Featured Commentary category, Page 114
Kelley McConnell: Covid-19 and the case for cyber charter schools in Pa.
In a July 24 press conference, Gov. Tom Wolf spoke about the rise of enrollment in cyber charter schools due to the covid-19 pandemic. He stated that despite his uncertainty on the “pedagogy” behind online learning, school districts need to ensure that children are able to learn safely and recognized...
Sean O’Leary: No natural gas-driven boom here
When statistics fly in the face of what we see around us, we usually don’t reject the statistics. We just assume we see only a tiny part of a bigger picture and that, in the bigger picture, the statistics are probably true even if they don’t jive with our reality....
Noah Feldman: Amy Coney Barrett deserves to be on Supreme Court
Like many other liberals, I’m devastated by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death, which opened the way for President Donald Trump to nominate a third Supreme Court justice in his first term. And I’m revolted by the hypocrisy of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s willingness to confirm Trump’s nominee after refusing...
Corey O’Connor: Joe Biden will get Western Pa. back to work, and here’s how
Last week, President Trump held a campaign rally at Pittsburgh International Airport. Had he ventured past the airport, he would have met Pittsburghers who have lost jobs, health care and the dignity that comes from a hard day’s work. He likely would have looked in the eyes of people who...
Making clean air a priority in Pittsburgh
Each Pennsylvanian has a constitutional right to breathe clean air, even if that right isn’t always protected by our local and state leaders. Locally, communities in the Mon Valley and across Allegheny County have suffered far too much, for far too long, from air pollution with little and inadequate response...
Norman Reimer: AG candidates must discuss fixing ‘trial penalty’
As Pennsylvanians contend with ongoing devastation wrought by coronavirus, and simultaneously reckon with systemic inequality as police violence toward Black people continues across the country, the failures of our criminal justice system have been laid bare. We imprison too many people for too long — a disproportionate number of whom...
Lorence Devon King: We’re fighting for justice in Pa.
No matter what we look like, where we live or how much we make, the public health and economic crisis we’re in reminds us that we’re all just human. For years, people like me — young people, people of color, working-class people of all races — have been left behind...
Dana Siler and Mark Reynolds: Wildfires underscore urgency to rein in climate change
Gentle rain and a cool breeze encourage tomatoes to grow and grass to be lush and green here in Pittsburgh. It is hard to imagine that our friends, relatives and fellow Americans in California, Washington and Oregon are waking up to apocalyptic, orange skies, air so smoky that air quality...
Dan Brouillette and Peter Navarro: Trump’s manufacturing, energy revival supports Pa. workers
Imagine a world in which millions of American energy and manufacturing jobs were sent overseas, all to help countries like Communist China prosper. Well, you don’t have to imagine that, you lived it. That was the grim reality Pennsylvanians faced before President Trump took office. Between 2000 and 2017, under...
Nancy Patton Mills: We need Joe Biden in the White House
It’s easy to rattle off all the promises that President Donald Trump has made to Western Pennsylvania. He promised to bring back manufacturing jobs. He promised to stand up to China and be tough on trade. He promised to stand up to a corrupt political system and fight for the...
Noah Feldman: William Barr’s election warnings are death by 1,000 legalisms
Even before Attorney General William Barr’s reported suggestion that protesters be prosecuted for sedition, and that the mayor of Seattle could be targeted with a criminal investigation, the AG was up to his usual stunts. His repeated comments on ballots and voting demonstrate his distinctive way of distorting the truth....
David Emery: The pursuit of money — the root of political corruption
The Founding Fathers were keenly aware of the need for accountability throughout government. One problem they did not foresee was the influence of special-interest money in electing public officials or in determining policy outcomes. Political corruption is not new. To stem it, the Federal Election Commission (FEC) was established in...
Nicholas Ciotola: A compromise on Pittsburgh Columbus statue
Should he stay or should he go? That’s the question that is fueling a bitter division in Pittsburgh. The divide is not over the coming presidential election. It is about the fate of the statue of Christopher Columbus in Oakland. Pittsburgh’s Italian immigrants first proposed the idea for the statue...
Sen. Lindsey Williams and Rep. Sara Innamorato: Now is not the time to raise PWSA rates
At public input hearings for the ongoing rate case in front of the Pennsylvania Utility Commission (PUC) early in July, members of the community raised concerns about the proposed rate increase at Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority (PWSA). If approved by the PUC, this would mean higher bills for PWSA...
Tina Batra Hershey, Jim Conway and Olivia Bennett: It’s time for Allegheny County to provide paid sick days for all
Covid-19 has shown us that our health and well-being are connected. Our own health depends on the health of the person next to us, and the person next to that person. No matter what we look like, where we live or what’s in our wallets, getting sick reminds us that...
Dane Rianhard: Pandemic hasn’t broken employer health insurance system
Over 51 million Americans have filed for unemployment since covid-19 struck. But for the most part, they haven’t lost their health insurance. An astounding 98% of workers who had employer-sponsored health benefits before the pandemic are still enrolled in workplace plans, according to a July report. That encouraging statistic ought...
Jennifer Christman: Companies can support veteran suicide prevention plan
Amid the covid-19 pandemic, a potential solution to an existing epidemic has slipped under the radar — but it cannot be ignored. The White House recently formed a new task force and announced The President’s Roadmap to Empower Veterans and End a National Tragedy of Suicide (PREVENTS). The PREVENTS task...
Josh McNeil and Sam Williamson: Pa. needs strong public transit for equitable pandemic recovery
The covid-19 pandemic has exacerbated the economic and environmental inequities that plague Pittsburgh, and a strong public transit system will be necessary to get those impacted back to work and jump-start the economy when conditions are safe. With the Trump administration’s response to covid-19 a complete disaster — characterized by...
Dr. Andrew Smolar: Investing in the collective with required national service
The CORPS Act, a bipartisan proposal currently in the Senate, expands national service by attracting volunteers to help needy citizens during the pandemic. Within a capitalist framework, service isn’t emphasized, except within religious communities. This attitude must change, and it bears directly on race relations. Since the George Floyd killing,...
Jonathan Nadle and John F. Rohe: Finding common ground on immigration
In a surprising development, the co-authors of this article have become friends. Surprising because Jonathan’s organization, Group Against Smog and Pollution (GASP), decided last year to decline further funding from Colcom Foundation, John’s employer and a major funder. The decision was made over concerns about Colcom-funded groups that seek reduced...
Timothy L. O’Brien: Of course Trump couldn’t resist Bob Woodward
Maybe it’s all Senator Lindsey Graham’s fault. “It was Lindsey Graham who helped convince Donald Trump to talk to Bob Woodward,” Fox News commentator Tucker Carlson told his TV audience Wednesday night. “Lindsey Graham brokered that meeting. Lindsey Graham even sat in on the first interview between Bob Woodward and...
Nick Byrd: The moral trade-offs of public health
Global emergencies cause a series of dilemmas. Consider the covid-19 pandemic. First, many lives have already been lost to covid-19, and many more lives will be lost in the near future. Second, we can drastically reduce the death toll by sacrificing other things that we care about. For example, should...
Kris LaGrange: Will election end attack on organized labor?
Labor Day 2020, like no other in our nation’s history, is absent of parades and large gatherings. Canceled due to covid-19, celebrations are replaced with Zoom meetings that commemorate the American worker as we all hope better days are ahead. Traditionally on Labor Day union leaders boast of accomplishments of...
David Zatezalo: Serving America’s miners Labor Day and every day
As assistant secretary for mine safety and health, I know firsthand how miners across the country — more than 300,000 individuals — provide an essential service to our country. Miners work to extract, process and deliver the minerals, metal and coal that keep America working. President Trump has been a...
Tom Melcher and Morgan O’Brien: A different Labor Day, a real opportunity
Labor Day 2020 certainly is a far cry from this day one year ago. While much has changed, we want to focus on the positive, and the great opportunity now at hand. Perhaps more than any Labor Day ever, we should all have a far greater appreciation for our region’s...
