Featured Commentary category, Page 34
A brother’s eulogy: Domenico Schiano di Cola remembered as ‘the most kind and selfless person’
Editor’s note: Hundreds of mourners gathered Monday at Most Blessed Sacrament Church to celebrate the life of Domenico “Domen” Schiano di Cola of Harrison. Schiano di Cola, 29, co-owner of the popular J&S Pizza, died Aug. 6 in Italy after experiencing sudden cardiac arrest. His brother Vincenzo and lifelong friend...
Virginia Postrel: Tipping culture is out of control. Trump and Harris would make it worse.
If you left the U.S. for a summer vacation, you may have encountered a strange and refreshing custom: not tipping. Or at least not tipping everyone in sight. Americans have long been among the world’s most profligate tippers. “We tip more occupations than any other country, and we tend to...
Jessica E. Martinez: Workers are bearing the brunt of extreme heat
Ronald Silver II, a sanitation worker in Baltimore, won’t be spending this Labor Day weekend with his family. On Aug. 2, during a sweltering 100-degree heatwave, Silver died while working a shift in a city garbage truck. His death was preventable. In July, following worker complaints, Baltimore’s inspector general reviewed...
Dan DeBone: Small businesses can’t afford experimental changes to credit and debit cards
The commonwealth of Pennsylvania has a well-earned heritage of economic resiliency and strength. And despite setbacks in recent years, western Pennsylvania is on the path toward recovery. An important part of that recovery is being driven by our local small businesses. As the president of an organization charged with ensuring...
Charles Bolden: Honoring our promise and commitment to military families
Supporting our military and their families is a sacred obligation of our nation and each of us as citizens — a debt we can never fully repay. This commitment unites all Americans — Democrats, Republicans and independents alike. Vice President Kamala Harris has been by President Biden’s side in the...
Taleen Mardirossian: How lies on paper enabled Azerbaijan’s destruction of an Armenian community
My mother has two birth dates: the one on her passport, and then the real one. She was born in January in the late ’60s in Beirut, Lebanon. But because her birth was not registered for another 10 weeks, official documents give a date in March. With every phone call...
Peter Morici: College has to offer a better return on investment than students are getting
With students heading back to campuses, America’s universities need a reality check — and American business could provide it. Even before recent demonstrations disrupted campuses and forced embarrassing confrontations between university presidents and congressional leaders, Americans’ confidence in higher education was declining. A recent Gallup poll found that just 36%...
Cal Thomas: Questions to ask Kamala Harris
CNN has won the “privilege” of conducting the first interview with Vice President Kamala Harris and running mate Gov. Tim Walz on Thursday night, beating the promised “end of the month” deadline she had set. The Harris team had reportedly been “shopping” networks to assess what they believe would be...
Paul Alexander: Shapiro figured out how to combat high drug prices — can it help Kamala Harris?
In a recent poll conducted by the Pew Research Center, health care was the third most important issue for voters in the presidential race, a concern voiced by 57% of respondents who were interviewed. In many cases, voters are worried about high drug costs. That’s why, this year before he...
Sen. Greg Rothman: Clean power plan reboot will cripple Pa.’s energy affordability
President Biden’s political implosion has sparked one of the most chaotic election cycles in modern history. Desperate to put the turmoil behind them, Democrats moved with lightning speed to anoint Vice President Kamala Harris as the party’s presidential nominee. In doing so, they careened from one disaster to another by...
Donna Barbisch: We need a president who honors our military heroes
As someone who has dedicated my life to the service of this nation, I understand what it means to sacrifice for the greater good. I’ve witnessed the courage it takes to stand up in the face of danger and the strength required to put others before oneself. That’s why the...
Tom Pike: Shapiro needs to step up his environmental game
As attorney general, in 2020, Josh Shapiro made a name for himself by publishing a grand jury report that called for 2,500-foot protective buffers between residents’ homes and fracking well pads. It cited reams of evidence that living near fracking infrastructure is dangerous to Pennsylvanians’ health. Shapiro’s track record as...
Lindsey Galvao and Benjamin Klutsey: Teaching civil discourse — a classroom blueprint for all America
First-time teachers and first-time voters gearing up for the 2024 election may have only ever been exposed to toxic polarization — it’s their norm. But for those of us who’ve been in the classroom for decades, the landscape of teaching civics has changed dramatically. In the early 2000s, America was...
Aaron Brown: Wager on the NFL or invest? It’s not about morality
Does legalized online sports betting strain family finances? A recent study, “Gambling Away Stability: Sports Betting’s Impact on Vulnerable Households,” argues yes, but the conclusion reflects the moral assumptions of the authors rather than the statistical evidence. That’s not to say this is a bad study. It is a good...
Carl P. Leubsdorf: History hasn’t been kind to female nominees. Will it be different this time?
Once again, we are seeing how female nominees create excitement in presidential politics. But in the past, it’s mostly worn off by Election Day. Kamala Harris and the Democrats hope this time will be different, but it’s too early to know. The vice president’s nomination marks the fifth time in...
Point: Beware bias by omission
A long time ago, the American people expected reporters to gather and report the facts, explain the arguments of political parties and keep their opinions out of it. Today, reporters openly express their opinions, in their stories and in nearly every utterance on television and social media. The “objective” media’s...
Counterpoint: Media ‘bias’ is a perennial part of elections
Donald Trump’s esteem for Vladimir Putin is well known. For more than a decade, starting before he became president, Trump has expressed admiration for the Russian strongman, from his October 2013 claim that Putin had “done really a great job of outsmarting our country” to his July 2018 assertion at...
Harry Litman: What kind of prosecutor was Kamala Harris? The answer could be pivotal to her campaign
CHICAGO The presidential campaign is shaping up to be a tale of two prosecutors, both named Kamala Harris. Harris’ record as a tough-on-crime prosecutor was a constant refrain through much of the Democratic National Convention. A series of speakers echoed that theme. They touted Harris’ lock-’em-up bona fides. In his...
Jackie Payne: Undecided moderate women could be the tipping point this November
After a wild few weeks, the top of the ticket once again is set for Democrats and Republicans. Polls show Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump are neck and neck. Over the past several years, we’ve seen presidential elections decided by slimmer and slimmer margins, and 2024...
Peter Morici: Biden leaves an impressive legacy — and a pile of budget and security challenges
Only a handful of U.S. presidents could boast Joe Biden’s range of legislative and foreign policy accomplishments. The Chips and Science Act and the Inflation Reduction Act, for example, steered the U.S. economy in a much-needed new direction. But the 46th U.S. president will leave his successor with tough federal...
LZ Granderson: Coach Tim Walz took a stand when queer kids desperately needed an advocate
Harrison Butker, the Kansas City Chiefs player whose “Me Tarzan/You Jane” commencement speech caused an uproar last spring, was back in the news recently after signing a contract extension that made him the highest-paid kicker in the league. Well deserved, considering he’s the second most accurate in NFL history, but...
Robert Perkins and Wesley Caines: Holistic defense can change lives
Everyone agrees that the right to a lawyer, even if you cannot afford one, is a necessary condition of justice. Yet funding for public defense lawyers in Allegheny County has never been enough to protect this right. Local defense spending is roughly a third of the national average — putting...
Tyler Fisher and Carlo Macomber: Independents will decide the election. What do we know about them?
Whichever party wins independent voters will win the presidency and other key races this fall. A poll Unite America commissioned this year provides clues for how Democrats and Republicans can appeal to these swing voters — including embracing their right to participate in all primary elections. Nearly 90% of independent...
Bethani Cameron: Bipartisanship closes EV road use tax loophole
Pennsylvania has two important goals when it comes to the future of transportation: maintaining our infrastructure and reducing emissions. But until recently, those two priorities were at odds. Thanks to bipartisan leadership in Harrisburg, a new bill increases funding for roads and transit, while making it easier than ever to...
Dave Breingan, Crystal Jennings-Rivera and Jala Rucker: Addressing Pittsburgh’s affordable housing crisis
Like cities across the country, Pittsburgh is in the midst of an affordable housing crisis, as rental expenses have skyrocketed and the prospect of owning a home becomes further out of reach for working families with each passing year. As the city works to respond to this crisis, leaders must...
