Opinion category, Page 659
Editorial: New heroes arise in pandemic
Hero. A person admired because of courageous acts or selfless endeavors. We all know what a hero is. It’s the firefighter who rescues a kid from a burning building or the soldier who falls on a grenade. It’s a police officer who stops a bank robbery. We recognize the heroes...
Sen. Mike Regan: Covid-19 assistance for law enforcement
Last week, Pennsylvania law enforcement experienced its first loss related to covid-19 with the passing of Lt. James Walker, a 32-year veteran of the Philadelphia Police Department. My heart goes out to Walker’s family and colleagues during this difficult time. Additionally, my mind is on the other 52 Philadelphia officers...
Letter to the editor: What’s happening at Mexico border?
Isn’t it strange that we have not been hearing much about what is going on at our border with Mexico? People from all over the world, including areas where the virus is rampant (including China and Iran), had been entering our southern border. The fact that Mexico has only reported...
Letter to the editor: Trump is protecting our country
In response to Richard P. Davis’ letter “Trump’s inaction on coronavirus” (April 6, TribLIVE): I see your statements as wrong. You have the nerve to say President Trump did nothing until mid-March. You need to find better sources. In January, the president restricted travel from China, and the Democrats called...
Letter to the editor: Trump’s leadership will cost us
For weeks hospitals, doctors, nurses, first responders and caregivers have been clamoring for masks, shields, gowns and other personal protective equipment. Yet, day in and day out at his daily coronavirus press briefings, President Trump has been touting how many “millions and millions” of masks and respirators are being produced...
Letter to the editor: US should make its own necessities
Medical necessity made searching for a drug that was not made in China or a third-world country a yearlong endeavor for me. I was prescribed a name-brand pharmaceutical by my doctor and had it filled at a well-known pharmacy in Greensburg. My medical insurance would only pay for generic. The...
Letter to the editor: Beware government takeover
Although the coronavirus situation must be taken with concern, there is an even greater threat to our country. The declarations of emergencies by federal, state and even some local governments pose a potential takeover of our lives by these entities. I understand the need based on our current system for...
Letter to the editor: Chewing through Tolstoy
As one of the few fortunates to stock up at the local library before they were shuttered due to the coronavirus, I decided to return to reading classic Russian novels. A book I’m currently reading quoted some passages from Tolstoy’s “Anna Karenina,” which I struggled, and failed, to read in...
Colin McNickle: Coronavirus economic damage ‘real and enormous’
A rough estimate of coronavirus-related unemployment levels can be made for the Pittsburgh metro area based on data through the end of March. And it’s quite the sobering picture that’s certain to grow worse, says a scholar at the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy. “The economic deterioration resulting from the...
Michael Bloomberg: To beat global pandemic, empower local leaders
While many Americans are watching the daily news conferences by President Donald Trump and some governors, the action behind the scenes is being led by the elected officials who are closest to the public, and who are directly managing the crisis in their communities: mayors. As we listen to public...
Letter to the editor: Cared for via church’s livestream
On Sunday mornings I feel comforted, loved and cared for by my church, which livestreams worship services. The Lord finds me at home. I don’t feel as if the church is being attacked at all (“Hempfield church pastor apologizes for open services on Sunday,” March 23, TribLIVE). In fact, many...
Letter to the editor: Hempfield property tax late payment relief
In response to the letter “Leaders must act on property tax relief” (April 2, TribLIVE): Hempfield residents will be happy to hear that at our last public township meeting, I requested our solicitor to prepare the appropriate legislation to abate (eliminate) the property tax late payment penalty of 10% until...
Letter to the editor: Westmoreland County, please stay home
Westmoreland County, please help us help you: Please stay home! Please accept this plea from the physicians, nurses and first responders in our county fighting covid-19 on your behalf. We will be OK and we are doing our part, but all of you have a huge influence on how things...
Letter to the editor: Will Constitution survive coronavirus?
The Democrats tried the Russia investigation, impeachment, then Russia a second time. The American people are getting wise to the Democrats’ tricks. They didn’t create the coronavirus, but they will use it to try to win the election in November. This virus has caused panic on Wall Street and an...
Letter to the editor: Trump’s covid-19 response incompetent
History may judge the handling of the covid-19 pandemic as the greatest failure of an American president in modern times. The Trump administration’s failure to heed warnings of a pandemic in early January allowed 70 days to pass before President Trump admitted how serious this crisis is. He attempted to...
Michael Hiltzik: ‘Pharma bro’ Martin Shkreli wants out of prison to find a cure for coronavirus
One little-noticed consequence of the novel coronavirus crisis might be an outbreak of chutzpah. That’s a possible explanation for an audacious request by Martin Shkreli, the notorious “pharma bro” known for jacking up the price of old drugs to which he had acquired the rights, the better to reap profits...
Pat Buchanan: When covid-19 pandemic is over, will we be the same America?
“Depend upon it, sir, when a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully,” Samuel Johnson said. And as it is with men, so it is with nations. Dr. Deborah Birx, White House coronavirus response coordinator, has projected some 100,000 to 200,000 U.S....
Editorial: Passover teaches lessons about coronavirus
Passover will not be dimmed by the coronavirus. It cannot. A holiday that remembers biblical plagues cannot be bullied by a pandemic. Starting Wednesday at sundown, Passover is the eight-day Jewish celebration that commemorates the Hebrew slaves winning their freedom in Egypt. It begins with the Seder. It is an...
Sen. Wayne Fontana: Voting by mail no longer the exception
As this frightening pandemic affects every facet of our lives, more and more citizens are doing what they can to keep safe by staying at home, practicing social distancing and keeping in touch with others as remotely as possible. We don’t know when this nightmare will end, or when we...
Wayne Campbell: Expanding broadband access a moral mandate
The covid-19 pandemic will long be remembered as a time that upended people’s lives and livelihoods and caused too many family tragedies to count. Each day, there is more depressing news about more cases and more deaths. It creates a shadow of doom over our society and world. Many ways...
Letter to the editor: Help our candymakers survive coronavirus
The article “Coronavirus taking big bite out of Easter candy sales for region’s makers” (April 1, TribLIVE) detailed local candy companies’ struggles during this pandemic and how, with Easter sales way down, they fear their companies might not survive. Well, we can do something about that. Let’s all do our...
Letter to the editor: Trump’s inaction on coronavirus
I am enraged to hear our president imply that he is doing a good job since only 100,000 or more American citizens will apparently die from the coronavirus (March 29 news briefing). When he became president in 2017, he was given a pandemic playbook and pandemic director and staff. He...
Letter to the editor: We must fight infectious disease globally
At least one county in West Virginia is trying to prevent people from crossing borders by stopping the sale of liquor to out-of-state residents (“West Virginia county bans liquor sales to out-of-state residents including Pennsylvanians,” April 4, TribLIVE). This may be effective to stop the movement of some people, but...
Letter to the editor: Trump’s swift action saved lives
It’s tough facing daily pandemic questions armed only with spotty data. It’s even tougher when biased media seek to influence rather than inform the public. Has President Trump made mistakes discussing the severity of coronavirus? Sure, just as Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and...
Tom Purcell: Worrying about my not-so-worried parents
My sisters and I worry that our 83-year-old mother and 86-year-old father aren’t nearly as worried about covid-19 as we are. Though this pandemic is as unique as it is unnerving, they tell us they’ve experienced plenty of unnerving events. Born in 1933, in the thick of the Great Depression,...
