Featured Commentary category, Page 12
Heather Visnesky: Pa. families need paid leave
As the community engagement manager for MomsWork, Powered by NCJW Pittsburgh, I have met hundreds of working mothers in all stages of motherhood: first-time mothers, moms of toddlers and school-aged children, and mothers of teens and young adults. One thing many of them have in common is the experience of...
Destenie Nock: Who pays the price for new data centers?
Amazon plans to spend $20 billion building data campuses in Pennsylvania. Similar proposals are emerging across the state, from the sites of the old Cheswick and Homer City power plants to the Alcoa campus in Upper Burrell. To many, these announcements signal economic growth and innovation. But as an energy...
Joe Morinville: AI, crypto and Pa.’s war on the little guy
Artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency may be the shiny new frontier of technology, but behind the hype lies a brutal truth: they are devouring electricity, straining Pennsylvania’s grid and driving up costs for everyone else. And thanks to PJM’s policies, it’s the smallest consumers — the homeowners, the corner bakeries, the...
Claudia Sahm: Grow the economy? Not with these immigration restrictions
According to the White House and congressional Republicans, the new budget law will spark economic growth of more than 3%. Reaching that goal, however, will be made far more difficult by a provision they see as central to the law: the $150 billion-plus it adds to immigration enforcement. The administration’s...
Luke Bernstein: Ward helped save U.S. Steel — and Pa. is stronger for it
It is impossible to overstate the stakes in the U.S. Steel-Nippon deal: thousands of jobs, billions of dollars in investment and the future of an iconic industry in Pennsylvania. And while many leaders played a role in securing the deal, one state official stepped up early and never backed down:...
Adam Forgie: Trump promised jobs, so why is he undermining the ones we already have?
Over the last three years, America has benefited from a clean-energy jobs boom, and now, President Trump and Congress are turning that boom into a bust. You wouldn’t know it, though, if you saw Trump’s speech in Pittsburgh last week. Despite the slew of promises he made about bringing new...
Cal Thomas: What standard? What scandal?
Following the resignation of Astronomer CEO Andy Byron after he was caught on a Jumbotron at a Coldplay concert in Boston cuddling with human resources chief Kristin Cabot (who is not his wife), the company issued the following statement: “Our leaders are expected to set the standard in both conduct...
Andrew King: Pa. can accelerate energy progress
Last week, Pennsylvania took a historic step forward, securing $70 billion in federal, state and private funding in an effort to become America’s powerhouse for artificial intelligence (AI) and energy. Convening at the artificial intelligence powerhouse, Carnegie Mellon University, a bipartisan group led by Sen. Dave McCormick launched Pennsylvania’s Innovation...
Mark Z. Barabak: Here’s why Jeffrey Epstein’s tangled web is conspiratorial catnip
These are salad days for the likes of Joseph Uscinski, who spends his time peering down rabbit holes and poking in the dark spaces where weird and woolly things grow. There are loads of conspiracy theories out there, the granddaddy of them all being the conjecture surrounding John F. Kennedy’s...
Stacy Garrity: Is Shapiro taking notes from NYC mayoral race?
From New York City to San Francisco, voters are seeing their cities fall apart due to reckless crime policies, careless government spending and leaders who care more about quippy one-liners on social media than public safety. All eyes are now on New York City’s newest far-left sensation, Zohran Mamdani, whose...
Rep. Abby Major: The truth about cannabis legalization in Pa.
My name has been in the news recently for supporting a cannabis legalization effort here in Pennsylvania. While this may have surprised many of you (and myself), I have had my eyes opened this year to the realities that we are facing here in the commonwealth. Cannabis is already legal...
Cal Thomas: Late-night TV not what it used to be
Stephen Colbert’s “Late Show” has been canceled by CBS, effective next May. Critics of the decision are claiming politics is the reason. They are right, except the show has been too political. During its 10-year run, it has been a conduit for Democrats to attack President Trump and Republicans. There...
Gregory Bernarding and Jeaneen A. Zappa: Local action can protect Allegheny County from rising energy costs
Pennsylvania families are facing a growing electricity affordability crisis — and President Trump’s latest energy legislation is making it worse. The so-called “Big Beautiful Bill,” signed into law July 4, slashes federal incentives for wind and solar power that have been driving down utility costs, all while pouring billions into...
Daniel DePetris: Putin’s conduct causes Trump to have a change of heart on Ukraine
President Donald Trump never stays still for very long. He makes decisions, only to delay their implementation. He listens to pretty much everybody before he settles on a course of action, only to change his mind at the last minute. Whether it’s withdrawing U.S. troops from Syria during his first...
ML Cavanaugh: We desperately need a dose of ‘Truth, Justice, and the American Way’
OK, I’ll say it. I’m sick of superheroes. I blame the Marvel Cinematic Universe (36 movies and counting over 17 years) and the DC Extended Universe (43 movies and counting, mostly since the late 1970s). Maybe Earth’s not big enough for two universes. They’re running pretty thin these days, down...
Counterpoint: One Big, Beautiful Bill is robbing working-class Americans
The “One Big, Beautiful Bill” that passed through Congress is a raw deal for working-class Americans. It should be called the “Billionaire Bailout Bill.” At the center of the bill is a cruel tradeoff: deep Medicaid cuts that rip healthcare away from millions in exchange for tax breaks and corporate...
Point: Trump’s tax bill is built for the working class, not the donor class
President Donald Trump’s One Big, Beautiful Bill is not what you think it is. It’s not a stunt. It’s not a meme. It’s the most unmistakable evidence yet of a transformed Republican Party. To understand who benefits from this bill is to recognize the party’s new political mandate: delivering for...
Ria Sharma: Fiscally responsible solutions for the unhoused
Imagine you’re presented with two options as an investor. Option one: Spend $50,000 annually to trap a homeless person in a cycle of incarceration, poverty and repeated release into the streets. Option two: Spend $15,000 annually to lift someone out of homelessness, reduce crime, lower emergency service costs and restore...
Judge Paul R. Michel: To win the tech race against China, restore power of U.S. patent
The United States is falling behind in the global race for technological leadership. China now leads the U.S. in 37 out of 44 critical technologies. This includes fields that will define the future, such as artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and advanced manufacturing. If we’re serious about keeping pace with China,...
Stuart I.R. Haniff: Lawmakers must protect Pa.’s anti-hunger programs
A hunger crisis is happening across Pennsylvania — in every county and every legislative district — but you wouldn’t know unless you look. Food insecurity, according to Feeding America’s Map the Meal Gap Report, has risen 40% over the last two years in the commonwealth. Now, one in eight of...
Pete Shelly: It’s time to rein in the skill games industry
Pennsylvania lawmakers have an opportunity to finally address a critical need and pass common-sense legislation to regulate and tax skill games in the coming days as they work to finalize the fiscal year 2025-26 state budget. This challenge is about much more than generating new tax revenues. It’s about public...
Rep. Summer Lee: One Big Beautiful Bill will harm many
On the Fourth of July, President Trump signed into law one of the most harmful bills in modern history. This legislation, the One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB), makes the biggest cuts to Medicaid and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) ever, guts clean energy tax credits and investments, threatens hundreds of...
Philip Martell: It’s time to modernize school funding and stop punishing property owners
For decades, Pennsylvania’s public school funding model has relied too heavily on one thing — the local property tax. It’s a system that rewards wealthier ZIP codes and punishes rural and working class communities. No matter how much we tinker around the edges, we cannot fix education in this commonwealth...
Jason ‘J.J.’ Park: Israel vs. Iran? Or the prime minister vs. the ayatollah?
The Israel-Iran conflict is a tit-for-tat. On June 13, Israel struck Iranian nuclear facilities and military leaders. On June 16, an Iranian drone targeted the U.S. Consulate in Erbil, Iraq. On June 22, the U.S. bombed three Iranian nuclear sites. On June 23, Iran bombed Al Udeid Air Base in...
Hallie Leach: We must work together to teach students about Holocaust, antisemitism
In an era marked by a troubling resurgence of antisemitism and misinformation, it has never been more critical for educators to work collaboratively and purposefully to ensure that students are learning not only the history of the Holocaust but also how its lessons apply to the world today. In June,...
