Opinion category, Page 53
Editorial: Where does Trump stand on coal mining?
President Donald Trump has been adamant in voicing support for coal mining. From his first campaign, he has talked a lot about the importance of the industry as a domestic energy source. There’s also no underestimating the importance of speaking to coal miners when courting votes. While federal statistics tell...
Letter to the editor: Trump-Musk breakup
The breakup was announced on the news. Splitsville for two fine men who took their walk on the wild side and are now sunsetting their moon-age daydream. President Trump and stardust oligarch Elon Musk were a hot item, more so than other freak-offs lately in the news. What was DOGE...
Letter to the editor: Disgusted by Rocky Bleier, Steelers
I’m writing to express my disappointment in and disgust over the display that former Steelers player Rocky Bleier put on for Donald Trump (“Rocky Bleier names Trump ‘honorary Steeler’ during West Mifflin event,” May 30, TribLive). I can only say that Art Rooney must be turning over in his grave....
F.D. Flam: ‘Organs-on-a-chip’ is one of many alternatives to animal testing
There’s one area of surprising agreement in the often adversarial relationship between conservatives and the scientific community: the need to phase out animal testing in biomedical research. The new leaders of both the National Institutes of Health and the Food and Drug Administration have said they plan to reduce their...
Karishma Vaswani: America’s cold shoulder to foreign students is worrying Asia
An Ivy League degree has long been central to the Asian dream — a ticket to success and status. But President Donald Trump’s message to international students is clear: Far fewer of you are welcome. The blunt statement and growing chaos across the university sector has left families wondering if...
Letter to the editor: Prison not right for mentally ill mom
Skye Naggy is and has been diagnosed as being mentally ill. Putting her in prison 10 to 20 years is so wrong (”Mentally ill Greensburg mother to serve prison sentence for daughter’s attempted murder,” May 23, TribLive). She needs to be in a mental hospital where she can get help....
Letter to the editor: Good for science, good for animals
April 2025 marked a historic turning point for science, public health and animal welfare. With the National Institutes of Health and the Food and Drug Administration announcing plans to phase out animal testing in favor of human-based research methods, we are finally moving past a system that has harmed millions...
Editorial: Schools can teach lessons about residential use
Schools are one of those ubiquitous structures that are familiar in every community. Whenever you have kids, you have schools. The evolution of the buildings can be seen in one-room relics, massive brick structures built in the 1930s, the more streamline baby boom buildings, and the newest campuses of recent...
Letter to the editor: 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 now. Build a real team with a...
Cal Thomas: Watch your language — a chronicle of today’s improper English
The beginning of summer offers a columnist the opportunity to address subjects he might avoid the rest of the year because of his focus on domestic and foreign issues. Inattention to proper English seems to be a subject that few are bothering to address. I have been making a list...
Jason W. Park: President Trump vs. President Garber — a game of cat and mouse
Recently, the Trump administration froze over $2.2 billion in grants and contracts from Harvard University, to quash antisemitic and pro-Hamas sympathies, dismantle DEI initiatives, and revoke international student rights. Harvard chose to litigate, and recently, a judge blocked President Trump’s ban on international students, as the legal case heats up....
Letter to the editor: No alcohol in Lower Burrell parks
Thank you to police Chief John Marhefka and Councilman Mike Stanoski for their support of no alcohol in our city parks (“Still no vote on Lower Burrell allowing alcohol at city park events,” May 19, TribLive). It does not matter if other communities allow it in their parks. We all...
Letter to the editor: ‘Resistance’ not helping our country
Whatever it is, I’m against it, I’m not for it. (Groucho Marx song in “Horsefeathers”) A child will use “NO” to assert himself and gain authority. An adult must override the “NO” for the child’s benefit. With maturity the child will learn that “NO” will not get his way, and...
Editorial: Does college still have a purpose in the age of ChatGPT?
For many college students, life is a breeze. Assignments that once demanded days of diligent research can be accomplished in minutes. Polished essays are available, on demand, for any topic under the sun. No need to trudge through Dickens or Demosthenes; all the relevant material can be instantly summarized after...
Letter to the editor: Economy woes will only get worse
Mark Twain, a respected journalist and author, said: “It’s easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled.” Let’s test that. Instead of ALL CAPS social media posts telling you what to think, here are some actual facts for you to decide for yourself how the...
Mallard Fillmore cartoons for the week of June 2
Mallard Fillmore cartoons for the week of June 2....
Editorial cartoons for the week of June 2
Editorial cartoons for the week of June 2....
Samantha ‘Sunshine’ Rave: A daughter’s call to reform a deadly system
My name is Sunshine, and my father, Gary William Miller, died in February 2011 inside Allegheny County Jail. To this day, I still don’t know exactly how or why. No clear explanation. No compassion. No closure. Just silence. Just death. Just another addict written off by a system that punishes...
Letter to the editor: McAtee sentence an affront to justice
To give Regina McAtee a slap on the wrist for her crimes is an affront to justice (”Retired Greensburg cop Regina McAtee sentenced to 36 months’ probation,” May 27, TribLive). She brought drugs to the community that affected the lives of more people than we will ever know, probably including...
Letter to the editor: Public transit critical for the lives of many
Pennsylvania’s elected officials must shift their gaze from international politics and federal problems back to basics, like keeping local public transit healthy. If at the end of June the Legislature approves looming service cuts, fare increases and/or layoffs, it would disrupt the lives of scores of passengers from cities, suburbs...
Editorial: This year is no time for a state budget battle
Pennsylvania Senate President Pro Tempore Kim Ward sounded adamant. “We’re certainly not going to raises taxes,” she said. The Hempfield Republican was speaking at the Westmoreland County Chamber of Commerce “State of the State” breakfast. It was a gathering of government and business leaders, so naturally the topic turned to...
Letter to the editor: Logging could destroy our forests
I am deeply concerned about President Trump’s recent executive orders that significantly expand logging activities in our national forests under the pretext of national security. These directives undermine decades of environmental protections and pose substantial risks to Pennsylvania’s natural heritage, public health and climate resilience. The orders direct federal agencies...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: America’s coming brain drain
Even in the old mill towns where I grew up, we occasionally had a kid go to Harvard or some other Ivy League school. They might catch some good-natured ribbing about suddenly being too good to hang with us — the kind of banter our fathers perfected in the mill...
Solomon D. Stevens: Are Americans fed up with democracy?
Democracy can be exhausting and frustrating, especially representative democracy, which takes the immediate responsibility of ruling out of the hands of ordinary citizens and puts it in the hands of representatives, who govern from far away. Nothing seems to get done. All you hear about is arguing and squabbling. Your...
Clive Crook: US is about to discover if deficits don’t matter
It’s hard to think intelligently about public debt and deficits. The economics of fiscal policy is complicated and defies straightforward prescriptions. What’s most striking about budget-making in Washington today, though, is not that legislators are confused about what good debt-management requires. It’s that they’ve just stopped thinking about it. If...
