Featured Commentary category
Atom Ariola: We need to stop confusing diplomacy with making ‘deals’
Something strange has happened to the language of politics. Everything is now a “deal.” Not a framework, not an accord, not a negotiated architecture — just a deal. The word appears everywhere, from headlines to cable news chyrons, as if it were the most natural way to describe diplomacy. But...
Jay W. Richards: Why universal basic income is still a bad idea
Elon Musk recently posted a pronouncement on X: “Universal HIGH INCOME via checks issued by the Federal government is the best way to deal with unemployment caused by AI.” Andrew Yang cheered. Sam Altman concurred. Their message: AI is coming for your job, and only the government can save you....
Catherine Thorbecke: AI is coming for our aging parents, ready or not
At first glance, AI companions for lonely seniors can seem dystopian, looking less like innovation than a bleak sign of social failure. Spending a couple days recently in Tokyo nursing homes, I watched plushie robots the size of human babies being handed to aging parents and grandparents, and prototypes of conversational...
Christine Flowers: Pope putting American Catholics in awkward position
I am a bit of a pope groupie. Anything and everything about the Vatican fascinates me. When I studied in Rome back in 1984, I would take the 64 Bus to St. Peter’s Basilica every Wednesday, because that was when Pope John Paul II would be holding his public audiences....
Cal Thomas: Trump at the correspondents’ dinner
The White House Correspondents’ Dinner is usually a predictable affair. Journalists and celebrities gather to reinforce their credentials as powerful insiders who should be the ones running the country. This year’s dinner, to be held tonight in Washington, is likely to be something quite different from previous gatherings of media...
Bill Johnston-Walsh and Dave Sunday: Fraud can happen to anyone. In Pa., we must act together
Fraud is no longer something that happens “to someone else.” It is happening every day — to people of all ages, in every corner of Pennsylvania. And despite growing awareness, far too many of us remain at risk. A new national AARP survey of nearly 1,700 adults confirms what many...
Erica Winger: Union nurses at Magee are elevating women’s and family health
Anyone who has given birth or received other medical care in a hospital knows that time with their nurses is critical. When patients have more time with nurses, they not only get the safest, highest quality care, but are also fully supported emotionally and empowered to make informed decisions. That...
Randi McCray: Democracy isn’t eroding. It’s evolving. The question is: Toward what?
I fell in love with democracy before I fully understood it. In high school civics classes in the 1990s, I learned about a system that was imperfect in its origins but evolving toward something better. I believed in that evolution. I believed that democracy, if nurtured, could become more inclusive...
Bruce Cooper and Charlotte Ward: Planet Earth, we are a crew
What does it take to appreciate this planet we call home? For NASA astronaut Christina Koch, clarity came 252,756 miles from Earth during her Artemis II space mission. Koch shared being awestruck by the beauty of her home planet — and the blackness around it. “It truly emphasized how alike...
Brent Landau: Pa. Constitution is 250 years old — and as relevant as ever
There was a lot happening in Philadelphia in 1776. As Americans, we learn from an early age about the Continental Congress meeting at the Pennsylvania Statehouse — what we now know as Independence Hall — to draft and sign the Declaration of Independence. This led Benjamin Franklin to quip, “We...
Joshua Rothman: Vaccine confusion sets up U.S. for a resurgence of hepatitis B in babies
Measles is back in the United States. More than 1,500 cases have already been reported in the first months of 2026, putting the country on pace to surpass last year’s total of more than 2,200, the highest number in decades. Public health officials warn the nation’s status as “measles free”...
Anita Chabria: Jackie Speier would like her former congressional colleagues to zip up and shape up
It seems like a simple ask that male politicians don’t sexually harass or even rape women, but also, it seems like an open secret in Congress that sexual misconduct is too common. Take Eric Swalwell, whose epic political immolation has captivated the national political news, including a TMZ-obtained video of...
Patrick Range McDonald: Seniors face unfair rents and homelessness. They need rent control
From mobile home parks in Maine to modest apartments in California, seniors desperately need rent control to protect themselves against skyrocketing rents charged by predatory landlords. Our grandparents, parents, aunts and uncles, many of whom live on fixed incomes, face serious, life- altering consequences if politicians don’t protect them. They need...
Christopher Cokinos: Artemis II does for our era what Apollo 8 did for 1968
Millions in the streets. An unpopular war. Violence. And in the middle of all that: a moonshot. The parallels between today and 1968 are eerie. Nearly 60 years ago, civil rights marches and anti-Vietnam-war rallies burst across the country. Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy were assassinated. Police...
Hope Reese: The election that unseated strongman Viktor Orban is the most important I’ve witnessed
Last Sunday night, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán conceded defeat in one of the most important elections I’ve ever witnessed. The right-wing strongman stepped down from power in Hungary after a rule of 16 years — years that spanned the adult lifetime of a generation of young people, who have...
Jay Sefton and Dr. Mark Basquill: Opening a window to protect children
Born, raised and sexually abused by priests in Pennsylvania, we are two licensed mental health professionals with a combined 50 years of experience in the field of psychology. We’re also the co-authors of “Unreconciled,” a solo play about a Pennsylvania survivor of childhood sexual abuse seeking healing and justice. As...
Mary McNamara: Am I the only one who hates delivery robots?
LOS ANGELES When I was a child, I watched “The Jetsons” and “Lost in Space” and imagined my adult self living in a world of high-tech ease: flying cars, self-cleaning rooms, high-speed trains, personal jetpacks and wise-cracking robotic companions capable of solving any problem in a trice. Instead I got...
Lynn Schmidt: Trump’s screed against the pope desecrates our Catholic faith
As an American Catholic who has sat in a church pew my entire life, received the Holy Eucharist, marked more than 50 Lents with ashes and been taught from childhood that the pope is the Vicar of Christ on earth, I never thought I would have to say this: The...
Joe Battenfeld: Kamala Harris teases run with mob boss misfire
Just when you thought Democrats couldn’t sink any lower, along comes retread Kamala Harris to kiss the ring of Al Sharpton and adopt a fake mafia boss accent to tease another presidential run. You can’t make this stuff up. Harris, the failed 2024 White House nominee, said recently she just...
Sara Albrecht: When the government loses in court, but keeps charging anyway
At ports across the United States, something unusual is happening. Thousands of American businesses are now waiting for refunds on tariffs the courts have already ruled unlawful. At the same time, many of those same companies are being asked to pay a new round of tariffs — based on a...
Carrie Sampson: District school boards have become political hotbeds for book bans and more — here’s what they actually do
Election races for local school boards have become hotly contested in many states as they have become forums for debates over gender-identity discussions, immigrant students and even prayer at school events. Liberal candidates largely swept school board elections April 7 in politically contentious districts in Wisconsin, Missouri, Alaska and Oklahoma,...
Panini A. Chowdhury: Pittsburgh can’t subsidize its way to housing affordability
Housing affordability has become the promise of the moment. Every political and social campaign invokes it. Every local, state and federal government budget claim to advance it. But there is a harder question beneath the surface, one that rarely makes it into speeches: What if some of what we do...
Destenie Nock: This summer, your air conditioner is going to compete with a data center
Western Pennsylvania is on the verge of its biggest infrastructure wave since steel. Data center developers have announced billions of dollars in investments in Springdale, Homer City, Shippingport and Upper Burrell. At full build-out, the facilities planned for just three of those sites would consume enough electricity to power nearly...
Kate Harper and Conor Lamb: Our energy future is ‘Made in Pa.’
Pennsylvanians are rightly proud of our rich legacy as one of the nation’s top energy producers. After all, we rank second in the United States for both natural gas production and nuclear energy production. With energy demand reaching record levels, electricity prices climbing at alarming rates, and foreign fuel markets...
Ted Kopas: A sheriff gone rogue — only commissioners sign contracts
Immigration enforcement is a debated topic throughout our nation — and, now, in our own backyard. At issue here is a recent “agreement” between the Westmoreland County’s Sheriff’s Office and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The problem is the sheriff has no legal authority to act on such an...
