Featured Commentary category, Page 12

My two daughters are thriving in their public cyber charter school. The quality of their education is better than I could have ever imagined. The Pennsylvania Leadership Charter School (PALCS) has been life-changing for my girls, who participate in a hybrid model that combines online and in-person learning. PALCS and...

In his televised address to the nation Saturday night regarding the U.S. strikes on Iran, President Donald Trump declared that the attacks targeted “the destruction of Iran’s nuclear enrichment capacity and a stop to the nuclear threat posed by the world’s number one state sponsor of terror.” He framed the...

As a superintendent who has worked to rebuild a rural school district into a nationally recognized model, I’ve seen firsthand how Pennsylvania’s flawed cyber charter funding system undermines public education. From the outside, this may look like just another policy debate in Harrisburg. But in school districts like mine, the...

This month, Aaron Rodgers finally signed with the Steelers, ending an exhausting offseason saga that directly impacted their draft. The 41-year-old quarterback’s arrival marks the beginning of what promises to be the weirdest chapter in franchise history. Good. Scouting reports paint a grim picture: diminished arm strength, slower processing speed,...

Pennsylvania’s rural hospitals are struggling. Declining patient volumes, workforce shortages and chronic underpayment have left many on a lifeline. About half are operating at a loss, according to fiscal year 2023 data from the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council. Another 17% are barely breaking even or operating with margins...

By July 1, the University of Pittsburgh will have made a choice: fund up to a quarter-billion-dollar commitment to pay its professional football and men’s basketball players — or protect its students, families and employees from financial ruin. The money? $246 million over 10 years, taken directly from student tuition,...

The odds haven’t been in our favor, and for towns like Tarentum, they rarely are. At its peak, Tarentum was home to over 11,000 residents and was built on industry, tight-knit neighborhoods and a strong tax base. Today, we’re a town of just over 4,200. We’ve lost more than half...

Legislation in the Pennsylvania Senate risks allowing local governments to operate in the shadows, leaving taxpayers unaware of decisions affecting their pocketbooks, their communities and their quality of life. State Senate Bill 194, sponsored by Sen. Doug Mastriano, R-Adams/Franklin, would allow school districts and municipal and county governments the option...

During sessions of “The Girls Room,” which I established during my first teaching job as a safe space for high school Black girls to be seen and celebrated, we read novels like “The Skin I’m In” by Sharon Flake, talked about our goals, walked into womanhood together and discussed the...

My life pre-transition was defined by deep depression. A profound emptiness, wrongness and passive suicidality suffused every day. I saw therapists. I saw psychiatrists. I took anti-depressants. I still hated myself. I still wanted to die. Only in my late 20s, when I finally opened up to my therapist and...

Pennsylvania just caught the attention of the world’s most powerful company. Amazon recently announced it will invest at least $20 billion to build multiple high-tech cloud computing and AI innovation campuses across the commonwealth. The projects are expected to create 1,250 high-paying jobs — likely just the beginning of a...

Are the party positions on always-newsy senior U.S. Sen. John Fetterman flipping here in Pennsylvania? Fetterman continues to dominate the state’s “political attention” economy, as he has for a long time. Earlier this month in Boston, he and Republican Sen. Dave McCormick participated in a debate sponsored by the Edward...

In the hazy fog of hyperpartisan Washington, it’s easy to miss what is directly in front of you. That has never been truer than in the current debate over the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” which passed the U.S. House and now awaits action in the Senate. The “OBBB” is a...

After Israel took out at least two of Iran’s top scientists behind the development of nuclear weapons (and promised to kill more), my high school fight song came to mind. At football games after a touchdown we sang, “Hit ’em hard and hit ’em again. Show ’em now that we’re...

Anyone who doubts the economic importance of outdoor recreation in Pennsylvania should visit rural Huntingdon County, home of Raystown Lake. Thousands visit the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers-operated recreation area each year to boat, fish and camp, leaving behind tens of millions of dollars spent at local businesses. Or rather,...

During my time as Bishop of the Diocese of Harrisburg, I have quickly come to realize that the problem of human trafficking is far more serious in Pennsylvania than many of us (may) want to recognize. Victims and survivors include every demographic. They are men and women, adults and children,...

Yes, America does have a law-and-order problem. It’s the president of the United States. Throughout U.S. history, the best presidents have sparingly sought to use federal forces not to exacerbate tensions but as a last resort to deescalate violence, protect constitutional rights and restore order. Whether Democratic or Republican, when...

Protests are erupting in Los Angeles and other cities, with streets filled with demonstrators clashing with police, National Guard troops and Marines deployed under a presidential order. Scenes of civil unrest, from property damage and looting to tense standoffs clouded in tear gas, have dominated headlines, fueling a sense of...

The heavy-handed responses by the Trump administration to ongoing protests in Los Angeles reveal how little imagination our politicians continue to have when it comes to grasping the causes and consequences of social unrest. Last Friday, in response to increasingly bold and reckless raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Angelenos...

No one likes uncertainty. For some, it carries with it a sense of doom and helplessness. Yet despite many people’s apparent aversion to uncertainty, some actively seek it out in many areas of their life. Uncertainty is all around us. It has been making headlines in the news this year,...

When we talk about Pittsburgh’s future, we often focus on attracting new talent. But one of the smartest investments we can make is in the neighbors who are already here, especially immigrants. Across Pennsylvania, nearly 1 million immigrants, which equates to around 7% of the population, are powering our economy...

In his column “Watch your language — a chronicle of today’s improper English” (June 2, TribLive), Cal Thomas describes maladies that plague English speech and writing. This opinion adds to that effort and tries to show why the term “of color” should be retired as a relic of racial subordination....

From the beginning of the American experiment, one of its animating principles has been limited government overseen by citizen legislators. Contrast that with the “big, beautiful” spending bill being steered through Congress by today’s career politicians, who euphemistically refer to themselves as “public servants.” America’s founders would be appalled. One...

Pennsylvania is facing a severe shortage of mental and behavioral health professionals. Over 50 of its 67 counties are designated as mental Health Professional Shortage Areas. Throughout the state, 1.8 million Pennsylvanian adults have a mental health condition, yet 1.7 million live in communities that don’t have enough mental health...

On May 15, Florida became the second state in the nation to ban fluoride from public drinking water. The bill, signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, is set to go into effect on July 1. Utah’s Governor Spencer Cox enacted a similar ban that went into effect this May. Five other...