Opinion category
Editorial: Alcoa’s sales for data centers signal new industrial revolution
It can be hard to understand in a world of soda cans and smartphones that there was a time when aluminum was rarer than diamonds. That changed in Southwestern Pennsylvania. It wasn’t that aluminum was scarce in the earth. It was that turning it into usable metal was nearly impossible....
Lori Falce: Constitution Under Construction: 2nd Amendment a study in balanceVideo
Editor’s note: This is the third column in a series exploring the history and legacy of amendments to the U.S. Constitution. In architecture, a keystone is the wedge-shaped stone set at the top of an arch. It is placed last. The stones on either side lean inward, pressing against it....
Laurels & lances: Competition & consequences
Laurel: To bringing home the gold. Having Western Pennsylvania represented in the Olympics is nothing new. There is a long history of athletes from across the region taking up the mantle of Team USA — or showing up for other nations. Pittsburgh Penguins stars such as Mario Lemieux, Sidney Crosby...
S.E. Cupp: For Trump, the State of the Union is delusional
State of the Union speeches haven’t mattered in a while. Even in their heyday, they were only bringing in 60-plus million viewers, and that’s been declining substantially for decades. They rarely result in a post-speech bump for any president, and according to Gallup polling data since 1978, the average change...
Paul Kengor: Maz’s memory — and ours
It was a Thursday afternoon, Oct. 13, 1994, the 3 o’clock hour. I stood aside the bricked remnant of old Forbes Field on the University of Pittsburgh campus next to the law school and “Forbes Quad” building. Inside the latter is the old home plate of Forbes encased in glass. You...
Editorial: The private price of public property
Real estate development would be much easier if everyone could get land for free — or close to it. Of course there are the expenses of design, site work and construction. There may be hurdles for permits and approvals. But the cost of land is often the biggest obstacle. As...
Jonah Goldberg: The world may be done bending to Trump’s will
I might as well say it clearly: I’m for regime change in Iran. The Islamic fanatics who have been running Iran since 1979 are murderers, torturers and exporters of terrorism. They are despised, or at least unwanted, by most Iranians, and the Iranians who get caught expressing their opinions in...
Elan Justice Pavlinich: Shippingport data centers will be financial, health burdens on Beaver County residents
Southwestern Pennsylvania is set to become home to a fleet of massive data centers, seemingly whether residents want it or not. Three new ones just received approval to be built near the old Bruce Mansfield power plant in Shippingport. Some proponents claim that this wave of construction projects will be...
Letter to the editor: Armstrong County leadership must take action for growth
Armstrong County has a real opportunity in front of it — and we cannot afford to let it slip away. The Armstrong County commissioners must take decisive action to support local manufacturing by approving Keystone Opportunity Zone (KOZ) status for a local manufacturer wanting to move forward with its proposed...
Letter to the editor: Congress takes critical step for rare disease families
I know firsthand the uphill battle parents of children with rare diseases face. Finding knowledgeable, compassionate care can feel like navigating an endless maze. Families are often left exhausted and overwhelmed as they search for specialists who understand their child’s condition and can offer real solutions. Each year on the...
Jim Welty: 10 years of U.S. LNG — why Pa. matters more than ever
Ten years ago, few would have predicted that the United States would become the world’s leading exporter of liquified natural gas (LNG). Today, this leadership is not only a reality, but central to global energy security and to the continued expansion of a truly global natural gas market. As energy...
Letter to the editor: VA disability rule unfair
I am writing about the Veterans Affairs interim final rule RIN 2900-AS49, effective Feb. 17, which requires that a disability rating be based on a veteran’s actual, medicated or treated functional impairment, rather than the severity of their condition without treatment. I am a Vietnam veteran with service-connected disabilities, one...
Letter to the editor: Don’t let Pa. become another Minn.
ICE has drawn down its agents in Minnesota but significantly increased its presence in Pennsylvania. Maybe they think they will have better luck in Pennsylvania because we are a purple state. But the issue with ICE is not a blue or red problem; it is a constitutional, law and order...
Editorial: Supreme Court tariff ruling spotlights local government limbo
Tariffs have created economic confusion over the past year. Some don’t really understand what they are or how they impact prices in the U.S. Some support them as an American trade policy even if they do have an impact at home. For many — including government agencies — they have...
Cal Thomas: Trump, insulter in chief
Each time one thinks President Trump has reached the lowest level possible in insulting his enemies, he finds new depths to plunge. Following a 6-3 ruling by the Supreme Court, which included three conservative justices he appointed, the president called the justices “fools,” a “disgrace to the nation” and “unpatriotic.”...
Letter to the editor: Trump, Zeldin should try breathing exhaust fumes
President Trump and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, having revoked scientific findings that CO2 emissions are harmful: Before you go for your next car ride, with the car running, go around to the “exhaust” pipe and take a deep breath. In fact take two, since you don’t think it’s harmful, and...
Letter to the editor: Constituents not earning reelection
I routinely write our congressional representatives. Usually the senators (John Fetterman and Dave McCormick) don’t respond. To be honest, I did get a canned response from McCormick the last time I wrote. But it did not address the subject I questioned; it was a canned response. On the contrary, Congressman...
Rich Harwood: As America turns 250, it’s time to begin again
I know many people are approaching America’s 250th anniversary with a sense of trepidation, even dread. Is there really anything to celebrate given the recent chaos and uncertainty we’ve been experiencing? Is productively reckoning with our history a possibility these days? And how hopeful will we allow ourselves to be...
J. Byron Fleck: Pitt must stop using students, taxpayers as piggy bank for athletics
For years, the University of Pittsburgh has quietly shifted a staggering financial burden onto the backs of its students, their families and Pennsylvania taxpayers. Now, thanks to Pitt’s filings with the commonwealth, the truth is finally undeniable: Pitt has been using tuition, mandatory student fees and state appropriations to cover...
P. Daniel Patterson: After a 32-hour shift in Pittsburgh, I realized EMTs should be napping on the job
At 7 a.m., roughly an hour before the end of my shift as a paramedic in Pittsburgh, my colleague and I were dispatched to a patient who was violently vomiting and not alert. We arrived within 10 minutes, grabbed our gear and approached the front door. While walking up the...
Jason Lias: No politics, just love of country, at Olympics
There was something almost shocking about Jack Hughes after Team USA won Olympic gold. Not the overtime goal. Not the missing teeth. Not even beating a top-tier opponent — which in some circles counts as international diplomacy. Nope. The jaw-dropper was this: “I love the USA. I’m so proud to...
Letter to the editor: Ligonier Country Market must save itself
The Ligonier Country Market’s failure to fulfill the terms of its site lease with the Loyalhanna Watershed Association has the community staple of 50 years teetering on the brink of extinction. Market leadership must stop wasting time attempting to acquire inferior, problematic locations in the 11th hour. Instead, to ensure...
Letter to the editor: ICE in Westmoreland a travesty
Recently the Trib listed a number of Western Pennsylvania communities that have signed agreements of cooperation with ICE. The Westmoreland County sheriff’s office was on that list. Perhaps if Sheriff James Albert had taken time out from his longstanding squabbles about prison transportation to think before signing this shameful document,...
Letter to the editor: Clinton’s ploy to produce new voters
I believe that in 1996, President Clinton knew if the lurid details of the Monica Lewinsky affair were made public, his bid for reelection would be jeopardized — and little did he know that a letter dropped on his desk would change all of that. Father Miguel Vega, a member...
Letter to the editor: Finland, Norway more attractive than U.S.
I’ve often heard President Trump lament that so many of our immigrants are Latinos. “Why not Norway, or Sweden?” he complains. Perhaps the better question is, “Why would anyone want to move here from Norway?” These democratic socialist countries have so much more to offer their people, while here we...
