Opinion category, Page 267
Editorial: Why are prisoners escaping county jails?
What’s up with all the prison escapes? Pennsylvania has seen a number of high-profile incidents in 2023 when someone in custody has gotten free and gone on the lam. As of Friday, one was still ongoing. Danelo Cavalcante, 34, is a Brazilian native convicted of murdering his ex-girlfriend. He was...
Letter to the editor: DOJ, FBI influence on election
In 1939, FDR signed the Hatch Act into law. The purpose of the act was to protect federal workers from political influences so they could do their jobs effectively. The act also prohibited all federal employees from engaging in politics while on the job. Certain categories of federal employees are...
Letter to the editor: Biden worse than Trump?
I still haven’t picked myself up off the ground after reading the letter “Trump, Biden, DeSantis, Kennedy all bad candidates” (Aug. 22, TribLIVE). I suggest that Democrats, Republicans and independents all read this letter. And I am certain that the vast majority will have the same chilling reaction that I...
Cal Thomas: Getting the Saudi-Israel formula wrong
If one is mixing chemicals, getting the formula wrong can produce disastrous results. It is the same with international diplomacy. For decades the left was wrong about the Soviet Union and China, believing that what the U.S. did or did not do would have a positive influence on communist dictators...
S.E. Cupp: The Republican Party of lawlessness and disorder
Most Americans will never serve on a jury — in fact most won’t even be summoned. The National Center for State Courts estimates that in any year, only about .09% of the population is called for jury duty, and yet somehow most New Yorkers will tell you they’ve gone at...
Dietram A. Scheufele, Dominique Brossard and Todd Newman: Experts alone can’t handle AI; the public needs a seat at the table
Are democratic societies ready for a future in which AI algorithmically assigns limited supplies of respirators or hospital beds during pandemics? Or one in which AI fuels an arms race between disinformation creation and detection? Or sways court decisions with amicus briefs written to mimic the rhetorical and argumentative styles...
Stacy Garrity: Working to return $4.5 billion in unclaimed property
As state treasurer, one of my top priorities is returning unclaimed property to its rightful owners. Right now, the Pennsylvania Treasury Department is working to return more than $4.5 billion to hardworking people across the commonwealth. In fact, about one in 10 Pennsylvanians has money waiting. I encourage everyone to...
Letter to the editor: A look back at the good old climate days
Every day we hear breathless commentary that one or another weather phenomenon — record heat, cold, tropical storm in California, fires, drought, etc. — have not happened for decades. Eureka! Our government’s efforts to roll back the climate clock is working. Climate czar John Kerry is popping champagne (the good...
Letter to the editor: Let’s solve problems like theft, border
The president and his administration need to prioritize and address problems of this country. They waste time talking about doing away with dishwashers, stoves and other crazy things and yet they ignore important issues. Inflation is costing consumers too much to buy products, and now some costs are being driven...
Lori Falce: Chilly Billy and the real Hollywood scare
For some kids, their childhood heroes were sports figures. For others, they might be actors or pop stars. For me? Well, mine was a local television host. I couldn’t get enough of Bill “Chilly Billy” Cardille. His Saturday night film fest on WPXI wasn’t the beginning of my love affair...
Editorial: Findings, hiring and fighting
Laurel: To finally getting answers. On Tuesday, the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission ruled on the cause of an explosion at a home in Plum. No, it was not the August incident in Rustic Ridge that claimed the lives of six people and destroyed three homes and damaged others. The PUC...
Letter to the editor: Oppose EATS Act, protect animals
The recently introduced Ending Agricultural Trade Suppression (EATS) Act (HR 4417/S 2019) is not only a dangerous step backward for animal welfare, but an unconstitutional affront to states’ rights and American society at large. I urge my fellow Pennsylvanians and animal lovers to speak out against the EATS Act and...
Bruce Cooper and Mark Reynolds: Congress, we have a problem — and it’s time for you to solve it
When it comes to climate change, sometimes it feels like we can’t see the forest for the trees — the smoldering, wildfire-ravaged trees. Public attention has been consumed this summer by shocking climate impacts. Acrid wildfire smoke has blighted skylines and polluted the air in nearly every region of the...
Greg Fulton: Russia’s insidious genocide in Ukraine
The Oxford Dictionary defines genocide as “the deliberate killing of a large number of people from a particular nation or ethnic group with the aim of destroying that nation or group.” Throughout history, the world has been slow to recognize or respond to genocide, and in some cases unwilling to...
Letter to the editor: Why language programs are important
I was saddened to read that West Virginia University is terminating its language program (“West Virginia University would end world language majors, continue Spanish, Chinese instruction,” Aug. 29, TribLIVE). President E. Gordon Gee felt that you could learn the languages with an app. I am a German native and a...
Letter to the editor: Slow climate impact for children’s sake
On Monday, my seventh grader was home from the Pittsburgh Public Schools because of heat. I grew up in Miami, where the classrooms often had no air conditioning, and we never had a heat day. Was there a remote-learning day in Pittsburgh last year because of snow? I don’t remember...
Editorial: Police trust is earned with high expectations
It is critical that people have trust in the police. The relationship between the public and police officers depends on an understanding of best interests. Like child and parent or student and teacher, it is more than just authority. It is a belief in doing the right thing. At least,...
Letter to the editor: Key facts, context on Pitt’s health studies
The recent studies conducted by the University of Pittsburgh, alongside sensationalized headlines, have created unnecessary confusion about the safety of natural gas development (“Fracking study points to health costs,” Aug. 24, TribLIVE). As an industry built on scientific research and facts, let us set the record on the studies’ actual...
Jonah Goldberg: Biden’s age poses a big issue he can’t get around
In December 1998, Rep. Bob Livingston, Republican of Louisiana, was set to succeed Rep. Newt Gingrich as speaker of the House. Gingrich had announced his resignation from Congress and the speakership in the wake of a disastrous midterm election for Republicans as well as revelations that he’d been having an...
Christopher Decker: Jobs are up, wages less so — and lower purchasing power could still lead the US into a recession
Don’t be overly fooled by recent seemingly rosy jobs data. Yes, the U.S. economy added 187,000 jobs in August 2023 — faster than the revised 157,000 increase for July and above most analysts’ expectations for the month. And yes, gains were seen across most industries, with health care and social...
Barry C. Burden: Paper ballots are good, but accurately hand-counting them all is next to impossible
Among people, mostly Republicans, who remain the most suspicious of the 2020 presidential election results, there’s something of a movement to return to the days when election ballots in the United States were counted by hand. One 67,000-person county in Georgia recently required a hand count of all ballots, for...
Letter to the editor: Exposing harm of ECT
I want to alert your readers who may have had the procedure called ECT/electroshock that there is a national product liability suit around ECT devices. One of the experts for plaintiffs in this case is the NFL expert Dr. Bennet Omalu, who identified chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) in NFL head...
Letter to the editor: MAGAs can display their hero’s mug shot
I have been told that there was a time when the walls of coal miners’ patch homes held pictures of two much-admired men of that almost forgotten era. Then-President Franklin D. Roosevelt was one, and United Mine Workers union head John L. Lewis was the other. I never personally saw...
Editorial: Do we need more gator laws?
“Jurassic Park” is a heck of a movie. Indeed, it is a great franchise of movies. Michael Crichton’s bestselling book as the skeleton and Stephen Spielberg’s 1993 blockbuster thriller brought us all face to face — or screen to face — with reptilian claws and teeth. Five more movies followed....
Letter to the editor: Spino deserves vote for Greensburg mayor
Residents of the city of Greensburg will elect a mayor Nov. 7. G. Domenic Spino is running for the position. He is a dedicated, passionate and honest candidate. Dom serves humbly, like his parents. His father, the late Dr. Pascal D. Spino, was just a pure joy to be around....
