Featured Commentary category, Page 49
POINT: Housing alone cannot solve homelessness
In March 2021, San Francisco’s Mission Hotel held a joint funeral service for seven residents. The hotel is one of the sites leased by the city to house the unsheltered population, and resident deaths have become so frequent in these facilities that joint memorials have become the norm. Although the...
Counterpoint: Housing is a human right, not a privilege
Homelessness in the United States surged by a record 12% between January 2022 and January 2023, according to a report by the Department of Housing and Urban Development. In the world’s wealthiest nation, how does this happen, and what can be done to remedy it? The primary reason people are...
Gary Franks: Haley must tell us why she’s better than Trump
The Republican establishment is with former President Donald Trump. Nearly every Republican elected official in Washington is rushing to kiss his ring. Yes, the same guys and gals who have played a role in getting us into this mess want to have the sole person who, along with President Joe...
Lisa Jarvis: A promising turn in the quest to treat long covid
A new study published this month in Science makes a compelling case that people with long covid have a chronic imbalance in their immune response. The findings don’t explain why that immune response is out of whack and needs confirming in larger studies. Still, this is important new piece to...
Sen. Dave Argall: Cracking down on thieves and looters in Pa.
Retailers across the nation are under siege, with some struggling to stay afloat amid a rising tide of crime. Many of us take for granted the ease with which we can walk into a store and buy the simple items we need to go about our daily lives — a...
Sara Harmouch and Nakissa Jahanbani: How much influence does Iran have over its proxy ‘Axis of Resistance’ — Hezbollah, Hamas and the Houthis?
From attacks by rebels in the Red Sea to raids in northern Israel and the Oct. 7 assault by Hamas, Western analysts have pointed a finger of blame toward Iran. Regardless of how involved Tehran is directly in the planning and carrying out of such incidents, the accusations get at...
Jonah Goldberg: Vague laws hand extreme power to courts and bureaucrats. Where’s Congress?
The Supreme Court heard oral arguments last week in a case about fishing boats, and it could spell the end of government as we know it. I hope it does. The legal questions might not be all that fascinating. What is fascinating, however, is how the legal issues help explain...
Edward Timmons: Cutting red tape will help nurse practitioners fill gaps in care in Pa.
Long wait times and long commutes to get access to health care have become commonplace in Western Pennsylvania . I always hesitated to cancel an appointment when I lived in Pennsylvania. I knew it was likely I would need to wait several more weeks or months to get rescheduled. Fortunately,...
Charles R. Hunt: Why New Hampshire and Iowa don’t make sense as opening rounds of presidential campaigns
Iowa and New Hampshire have long been the first states to hold presidential contests in election years. But should they go first? As a political scientist who studies Congress and elections, I know this largely unquestioned influence of the two states raises serious concerns around fairness, diversity and political representation....
Luke Bernstein: Private companies help keep Pa.’s water safe
Pennsylvania faces a pivotal moment in securing clean, safe and reliable drinking water and wastewater services. Communities across our commonwealth contain pipes that have far outlived their normal service life. Many still contain lead, a known hazard, especially for children. And while many local governments have done a fine job...
Guy Ciarrocchi: Have suburban Pa. voters finally had enough?
Then they came for William Penn. The woke culture that already has targeted George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln has more recently come after William Penn, founder of the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, which he established to foster religious tolerance. Before their plan was derailed by a public outcry, cancel-culture...
Matthew Brouillette: Shapiro’s duck-and-dodge 1st year
In the 2004 sports comedy, “Dodgeball,” we learned the five Ds of that sport: “Dodge, duck, dip, dive, and … dodge.” In his first year in office, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro has perfected these five Ds. Campaigning for governor in 2022, Shapiro said that he’d take on big fights and...
Lee Ann Rawlins Williams: Students do better and schools are more stable when teachers get mental health support
When it comes to mental health at school, typically the focus is on helping students, especially as they emerge from the pandemic with heightened levels of anxiety, stress and emotional need. But as school officials seek to put resources toward student well-being, another school population is possibly being overlooked: teachers....
Ivor Ichikowitz : South Africa’s genocide case against Israel is rank hypocrisy
South Africa made history when it took Israel to the International Court of Justice — the United Nations’ highest court — and accused it of waging genocide against Palestinians while asking the court to order an immediate cease-fire. It might turn out to be the worst decision the country has...
Cal Thomas: Why Trump prevails
Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich appeared on Fox News Monday night as Iowa voters caucused and delivered a decisive victory for Donald Trump in his quest to win the Republican presidential nomination and a second term as president. Gingrich joyfully predicted that Trump would not only win the...
Lisa Jarvis: Measles outbreak should be a vaccine wake-up call
A cluster of measles cases in the Northeast is putting a spotlight on how easily the highly contagious disease can spread — and how dangerous any further slip in childhood vaccination rates could be. Infants and toddlers not old enough to have been fully protected through vaccination are vulnerable to...
Dwan B. Walker: Communities depend on banks to invest in infrastructure
Aliquippa is the place where I grew up, attended school and raised my family. Eventually, it was the place that granted me the humbling opportunity to become mayor, a role I’ve served in for the last 12 years. It’s safe to say Aliquippa is a community I care about deeply....
Christine Flowers: Not even the death of a mother is off limits in today’s politics
There are two things that should be completely off limits: a person’s children and a person’s grief. You do not mock a child, something that we often forget when that child happens to belong to a politician we despise, and you do not make fun of someone in the depths...
Peter Morici: How to help American families afford child care? Give parents money directly
Last September, covid-era federal subsidies to child-care providers ended. Despite apocalyptic warnings that 70,000 daycare centers would shutter, compelling at least one parent, usually mothers, to stay-at-home, American families have so far muddled through. The female labor force participation rate, which has recovered to pre-pandemic levels, did not collapse. Importantly,...
Carl P. Leubsdorf: Haley still has a chance in New Hampshire
Though Donald Trump scored a historically large victory, Nikki Haley’s close third in the Iowa caucuses keeps alive her scenario of how the Republican primaries might shift in her favor, starting next week in New Hampshire. “You know Iowa starts it,” the former South Carolina governor told Granite State supporters...
Cal Thomas: GOP, where is the noble rhetoric?
“Donald, you’re not going to be able to insult your way to the presidency. That’s not going to happen.” — Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush during a 2016 debate with Trump. After watching too many of the Republican non-debates and the insults each of the candidates (and former candidates) have...
Sally C. Pipes: Medicaid should not be for middle class
America is aging. Between now and 2050, the number of people older than 64 will increase by more than half, to 86 million. Nineteen million of those seniors will be older than 84. That means demand for long-term care will grow. Residential care with nursing coverage can cost more than...
Willie Wilson: Black elected leaders have an obligation to fulfill the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream
As we honor the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday today with a federal holiday, there will be programs, pageantry and celebrations for a man who expressed a powerful dream in 1963. on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial But that dream remains largely unfulfilled. King’s dream was one of...
Michael Reagan: Stop debating with yourselves, Republicans
I heard there was another Republican presidential debate. I didn’t watch it — I’ve suffered enough, thanks. I don’t care how few political masochists tuned in to CNN last Wednesday night to watch Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis engage in another meaningless debate. I don’t care who the big-shot media...
‘Finally at peace’: Remembering Hannah Kunkel, whose pediatric cancer battle was chronicled by the Trib
Hannah Kunkel lived knowing full well that her life could be cut short at any moment. At age 5, she was diagnosed with a rare, ruthless type of brain cancer that killed every child who ever got it. Doctors at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh told her parents that Hannah would...
