Opinion category, Page 387
Gabriela Suarez: Kids’ neighborhoods can affect their developing brains, study says
Children growing up in more disadvantaged neighborhoods — meaning those with poor housing quality, more poverty, and lower levels of employment and education — show observable increases in brain activity when viewing emotional faces on a screen, according to our team’s new study. But importantly, we found that this association...
Letter to the editor: Juneteenth explained
There seems to be confusion about the significance of the Juneteenth holiday. Allow me to explain. On July 4, we celebrate Americans not having to pay taxes to England. On June 19, we celebrate that Americans are no longer bought, sold and owned by the people who didn’t want to...
Letter to the editor: Mastriano’s dangerous plans
In his letter “Hit piece on Mastriano yellow journalism” (June 15, TribLIVE), Joe Schmidt said Doug Mastriano, the state’s Republican candidate for governor, is being unfairly attacked by the media because he’s a Christian nationalist. Christian nationalists interviewed in an article that appeared in the Penn Capital Star on May...
Lori Falce: Staking a claim for the word “the”
For years, former president Bill Clinton has been the butt of jokes about his cagey answer in grand jury testimony in which he showed his lawyer stripes and true politician colors by parsing the definition of the verb “to be.” “It depends on what the meaning of the word ‘is’...
Letter to the editor: Media biased against Mastriano
I concur with Joe Schmidt’s excellent letter accusing the Tribune-Review and Associated Press of unprofessional attacks on Sen. Doug (“Hit piece on Mastriano yellow journalism,” June 15, TribLIVE). I cannot understand why anyone in the media, especially a Western Pennsylvania newspaper, would not only be shocked, but legitimately impressed by...
Paul Kengor: Cheaper and saner times, when gas was 33 cents per gallon
My father-in-law (his name is Al) recently handed me something he came across in a box of old stuff. It was a receipt from Wilson’s Pleasant Valley Station, in McMurray dated June 13, 1958. The receipt was signed by Al, a hustling teenage boy working at the gas station. What...
Laurels & lances: Storms, gas and taxes
Laurel: To fast action. The June weather has been wild, with both bouts of high temperatures and strong storms. On Wednesday, a powerful thunderstorm came through Southwestern Pennsylvania, leaving its mark on area communities. West Penn Power reported about 12,500 customers without electricity throughout the region early Thursday. Duquesne Light...
Letter to the editor: Republicans don’t represent working class
Republicans do not represent the working classes. Never. Francois Vukosic Bridgeville...
Letter to the editor: Plan to raise minimum age for guns has flaw
Somewhere in this country there’s an 18-year-old who would really like to have one of those cool high-powered people-killers. Just for self-defense, of course. I know President Biden means well, but, if I was a White House reporter, I would ask him this: What’s to prevent his 21-year-old friend from...
Editorial: Easier teacher certification isn’t the problem
“The teacher shortage is real, large and growing, and worse than we thought.” This quote, from an Economic Policy Institute report titled “The Perfect Storm in the Teacher Labor Market,” is not hyperbole. The most surprising thing about it is how prophetic it is. The report was released in March...
Letter to the editor: Too much importance placed on athletics
The article “Hempfield Area officials get sneak peak of ideas for high school project” (May 27, TribLIVE) reported that the new design could include a new athletic wing. Have nonathletic students been pushed to the back of the school board’s priority list? I believe putting school athletics first has gotten...
Jonah Goldberg: The GOP may win in the midterms, but it can’t hang on to power
For congressional Republicans, the election can’t come soon enough. In the modern era, it’s hard to think of a time when the party out of power had more things going its way. Harry Enten, CNN’s political data analyst, recently noted that, going by the generic ballot, things haven’t looked this...
Kevin Hensil: PASSHE continues system redesign with funding update that supports students, universities
The editorial “Funding formula is PaSSHE pipe dream” (June 20, TribLIVE) is built on a misunderstanding of a new formula to distribute state funds among the state-owned universities. The editorial suggests the formula isn’t viable without an increase in state funding. While the formula and funding are separate issues, to...
Letter to the editor: Higher wages can solve home care worker crisis
It may start with driving your mom to a doctor’s appointment or stopping by to make sure your uncle remembered to take his medication. Support from family is often the first step in keeping aging loved ones independent. However, at some point, the care needs may be more than you...
Rep. Kerry Benninghoff: We need smart policy to bring down inflation, reduce energy costs
The status of our state and national economy is at the forefront of many people’s concerns as they go out to spend their hard-earned money to purchase the necessities of life. As such, a realistic assessment of our economic picture today and tomorrow is crucial to understanding where our priorities...
Letter to the editor: Does Biden want to take away our God-given rights?
A recent speech by the president, who swore under oath at his inauguration to protect and defend the Constitution, now informs us all that none of our rights as defined in the Bill of Rights and the Constitution are absolute. Absolute, to me, means God-given. This means he lied when...
Letter to the editor: Responsibility key to guns and more
I do not hold with taking away guns, but I do think gun laws need changed. It needs to be harder to get a gun of any kind, and we need to shoot the shooter! In Uvalde, Texas, the cowardly police force stood outside while the children were killed. Who...
Letter to the editor: GOP not pro-life
The hypocrisy of the GOP has been of full display over the past weeks of mass shootings. Republicans claim to be the pro-life party and pay lip service to the fact that the Supreme Court is about to begin the process of dismantling Roe v. Wade. However, they approve of...
Letter to the editor: Dairy critical to healthy diet
As a registered dietitian, I am frustrated nutrition misinformation is shared by organizations with agendas based on opinion over scientific evidence. I’m compelled to respond to the letter “Plant-based dairy products better for all” (June 13, TribLIVE). The 2020-25 U.S. Dietary Guidelines for Americans includes low-fat and fat-free dairy (milk,...
Letter to the editor: Can we save both mother and baby?
As the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision day approaches and the plethora of Roe defenses abound in the press, social media and religious circles, let us explore realities about that much referenced exception to preserving innocent life in Judaism — to save the life of the mother. We’ve been told for...
Leonard Pitts Jr.: No reason brown girls can’t save the world
She’s not exactly starving for affirmation. To the contrary, Malala Yousafzai is a global icon. Since 2012 when, as a 15-year-old Pakistani girl, she survived being shot in the head by a Taliban thug, she has met with heads of state, addressed the United Nations and won the Nobel Peace...
David Rotenstein: Preserving Pittsburgh’s history isn’t a morals test
Pittsburgh, like any major city, has its share of historical heroes and villains. Our heroes include Andrew Carnegie, Fred Rogers and August Wilson. The bad guys (and women) include racketeer Tony Grosso and jailbreak accomplice Kate Soffel. Historic preservation is one way that we tell our city’s stories using the...
Richard Krauland: The mathematical truth about climate change
So let’s move on to another extremely important subject in modern society. Climate change was originally known as global warming. But as the real science measurements failed to show the expected rise in global temperatures, the name was changed. But the ferocity of its adherents has not diminished. No doubt,...
Letter to the editor: Man’s disobedience cause of Bible’s most brutal crime
In his letter “Bible really ought to be banned, too” (June 6, TribLIVE), Bruce Braden missed one other horrible, brutal crime in the Bible: A sinless man, Jesus, was beaten to a pulp, mocked, spit on, had his beard pulled out and then was crucified on a cruel cross. The...
Letter to the editor: Raise driving age to 21?
In light of the recent school shootings, there is the Anti-Constitution group that wants to raise the age to buy a rifle to 21. Before you say yes or no, consider this: Between 2014 and 2018, there were 20,626 fatal car crashes from the age group 15-20. How about raising...
