Opinion category, Page 504
John Peck: Pre-K investments can keep kids out of prison
With graduation season upon us, we’re reminded how smart, up-front investments in human potential save money on the back end. When we create quality educational opportunities for our children, we invest in the likelihood that our next generation will be successful, contributing members of the community. No one is born...
Adam Marles: Pandemic continues in Pa. nursing homes; funding desperately needed
America is starting to reopen. It’s wonderful to see people reuniting with their loved ones after a year of isolation. Americans are traveling again. Sporting events, like the recent PGA Championship and NBA playoffs, are welcoming crowds. The exuberance at these events is heartwarming and a testament to the miracle...
Letter to the editor: Constitution won’t change, so people must
James Madison, the primary author of our Constitution, said this: “We have staked the whole future of our new nation, not upon the power of government; far from it. We have staked the future of all our political constitutions upon the capacity of each of ourselves to govern ourselves according...
Letter to the editor: Questioning mental health of Trump, Greene
You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows, said a young Bob Dylan. Similarly, I don’t think a Ph.D in psychology is required to recognize that Donald Trump and Marjorie Taylor Greene are deeply disturbed, mentally ill individuals. Even so, 27 mental health professionals published a...
Editorial: No excuse for silence about change at county elections office
The person in charge of Westmoreland County’s elections bureau is out of the office. Kind of. Maybe? It’s hard to tell because no one is talking about what’s going on. The county commissioners met Tuesday as the election board, doing pro forma tasks such as certifying the final numbers for...
Letter to the editor: Biden’s actions are not in line with Catholic faith
Op-ed contributor Gary Scott Smith wants you to believe that “Biden’s faith shapes his politics.” I don’t believe this is true. President Biden’s policies are shaped by his faith in big government and socialism, to be exact. He is Catholic in name only, as he picks and chooses which of...
Rep. Greg Vitali: Environmental protection needs more funding
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection has been woefully underfunded for years. This is primarily due to a Republican-controlled state Legislature that has consistently pushed for DEP budget cuts. Unless Gov. Tom Wolf makes environmental funding a priority in current budget negotiations, the status quo will continue. The commonwealth is...
Jonah Goldberg: Cold War strategies no longer apply with Russia
President Joe Biden and Russian autocrat Vladimir Putin are scheduled to meet today for the first time since Biden was elected president. For many in the foreign policy establishment and diplomatic press corps, this is an exciting opportunity to conjure some Cold War drama. Historically, such summits were major happenings....
Letter to the editor: Jeannette sewage fees out of line
As a resident of Jeannette for many years, I fail to understand why we must pay such exorbitant fees for sewage. Our fees are a flat rate of $165 per quarter, $660 per year regardless of water consumption. Neighboring municipalities’ sewage rates are in line with water consumption. We have...
Letter to the editor: Banish the divisiveness
As I watched Memorial Day celebrations on television, I remembered learning the words to all the military anthems in school music classes. Then the late news came on and brought me back to today’s reality. I’m glad I’m old and lived in a time where there was more honest patriotism...
Editorial: Lower impact fees mean real pain for local governments
Natural gas drilling does not translate to money in the bank for local governments. In 2020, while prices on items such as hand sanitizer and commodities including lumber went through the roof, other numbers dropped through the floor. One of those was natural gas, which hit a low of $1.66...
Letter to the editor: Cashless PNC Park is bad policy
In the middle of May, I took my daughter to watch the Pirates at PNC Park. She loves going to the ballpark and watching the Pirates. Unbeknownst to me, the ballpark had initiated a policy of not accepting cash, but only debit or credit cards. I had brought $120 cash...
Leonard Pitts Jr.: Something is wrong with our tax system
A few words about the makers and the takers. That, as you may recall, was the formulation once favored by Fox “News” and other organs of the political right to describe the dynamic between those at the top of the economic pyramid and those at the bottom. The poor —...
Pat Buchanan: All is hype for Biden-Putin summit
History repeats itself, first as tragedy, then as farce. Karl Marx’s comment came to mind as President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Boris Johnson sought to equate their tete-a-tete at the G7 confab in Cornwall, England, to the Atlantic Charter conference of 80 years ago. Those were historic days, to...
Rich Askey: Say no to largest transfer of taxpayer dollars out of public schools in Pa. history
Every June, Pennsylvania’s educators and parents find themselves in familiar territory — pleading with state lawmakers to increase funding that their public schools desperately need to educate students and keep up with expenses. Still, many school districts find themselves doing more with less year after year as they contend with...
Tierra Bradford: Zappala’s plea deal folly reinforces need for audit of DA’s office
On June 2, news broke that Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen Zappala sent an email to his office prohibiting staff from offering plea deals to the clients of defense attorney Milton Raiford. This email was sent several days after Raiford made remarks, on the record, about how the district attorney’s...
Letter to the editor: Burrell band missed during Memorial Day parade
I want to thank all the spectators who showed up to support our fallen soldiers on Memorial Day at the Lower Burrell parade. This was the largest crowd the VFW Auxiliary has seen in many years. It brought great joy to our veterans and their family members to see the...
Letter to the editor: In defense of D’Souza
Dr. Frank Zalakar’s letter “Dinesh D’Souza’s ‘truth’ ” (May 19, TribLIVE) responding to my letter about fascism being on the left, not right, of the political spectrum merits another rebuttal. His letter attacks Dinesh D’Souza, author of the “The Big Lie,” who I referenced in my earlier letter to back my...
Editorial: Vaccine success depends on keeping track of second-dosers
In boxing, a simple balled-up fist, delivered quick and hard, is the basic blow. But the sport depends on a strategic combination of attacks. The most basic is the one-two punch. It starts with a jab — a quick, straight punch delivered hard and fast like a bullet. That is...
Letter to the editor: EITC critical to parents seeking best schools
We would like to thank lawmakers in the state House and Senate for their continued support of the Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC). Education issues are always complex, and state lawmakers are working hard to improve how we teach children in Pennsylvania. Issues remain, but it’s our hope legislators and...
Tom Purcell: My dad taught me how
Need to learn how to unclog a shower drain, jump-start a car, shave your face without bleeding to death or successfully address dozens of other practical adult daily activities? Rob Kenney offers this kind of basic “dad advice,” and millions are tuning into his YouTube channel “Dad, How Do I?”...
Jason Killmeyer: In preparation for Putin
As a second major ransomware attack in the past month threatened a sensitive node of our supply chain — our food supply — America remains stuck in an old way of thinking. In the late 1990s, we saw the rise of express kidnappings across Latin America, where immediate ransoms were...
Letter to the editor: Ignoring science of abortion
It is commonplace today to demand that we accept the science of covid exposure and vaccination. Yet for the most part, many ignore the science of abortion and fetal development. Scientific progress is changing that debate. At six weeks, the fetal heart pumps blood to its own body and brain....
Editorial: All told, the school year was something amazing
Now that school is over for most kids, it’s finally time to take a good look at the way things went over the past nine months and give out some grades. Not to the students. Their final scores for math and reading and science and history are in. Their tests...
Letter to the editor: Assisting medical marijuana farmers
Pennsylvania has embraced the opportunity to establish an industrial hemp program. The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture has seen a significant increase in the request for new permits; Pennsylvania has been home to 885 hemp-growing permits over a four-year period. Ninety percent of Pennsylvania’s hemp farmers grow hemp for nonpsychoactive cannabinoids,...
