Opinion category, Page 307
Letter to the editor: What exactly did Don Lemon mean by women in their ‘prime’?
Regarding the article “Don Lemon to return to ‘CNN This Morning’ after training” (Feb. 21, TribLIVE), about Lemon’s unfortunate comments about former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and women in general: As a woman in her 70s, I was particularly interested in his statement that “A woman is considered to...
Letter to the editor: Ending Pa.’s teacher shortage
The State System of Higher Education’s plan to provide up to $6,500 to students studying education at its 10 universities (“State System universities propose $56.5M in scholarships to ease Pa. teacher shortage,” Feb. 28, TribLIVE) is only a starting point to try to fill the teacher shortage in Pennsylvania. In...
Letter to the editor: UPMC doesn’t seem like a charity
I was excited to see Mayor Ed Gainey’s announcement that the city will be conducting a review of its tax-exempt properties (“Gainey orders review of Pittsburgh’s ‘purely public charities’ to see if they meet tax-exempt requirements” (Jan. 24, TribLIVE). As an employee of our region’s largest nonprofit, I hope the...
Editorial: New rules spell out obvious miss in House ethics
If Pennsylvania legislators ever wonder why they might not be seen as completely trustworthy, they need only to look to their track record of how they govern others versus how they govern themselves. The most infamous example is always the 2005 pay increase — passed at 2 a.m. without any...
Letter to the editor: Bring back the caboose
The Railway Safety Act of 2023 will be introduced in the Senate. It has a provision requiring two “well-trained, two-person crews aboard every train.” The “hot box technology” used every 20 miles on a railroad track is insufficient because it cannot distinguish whether the temperature of a wheel bearing is...
Letter to the editor: Jail staffing crisis affecting mental health services
The National Commission on Correctional Health Care’s recent report on suicide prevention at Allegheny County Jail stated the following: “Staff shortages are a major challenge at the Allegheny County Jail. The jail has 148 health care positions budgeted, 43% of these positions were vacant as of Sept. 19, 2022, 69.5...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: Poland knows about freedom
In the 1950s, the Allegheny County Democratic Party held summer picnics at Pulaski Grove, a long-forgotten wooded patch that carried the name of Casimir Pulaski, a Polish freedom fighter and hero of the American Revolution. The Democratic Party represented everybody, and the picnics were rare and treasured outings for blue-collar...
S.E. Cupp: Can Paul Ryan save what’s left of conservatism?
“Toxic sludge, racism, disinformation and attacks on democracy.” This is how Charlie Sykes, a conservative commentator and editor of The Bulwark, recently described the Fox News diet to his longtime friend — and Fox News board member — former House Speaker Paul Ryan. It was a stunning interview between two...
James Steiner-Dillon: Why can’t Americans agree on, well, nearly anything? Philosophy has some answers.
Does wearing a mask stop the spread of covid-19? Is climate change driven primarily by human-made emissions? With these kinds of issues dividing the public, it sometimes feels as if Americans are losing our ability to agree about basic facts of the world. There have been widespread disagreements about matters...
Art Jipson and Paul J. Becker: 30 years later, Waco siege still resonates — especially among anti-government extremists
It’s been 30 years since the beginning of the Waco siege, the confrontation at a Texas compound that killed around 80 members of the Branch Davidian religious community and four federal agents. Part of the siege’s legacy in popular culture is tied to sensational coverage that has presented the Branch...
Letter to the editor: Death penalty warranted for killers
Regarding the article “Shapiro calls for ban of death penalty in Pennsylvania” (Feb. 16, TribLIVE): Gov. Josh Shapiro must never have lost someone to gun violence. Every life has meaning; when you take a life, your life should not be spared. Why should taxpayers pay for someone who will never...
Sounding off: Shootings, Bushy Run, Fetterman, Ziccarelli among week’s topics
Why can’t we stop the mass shootings? I always read the editorials and letters on the opinion page. The column by Jason Park, “A 3-part strategy to reduce mass shootings” (Feb. 14, TribLIVE), was wonderful. It is indeed a clear and knowledgeable read on the subject and was quite apropos...
Letter to the editor: Burning regulations should be updated
The recent train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, has illuminated the health risks associated with burning polyvinyl chloride. Polyvinyl chloride is a component of plastics manufacturing and an extremely common part of our household waste. According to data from stopburning.org, Pennsylvania is one of 26 states that do not have...
Editorial: Transparency isn’t just valuable for bad government actions
A push for transparency is often associated with something people don’t like or don’t want. Something they would protest. Something that feels like a trick. It shouldn’t be. Transparency is just as important when it is something everyone agrees is the proper course of action. In fact, it might be...
Letter to the editor: Reimagining our food system
Our food system is broken. Giant corporations continue to rake in astronomical profits from industrial livestock, poultry and feed production at the expense of our communities, animals, farmers, workers and the environment. Fortunately, there is a growing movement to steer our food system away from the production of grains to...
Gary Franks: We need better handling of Black issues
This is the third time in U.S. history that the “Black issue” is being handled poorly with a serious need for correction. All three instances were caused by greed, ignorance or “because they could.” No one was watching; little oversight. The Civil War is the first and most obvious instance....
Nicholas Dagen Bloom: Why the humble city bus is the key to improving U.S. public transit
Public transit in the U.S. is in a sorry state — aging, underfunded and losing riders, especially since the covid-19 pandemic. Many proposed solutions focus on new technologies, like self-driving cars and flying taxis. But as a researcher in urban policy and planning, I see more near-term promise in a...
Elizabeth Stelle: Tackling poverty in Pa. starts with understanding barriers to prosperity
It’s hard to save money. “I have a daughter that goes to after-school care that I have to pay for,” one Pennsylvania mother said. “I have the gas to get to work. I have to pay fees for the turnpike to get to work. There’s just a lot of cost...
Letter to the editor: Heinz Chapel spire among Overly’s work
Regarding the article “$11.5M preservation of Heinz Memorial Chapel’s spire planned” (Feb. 23, TribLIVE): I think your readers will be interested to learn that the Heinz Chapel spire was built, and possibly designed, by Greensburg’s Overly Manufacturing Co. My recollection is that it was the first of many architectural metal...
Letter to the editor: Where’s our government’s common sense?
I found it interesting that all letters in the Trib on Jan. 31 dealt with the lack of logic and common sense in our government. One letter showed how Westmoreland County plans to spend $3.6 million to build a 12-bed homeless shelter. As the author notes, that’s $300,000 per bed....
Laurels & lances: Birthday, blast off, settlement
Laurel: To a major milestone. In 2023, Westmoreland County marks its 250th year. Commissioners kicked off the yearlong celebration Monday with the sweetest start to a birthday — cupcakes. It is just the beginning of a long list of activities expected in coming months. Among those is a public meeting...
Letter to the editor: Vote out climate change deniers
Over the past 50 years, oil and gas companies have spent a small fortune spreading misinformation to the public about climate change. Not surprisingly, the Republican Party seems to be the only political organization to swallow their lies. In fact, they might be the only governing body in the world...
Paul Kengor: Tightening the noose around Putin
It has been an unhappy birthday celebration for Vladimir Putin’s one-year anniversary of his invasion of Ukraine. Rather than handing the Russian authoritarian a birthday cake at the United Nations last week, the international community slapped him with a condemnation calling for Moscow’s immediate withdrawal from Ukraine. The General Assembly...
Lori Falce: National divorce? Marjorie Taylor Greene has it all wrong
One of my favorite movies as a kid was “The Parent Trap.” Not the Lindsay Lohan one — although that was good, too. No, I was a fan of the old-school Hayley Mills version that came out when my mom was a kid. I found it doubly entertaining because my...
Colin McNickle: Evergreen issues in the coming Allegheny County executive race
The race is on for Allegheny County chief executive (ACE). And a number of evergreen public policy issues — some would argue nagging — should dominate the coming debate, concludes an analysis by the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy. “(W)hile aspects of those issues may have changed, over all there...
