Featured Commentary category, Page 10
Mikhail Alexseev: Trump’s Russia and Ukraine summits show he can push for peace
By hosting an unprecedented short-notice summit with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and key European leaders last Monday, President Donald Trump significantly raised the prospects for ending Russia’s 3½-year-long war against Ukraine. The vibe at the opening was affable and positive. The participants genuinely looked determined to work out compromises that...
James Stavridis: 10 ways to force Putin back to the bargaining table
Vladimir Putin came to Alaska and got the red-carpet treatment, complete with a fighter-jet flyover and a warm presidential handshake. The state was an ironic location for a summit given Russia’s continuing seller’s remorse over having sold it to America in the mid-19th century. While expectations were low for a...
Dan DeBone: A once-in-a-generation opportunity for Westmoreland County
As many in our business community know, the Westmoreland County Chamber of Commerce recently released the long-awaited feasibility and economic impact study for a hotel and conference center in our region. The results are not just promising — they are transformational. This project stems from a clear message: The loss...
Sen. Devlin Robinson: Standing up for Pittsburgh transit — funding, safety and accountability
Public transit keeps Pittsburgh and Allegheny moving. It gets people to work, to school, to the doctor, and to see family and friends. It keeps our economy running and our neighborhoods connected. In fact, I know firsthand the need for a safe and reliable public transit system because this is...
Panini A. Chowdhury: Community benefits agreement — a path to faster, fairer development
Many of Pittsburgh’s biggest developments are taking far too long to move from vision to reality. The Lower Hill redevelopment, the Bakery Square expansion and the Esplanade riverfront development project are all examples of projects that could be transforming neighborhoods right now but are instead bogged down in prolonged review...
Gustavo Arellano: Can homegrown teens replace immigrant farm labor? In 1965, the U.S. tried
I sank into Randy Carter’s comfy couch, excited to see the Hollywood veteran’s magnum opus. Around the first floor of his Glendale home were framed photos and posters of films the 77-year-old had worked on during his career. “Apocalypse Now.” “The Godfather II.” “The Conversation.” What we were about to...
Idi Utuk: Medicaid is not a luxury, it’s a lifeline
Every time I chased stability to build a future, chronic illness pulled me back into a hospital bed. Sometimes it has been for days, sometimes weeks. My life with sickle cell disease is a relentless cycle of excruciating pain, nerve damage and blood transfusions. I’ve survived two kidney transplants, countless...
Matt K. Lewis: AI will be more disruptive than covid. Which party can seize the moment?
Democrats, bless their hearts, keep trying to figure out the magic formula to stop President Donald Trump. But here’s a cold splash of reality: If Trump’s popularity ever collapses, it will probably be because of something completely beyond their control. In 2020, it wasn’t some brilliant strategy that defeated Trump....
Cal Thomas: Did Trump get rolled in Alaska?
Promising severe consequences if Russian President Vladimir Putin didn’t agree to a ceasefire with Ukraine and then apparently reversing himself is what sends a signal of weakness, not only to Putin, but to the world. On Saturday, Trump posted this on Truth Social: “It was determined by all that the...
Matt Shorraw: Protecting our workers and communities after U.S. Steel Clairton explosion
When an explosion at U.S. Steel’s Clairton Coke Works tore through the quiet summer day last week, it affected every single town along the Monongahela River. For those of us who grew up here, a plant explosion isn’t just news — it’s something we feel in our bones. This was...
Lisa Jarvis: A jump in colon cancer cases could actually be hopeful
New data shows a rise in colon cancer among adults ages 45-49. That’s wonderful news. Celebrating an increase in cancer rates might seem counterintuitive, but it comes amid a push for more screening of adults in this age group. And the result is more tumors are being caught in the...
Counterpoint: Save the summer break
Who can forget George Gershwin’s memorable song “Summertime and the Living is Easy”? Summers meant picnics in the park, vacations, camping, lounging at the pool, jumping in the lake, and reading favorite books. That was then, this is now. Now, we have children attending academically focused summer programs or athletic...
Point: How summer vacation became a burden, not a break
Contrary to a widely held perception, public school summer vacations are not getting shorter. And that’s a shame. Despite some movement toward “balanced schedules” that include more breaks during the school year, summer vacations still average 10 weeks, unchanged from 20 years ago. Trimming back this mind-numbing break would improve...
Kathryn Anne Edwards: Venus Williams exposed all that’s wrong with health insurance
Venus Williams returned to the professional tennis circuit in July with a win in the first round of the DC Open. (She lost in a late round.) In an interview on the court following the match, the 45-year-old made a somewhat surprising admission on why she decided to return to...
Mary McNamara: Disney’s settlement with ‘Mandalorian’ actor Gina Carano isn’t capitulation. Firing her was.
Actress Gina Carano, Lucasfilm and its parent company Walt Disney Co. have settled the federal lawsuit filed in which Carano claimed that, in 2021, she was wrongfully terminated from her role in “The Mandalorian” after she expressed her conservative political views on social media. The settlement details have not been...
Druta Bhatt: Black homeownership still unequal, even when you beat the odds
The American Dream has long promised that homeownership is the gateway to stability, security and wealth. But a newly released report from the Pittsburgh Community Reinvestment Group (PCRG), “Black Homeownership and Wealth Building in Allegheny County,” shows that promise is far from reality — especially for Black residents. After eight...
Salewa Ogunmefun: 60 years after the Voting Rights Act, voting rights under attack
This month we celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, one of the single most influential pieces of legislation in American history. The policy that finally, almost 200 years after our nation’s inception, brought us to the cusp of living up to our founding truth that...
Mark DeSantis: How Pittsburgh’s economic garden can grow
“Do what you can with all you have, wherever you are.” — Theodore Roosevelt I have vivid memories as a 10-year-old helping my Italian-immigrant grandfather in his one-acre garden of tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and I forget what else. I remember the smell of ripe vegetables, soil and how everything seemed...
Cal Thomas: Back to safer schools
As President Trump prepares to head to Alaska to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin to “stop the killing” in Russia and Ukraine, what is being done to stop school shootings in America as millions of children begin returning to their schools this week? In my school days we had...
James Fogarty: Getting to more inclusive and supportive schools for our kids in Pittsburgh
As we look to the future of our city, we all have a responsibility to ask, “how are the children”? Data from 2023-24 shows challenges in our schools: • Few complete post-secondary education: 343 out of 1,614 Pittsburgh Public Schools freshmen in 2014 finished college or trade school by 2024....
Commentary: How postsecondary opportunities for students are changing for the better
Americans are losing faith in higher education. Nearly half of adults believe a college degree is less important to get a well-paying job than it was 20 years ago, and only a quarter believe a four-year degree is a very important part of getting a job that pays well. The...
LZ Granderson: Vance is right to call out warped partisan representation
Believe it or not, Vice President JD Vance has said a number of things over the years that I agree with. For example, when he suggested “the American people will not tolerate another endless war” with regards to sending aid to Ukraine, I felt seen. When Vance told podcaster Theo...
Joanne Kilgour: Allegheny County’s $1 million must jumpstart a bigger housing fix
When it comes to local government, every dollar counts. Smart investments are essential to make precious public resources go further and improve as many lives as possible. The goal is always finding ways to stretch taxpayer dollars while delivering better services and stronger communities. But now, a new budget challenge...
Jamil Bey: Reimagining public safety through planning and evidence-based innovation
For too long, public safety in American cities has been shaped more by tradition, politics and perception than by evidence and innovation. Policing practices often evolved from institutional culture and community expectations — frequently without a strong foundation in research or data. As a result, the science of safety has...
Mary Ellen Klas: The DOJ’s push to collect your data is a fishing expedition
With his approval rating sinking lower and lower, and facing the prospect of losing control of the House to Democrats, President Donald Trump is engaged in an unprecedented attempt to manipulate the midterm elections. He’s now got Attorney General Pam Bondi and the Department of Justice embarking on another insidious...
