Opinion category, Page 642
Letter to the editor: Why are big stores open, small businesses closed?
Because of the diverse opinions on business closures while we deal with the coronavirus, I believe most of us know that the heart of American industry is small business. Therefore, I call on Gov. Tom Wolf to use a bit of common sense. I simply cannot understand why businesses such...
Letter to the editor: Wolf leaves service industry in dark
Gov. Tom Wolf is expected to veto House Bills 2506 and 2513, which are aimed at getting restaurants and liquor-licensed establishments open and appear to be bipartisan. Will Wolf once again leave the service industry in limbo? A third bill, HB327, which is an attempt to give liquor-licensed establishments the...
Letter to the editor: Social distancing is a dangerous experiment
I believe social distancing is an experiment on our emotional health. Humans need physical contact for our mental health, from babyhood through our adult lives. I fear social distancing will cause increases in spousal and child abuse, suicide, murders and other crimes. When scientists studied babies in Romanian orphanages whose...
Letter to the editor: Thoughts from a front-line cashier
I only wanted to be a cashier. Now I’m deemed essential. So I work, exhausted, on the “front lines,” praying I won’t bring covid-19 home. I only wanted to be a cashier. Now I must enforce social distancing. “Can you please step back?” I only wanted to be a cashier....
Editorial: The uncommon sense of Levin deal
Let’s try this again. Way back in February, Levin Furniture was in danger of closing, but owners of the Art Van Furniture company that purchased it in 2017 said not to worry — everything was “business as usual” and a solution would be found. That solution, as it turned out...
Sen. Vincent Hughes: Republican reopening plan worst kind of politics
In the last few weeks, Pennsylvania Republicans have ramped up the political theatre in a brazen attempt at politicizing the Wolf administration’s response to the coronavirus pandemic. From staged political rallies organized by out-of-state, extreme right-wing agitators to attempts at strong-arming local officials to ignore the governor’s executive order on...
Eric Failing: Private schools should share in CARES Act funding, too
In late March, Congress passed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act. In part, it calls for $13.2 billion to be provided for K-12 education across the country, with an estimated $523.8 million for Pennsylvania, according to the U.S. Department of Education. That money has been earmarked for...
Letter to the editor: How are those on TV getting haircuts?
I, like most people, am becoming a shaggy dog. In watching news programs and political ads, I noticed that none of those people seems to need a haircut. I would really like to know where they are getting hair care. In a short time, I won’t be able to identify...
Letter to the editor: Democratic candidates
Considering the New Jersey Democratic Party once allowed a last-minute substitution on its 2002 Senate ballot because Robert Torricelli was involved in an ethics scandal and trailing badly to Republican Douglas Forrester, does anyone not believe that the Democratic National Committee will attempt the same malarkey due to grave concerns...
Letter to the editor: Taxes on leased vehicles
One of Pennsylvania’s best-kept secrets is a 9% tax on leased vehicles (in some counties it may be 10%). Having leased three vehicles in the last five years, it wasn’t until I returned my Nissan Rogue to the dealership and received a final disposition fee of $395 plus a tax...
Letter to the editor: Appreciating government actions on coronavirus
The run for the White House is sealed. Until coronavirus arrived, things in the government were unsettled. As soon as politicians were aware of its seriousness, they started doing what they had to do. Our country was locked down, then the flow of money began to help with food, business...
Letter to the editor: Leaders, saints during pandemic
To be or not to be, that is the question. This line of Shakespeare is the one that first comes to mind for most people. Prince Hamlet is musing on the comparison between the pain of life and the fear of the uncertainty of death and of possible damnation of...
Letter to the editor: Avoiding some of Pennsylvania’s ‘pain’
Reading Deb Erdley’s article “State lawmakers say there is pain ahead as coronavirus restrictions begin to ease,” the following thoughts came into my mind: Before Pennsylvania politicians inflict any more pain on us in the form of more or higher taxes, they first must sell the turnpike and retail liquor...
Pat Buchanan: Will Americans submit to a second lockdown?
On March 24, President Trump said he wanted the country and the economy “opened up and just raring to go by Easter.” Easter came and went. And Trump was mocked for being aspirational and unrealistic. Yet, with Ascension Thursday at hand, 40 days after Easter, the president seems to have...
Editorial: Fire departments need funds
Everyone needs a helping hand right now. We are worried about getting sick, and we’re worried about the people we love. We are worried about keeping our jobs, and we are worried about paying the bills if we don’t. We’re worried about what happens when we get back out there...
Christine Toretti: Blue-collar workers stepped up for us; let’s step up for them
Pennsylvania manufacturers helped save countless American lives during the coronavirus pandemic — the least we can do in return is to help protect their jobs in the upcoming presidential election. As the coronavirus outbreak spread throughout the world, many health care experts and journalists speculated that the U.S. would not...
Ray Werner: The Depression shaped my generation. But what legacy will we leave?
Like many of us out there, I’m worried about a new Great Depression. And like fewer of us, I was born in the last one — in 1938. My parents, Chuck and Pauline, met and married in 1926. They started their family a year later in Freedom, Beaver County, in...
Letter to the editor: Time to get back to life
Churches, schools, many stores and restaurants, car dealers, liquor stores,barber and beauty shops, and casinos were all closed for two months; there were no weddings or funerals with more than 10 people allowed. As of May 15, some but not all places are allowed to reopen. But life as we...
Letter to the editor: God’s not just in our churches
I was raised to believe God is everywhere. My mother always told me to say my prayers before I went to bed. My father was on his knees before he went to bed. Our home was not a church. You can thank God for your healthy parents or children and...
Letter to the editor: Owning, confronting our racism
Before we offer up our “thoughts and prayers” for Ahmaud Arbery and his family (“Law enforcement ties, long delay complicate Ahmaud Arbery case”), perhaps we should think and pray about the fact that we live in a country where heavily armed white men storm state capitol buildings and are hailed...
Letter to the editor: Preparation key to success of online learning
The current school closures have created many challenges. Fortunately, with proper planning and a willingness to try new things, both students and teachers can succeed. I have been teaching online for almost 18 years. Teaching within the virtual environment has many benefits. Mostly, I enjoy teaching students from all across...
Letter to the editor: Questions about nursing homes
There are a number of extremely pertinent omissions in the article “Long-term care residents, employees to be tested weekly for covid-19, Gov. Wolf says” (May 12, TribLIVE). 1. Pennsylvania Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine’s mother moved out of a personal care facility in January. This move should raise red...
Matthew Fleischer: Georgia’s coronavirus data made reopening look safe. The numbers were a lie
Nothing about the spread of the coronavirus or the nature of the disease suggests that it’s safe to get back to business as usual. And yet “reopen” is the word on almost every American’s lips, despite apocalyptic warnings from public heath experts suggesting that, without an aggressive national public health...
Tom Purcell: Drive-in theaters poised to profit from pandemic
Here’s one covid-19 silver lining: The drive-in theater, a uniquely American creation, is doing booming business again. I’ve long been nostalgic for this wonderful piece of Americana. When I was growing up in the ’70s, my mother and father often packed my five sisters and me into our massive station...
Editorial: Improving essential infrastructure boosts the economy
The Allegheny County Sanitary Authority has gotten the green light for its $2 billion Clean Water Plan — a series of moves including expanding wastewater treatment volume and disinfection capacity as well as repairing and replacing sewer lines, diverting streams and adding pipes, diversion structures and tunnels. The move comes...
