers and cyber charter tuition payments are causing irreparable harm to public schools. They take money away from public schools and funnel it to people who don’t need it. Most surveys show that around two-thirds of voucher money goes to students whose families were already paying for private school....
Joseph Sabino Mistick: Bloomfield gym saving lives for 40 years
Mark “Marco” Machi will tell you that he is the richest man in Pittsburgh. Forty years ago, Marco and his wife Christine, both avid bodybuilders, had a chance to buy an empty industrial building on Liberty Avenue in Bloomfield. The money was going to be tight, but they bet on...
Colin McNickle: How Pa. can best support the AI revolution
It certainly is on its way to become the “it” phrase of 2025: data centers. The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) technology has fueled the rush to build data centers to crunch all the algorithmic permutations that are part and parcel to AI. And all that crunching takes a lot...
Point: Trump’s unconstitutional actions threaten democracy
President Donald Trump is pursuing a path that is actively destabilizing the guardrails of our Constitution. Unless he changes course, our nation — the world’s oldest continuing democracy — risks a crisis where the president is no longer beholden to the rule of law. Americans will suffer the consequences. America’s...
Sounding off: Pirates, politics among week’s topics
Nutting has an obligation to do better A message to Pittsburgh Pirates owner Bob Nutting: Mr. Nutting, as an owner, you have a moral obligation to the fans, the city, the region and the MLB to field a winning team. Reinvest your MLB earnings to pay Paul Skenes real money...
Editorial: Federal disruption response team may be best way to react
This week has been a carousel of action and information for a program that serves low-income youth and young adults. It started when news broke that the U.S. Department of Labor was hitting the pause button on Job Corps. Job Corps provides residential and nonresidential job training and GED programs...
Letter to the editor: Fetterman transformed
Sen. John Fetterman, given his wardrobe and trash talking vocabulary, may appear different, but unfortunately he has proven to fit right in when it comes to those in Congress, who have become a class unto themselves when it comes to pay and benefits. Despite what I see as the rampant...
Letter to the editor: Easy to see where we’re headed with Trump
The letter “Rantings about Trump” (May 15, TribLive) mentioned “deep personal hatred” for President Trump. The hatred is for what he and his propaganda minister Steven Miller are doing to our country and democracy. Let’s talk about rantings. I will stop the war in Ukraine and conflict in Israel in...
Michael Stelzig: Almost there for Nippon Steel-US Steel deal
As a Pittsburgh native, I was relieved to hear that President Trump decided to reconsider the Nippon-U.S. Steel deal he once opposed. No longer subject to election-year politics, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States recently submitted its national security review to the president. On May 30, during...
S.E. Cupp: Trump just can’t deliver on any of his promises
There’s nothing Donald Trump believes in more than his own power of persuasion. From “The Art of the Deal” to Trump Steaks to his foray into politics, Trump’s North Star has always been his confidence that he can convince anyone of anything. Remember, simply by assuming the office of the...
Letter to the editor: Pirates will never get better, ever
Tough loss for the Pirates, but good loss for us. We had started to believe again in the Pirates, and by this we include the team on the field and in the office and the ownership. Yet alas, we had ice water dumped on us again; the reality is the...
Letter to the editor: Protect Medicaid and SNAP
I strongly oppose the current regime’s “Big Beautiful Bill,” which proposes deep cuts to Medicaid and SNAP — programs thousands of our neighbors rely on daily. Roughly 16,000 Butler County residents depend on SNAP to put food on the table. More than 63,000 rely on Medicaid and other public health...
Lori Falce: The bromance is over
In December, as the Biden administration was winding down and the air was thick with plans for the second Donald Trump term in the White House, I asked a question. I looked at the events surrounding the continuing resolution bill making its way through both chambers of Congress with bipartisan...
Laurels & lances: Making changes
Laurel: To a new shepherd. After 18 years leading the Diocese of Pittsburgh, Bishop David Zubik announced his retirement this week. In his place, Pope Leo XIV appointed another Allegheny County native to lead the Catholic flock. The new bishop is Mark A. Eckman, a product of South Hills Catholic...
Letter to the editor: Obesity drug coverage will improve our communities
I am an active member of my community and someone who cares deeply about the health and economic well-being of our communities. I’m writing to urge lawmakers to support Medicaid coverage for GLP-1 medications used to treat obesity. This is not a political issue. It’s about people — working families...
Paul Kengor: Trump’s big deal for steelworkers
It was September 2020. United Steelworkers, the steelworkers union, was aglow — literally — for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. You might recall what I’m talking about. Driving around Pittsburgh, you couldn’t miss it. The steelworkers union — which is to say, the brass that runs the union — had...
Jonah Goldberg: Trump shows that loyalty is all that matters to him
Last week, the Court of International Trade delivered a blow to Donald Trump’s global trade war. It found that the worldwide tariffs Trump unveiled on “Liberation Day” as well his earlier tariffs pretextually aimed at stopping fentanyl coming in from Mexico and Canada (as if) were beyond his authority. The...
Letter to the editor: Bill will hurt those with the least
According to Gov. Josh Shapiro’s post, all Republican U.S. representatives from Pennsylvania, including Guy Reschenthaler, voted (in the dark of night) for a “Big Beautiful Bill” that would have devastating impact on his constituents and our state. At least 140,000 Pennsylvanians would lose access to assistance they need to put...
Letter to the editor: Military parades show insecurity
President Donald Trump’s push for a military parade is not a show of strength; it’s a display of insecurity. Even President Dwight D. Eisenhower, a five-star general and war hero, opposed such parades, saying, “This is what they do in third world countries. Parades are for weak nations trying to...
Editorial: Misidentified patient is a crisis averted
What is an identity crisis? The answers can be varied. Maybe it’s that time in junior high when a kid who loves music and football is trying to figure out if he wants to be on the field for the game or the halftime show. Maybe it’s when a woman...
Letter to the editor: We should thank Musk and Trump
Columnist S.E. Cupp ("Musk’s rise and fall was pitiful and predictable,” May 31, TribLive) fits her usual “take no prisoners” emasculation of politicians she loathes. Most voters believe government spending is excessive. Enter Elon Musk, one of the world’s smartest men. Musk volunteers his time to lead a Department of...
Daniel J. Stone: Biden’s cancer diagnosis should be a teaching moment
Former President Joe Biden’s metastatic cancer diagnosis brings together two controversial issues: PSA testing for prostate cancer and presidential politics. To understand what is at stake Americans need basic information about PSA testing, and a frank discussion of the reasoning behind the prostate cancer screening decisions in the former president’s...
Guy Ciarrocchi: More questions than answers in recent Pa. primary
Even in an off-year primary, Pennsylvania continues to garner the attention of politicians and analysts hoping to understand the state’s political puzzle. Indeed, the recent primary offered insights into trends while also highlighting battles between woke and old-guard factions of the Democratic Party in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. Is Pennsylvania now...
Letter to the editor: Stop water pollution at the source
The EPA’s announcement of nearly $1 million in beach monitoring grants for Mid-Atlantic states, including $216,000 for Pennsylvania, is a step in the right direction — but hardly a solution. Testing beach water for bacteria like E. coli is important, but these grants don’t fix what causes the problem in...
Letter to the editor: Big beautiful bill would harm many
Take a good look around your community. Right now, there are American families in harm’s way if President Trump’s “Big, Beautiful bill” passes the Senate. The most vulnerable members of our community — children, veterans, seniors and people with disabilities — will lose lifesaving services. The package includes austere measures...
