Featured Commentary category, Page 59
Raymond Scheppach: Congress needs to pass 12 funding bills in 11 days to avert a shutdown — here’s why that isn’t likely
U.S. senators and representatives returning from their summer vacations will need to shake off their suntans in quick time and get down to business. Congress has just 11 days when it’s in session before the next federal fiscal year begins on Oct. 1 And in that time, it will need...
Elwood Watson: Jacksonville and the continued assault on Black people
As segments of the nation remembered the 60th anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington, we simultaneously witnessed another horrendous, senseless act of racially sadistic violence occur in Jacksonville, Fla. Armed with an AR-15 and a handgun decorated with a swastika, 21-year-old Ryan Christopher Palmiter carried out a racist mass...
Tom Pike: Leaders aren’t helpless and must take action on fracking
On Aug. 15, researchers with the University of Pittsburgh and the Pennsylvania Department of Health announced they had found strong links between lymphoma and fracking, as well as asthma and fracking. Lymphoma was found to be 5-7 times as common in people who lived near fracking well pads as those...
Julie Su: Why I’m spending Labor Day in Pittsburgh
America is home to a strong and storied labor movement that has fought many battles to empower workers and protect the rights of hard-working families. That includes in the proud union town of Pittsburgh, where I’m marching today in one of the oldest and largest Labor Day parades in the...
Chris Kelly: Shapiro must rally rescue posse
Sometimes, spurring the cavalry to saddle up is a matter of poking the right rumps. In response to Lackawanna County Department of Health and Human Services Director Bill Browning’s desperate plea for help staffing his desolate Office of Youth and Family Services, state officials said consultants — free agents who...
Carl Kurlander: The WGA/SAG strike and 4 lessons from a steel town for the modern-day labor movement
With Labor Day approaching and the writers and actors strike continuing into the fall, I thought this might be a good time for a historical perspective on the modern-day labor movement. I write as someone whose oldest membership outside of the AAA is the Writers Guild of America (member of...
Peter Morici: How a third-party candidate with a sound economic program could win
A third-party candidate could win the presidency if the major parties offer voters a Biden-Trump rematch. In the 1992 presidential election, Ross Perot managed only 19% of the vote. But the independent candidate was leading in a June Gallup poll shortly before he dropped out only to reenter the race...
John Tamny: Savers and financiers are economy’s lifeblood, so treat them well
In his memoirs about the remarkable rise of The Home Depot, the great Bernie Marcus oh-so-thankfully went against the grain of seemingly all modern thought in writing that “bankers put their careers on the line, and for that we protect them.” Amen. Bankers, investment bankers, VCs and other financial intermediaries...
Bruce Cooper and Mark Reynolds: Climate action has brought major investment, jobs to Pa. Lawmakers should strive for more
One year after a major climate bill was passed, Pennsylvania is flourishing thanks to an influx of clean energy investment and jobs. When the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act was signed into law last August, it unleashed a stream of clean energy projects, with Gov. Josh Shapiro quickly taking the initiative...
Ron Klink: Congress cracks down on shady PBM middlemen — and not a moment too soon
Congress is considering more than half a dozen bills that’d curb the power of pharmacy benefit managers. The increased, bipartisan scrutiny of these rapacious drug supply chain middlemen is welcome. In fact, it’s overdue. For years, they’ve been inflating pharmaceutical prices and bilking patients while providing little value to the...
Nancy S. Jecker: There’s no age limit for politicians — as people live longer, should that change?
President Joe Biden was “fine,” according to White House Communications Director Ben LaBolt, after tripping over a sandbag at a U.S. Air Force graduation ceremony on June 1. But his fall was caught on live camera — and people on social media speculated about what was behind it. Biden, approaching...
Dr. A. Jay Gross: Fetterman’s fight for affordable health care
Ranked fifth in the country by its size of seniors, Pennsylvania is home to over 2.2 million older Americans. As the population of seniors grows 20 times faster than the state’s general population, it is more important than ever that Pennsylvania has representatives who advocate on behalf of seniors’ needs...
Bev-Freda Jackson: Mahalia Jackson’s suggestion during 1963 march resulted in majestic sermon on an American dream
Every now and then, a voice can matter. Mahalia Jackson had one of them. Known around the world as the “Queen of Gospel,” Jackson used her powerful voice to work in the Civil Rights Movement. Starting in the 1950s, she traveled with Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. throughout the South...
Vanessa Lynch: Clean air and a healthy climate can be Pa.’s future
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) issued a “code orange” air quality alert for Western Pennsylvania last week, confirming what many of us already knew — there was something in the air. A cocktail of air pollution, heat and sunshine created unhealthy concentrations of ground-level ozone, also known as...
Andreas Kluth: If Prigozhin is gone, long live Putin — and Wagner?
Yevgeny Prigozhin might have retired in peace some day. Or he could have been found writhing in the throes of Novichok, a nerve agent favored by Russia’s spy agencies. He might also have fallen out of a window, crashed in his car or slipped in his bathroom — like so...
Judith Stepan-Norris and Jasmine Kerrissey: Strikes seem common, but number of Americans walking off job is historically low
More than 323,000 workers — including nurses, actors, screenwriters, hotel cleaners and restaurant servers — walked off their jobs during the first eight months of 2023. Hundreds of thousands of the employees of delivery giant UPS would have gone on strike, too, had they not reached a last-minute agreement. Nearly...
Scott Jennings: Trump won the GOP debate by being a no-show. But who came in second?
It is fair to wonder how the other Republican candidates for president can catch up to Donald Trump. What is their plan to beat someone with a 30-plus point lead in the polls and who’s been using his many arrests the way the Super Mario Brothers use red mushrooms —...
Timothy J. Kunselman: Our society needs competitive balance
Freedom must be championed and defended every day. Otherwise, the quest for power will eventually overwhelm us. Freedom cannot be without limits, or again, the quest for power will intrude and ruin. We have freedom of speech but, one may not yell “fire” in a crowded theater. One may not...
Dan DeBone: Westmoreland County manufacturers’ most valuable product — careers
Ask most Westmoreland County residents about the fourth week of May this year, and they’ll tell you it was just like any other. The Pirates hosted the Rangers for a three-game homestand. Students and relatives started to trickle in from out of town for Memorial Day. But it was anything...
Peter Morici: Finding the silver lining in Biden’s trade and industrial policies
President Biden’s industrial and trade policies are terribly controversial. Economists, pundits and the media — on the left and right — complain these will promote inefficiency and won’t address fundamental disadvantages — for example, shortages of engineers and similar workers with advanced training. Allies in Europe criticize that the Buy...
Dr. Andrew Smolar: Calling out incivility
After this past week, I feel dented. Last Saturday, my wife and I enjoyed dinner at a place in the Philadelphia suburbs. When the check arrived, I realized our waitress had confused our tab with the next table’s. When I walked inside to correct it, I noted there was a...
Peter Roff: A U.S. agency you’ve never heard of is destroying innovation
Recent and expected Supreme Court rulings regarding the authority of federal regulators have put the regulatory bureaucracy in the spotlight. Too many of them have the power to make or break industries. Some, like the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC), are begging to have their wings clipped. Its mission is...
Cal Thomas: Questions I would ask the GOP candidates
Wednesday night’s GOP primary debate in Milwaukee for the Republican candidates for the presidency will be more a Q&A session than a classic debate, but that’s OK. Viewers will have a chance to take the measure of the men — and woman — who wish to become president. Each candidate...
Rick Goodling: State regulation means an end to illegal games
I was in a Western Pennsylvania grocery store recently and the owner detailed to me all the renovations he is making to his business and the health insurance he is able to provide for his employees. Having this type of conversation is not unusual for me. I am part of...
Dr. Vanessa Kerry: Hawaii wildfires another wake-up call that the climate crisis imperils our health
The world is on fire. The devastating wildfires in Maui have led to over 100 deaths, with many hundreds more people unaccounted for and injured. We have seen homes and livelihoods destroyed and hospitals overwhelmed with smoke and burn victims. These wildfires, fanned by winds from Hurricane Dora after years...
