Featured Commentary category, Page 70
Lucas Berenbrok, Janice L. Pringle and Joni Carroll: FDA approval of over-the-counter Narcan important step in combating opioid crisis
On Wednesday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Narcan for over-the-counter sale. Narcan is the 4-milligram nasal spray version of naloxone, a medication that can quickly counteract an opioid overdose. This means that Narcan will be available for purchase without a prescription at more than 60,000 pharmacies nationwide. For...
Dan DeBone: Addressing Pa.’s child-care crisis
Any family will tell you that balancing work and parenting is challenging in the best of times. With the parents of most young children in Pennsylvania working, child care is critical to supporting the commonwealth’s labor force and employers. When parents don’t get the child care they need, it diminishes...
Philip J. Lazarus: ‘Closure’ after a school shooting is a myth
Whenever a school shooting takes place, such as the one that claimed the lives of three adults and three children at a Christian school in Nashville March 27, school officials often arrange for grief counseling services to be made available for whoever needs them. But what exactly do those services...
Sheldon H. Jacobson: Why has this year’s men’s basketball tournament been so mad?
The Final Four is set, with San Diego State (No. 5 seed out of the Mountain West), Florida Atlantic (No. 9 seed out of Conference USA), Connecticut (No. 4 seed out of the Big East) and Miami (No. 5 seed out of the Atlantic Coast Conference) ready to battle for...
David Magee: Fentanyl poisoning — coming to a middle school near you
The last six months have been brutal for the Carrollton-Farmers Branch Independent School District in Texas. Nearly a dozen students have overdosed on fentanyl between September and March. Three of them died. If you’re thinking, Texas has a problem, the truth is far more sobering. America has a problem, and...
Rep. Jesse Topper: Now is the time for transformational change in Pa. education
“One day everything will be well, that is our hope. Everything’s fine today, that is our illusion.” As I view the educational landscape in Pennsylvania, this paradox, first articulated by Voltaire, is ever-present in my mind. Lawmakers, teachers, administrators, parents and communities are concerned about whether our education system is...
Yassir Yousif: Land bank helps turn a house into a home
Our home in Chalfant sits in a quiet, low-traffic neighborhood. It has plenty of space to raise a family. But it wasn’t always this way. In fact, it stood abandoned for over four years before our family moved here in 2022. Thanks to the help of the Tri-COG Land Bank,...
E.M. Liddick: You want a leader? This is what one looks like.
What do former Missouri Secretary of State Jason Kander, Sen. John Fetterman and U.S. Rep. Ruben Gallego have in common? This feels like the start of a bad joke, one to which some readers might offer a punchline. But it’s not. The obvious: they’re men; they’re Democrats; and, although only...
Michael Reagan: President Biden leads America to defeat
Everyone in the national media is worrying about whether Donald Trump was going to be arrested in New York. Not me. In a radio interview with San Diego talk show host Mark Larson, I said I didn’t care what was going to happen to Trump. “What I’m really worried about,”...
Laura Packard: Despite attempts to kill it, Affordable Care Act turns 13 this year
Thirteen years ago March 24, the Affordable Care Act was signed into law. And five years ago, my oncologist told me my stage 4 cancer was in remission. As a small business owner, my health insurance is through the Affordable Care Act (ACA). So these two dates are inexorably linked...
Cassandra Jones Havard: Moral hazard — why it’s risky for the government to rescue banks
“Moral hazard” refers to the risks that someone or something becomes more inclined to take because they have reason to believe that an insurer will cover the costs of any damages. The concept describes financial recklessness. It has its roots in the advent of private insurance companies about 350 years...
Michael J. Lee: Secession is here — States, cities and the wealthy are already withdrawing from America
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican from Georgia, wants a “national divorce.” In her view, another Civil War is inevitable unless red and blue states form separate countries. She has plenty of company on the right, where a host of others — 52% of Trump voters, Donald Trump himself and...
Guy Ciarrocchi: GOP can target suburban swing voters and keep their base
In recent election cycles, the Philadelphia suburbs have been moving further into the Democratic column. To add to the challenge for Pennsylvania Republicans, more areas are resembling these communities as the state becomes more suburban. It’s a common trend in Rust Belt and East Coast states. Some analysts have argued...
Timothy J. Kunselman: ‘It’s political’ and other annoying words and phrases
The most recent word that annoys the heck out of me is “weaponization.” I first heard it used by Republicans railing against the Department of Justice and alleged use of the justice system to exact political punishment. “Weaponization” is right up there with “witch hunt” and “MAGA” and “red and...
Peter Morici: America’s most powerful weapon to beat China and Russia in Cold War 2.0 is free trade
The U.S. is in a new Cold War with China and something hotter with Russia. But America’s shift to protectionism and overreliance on implementing economic sanctions are foolish. After World War II, the U.S. created NATO and alliances in the Pacific, cultivated free trade among allies through the GATT, EU...
Rob Perkins: Allegheny County district attorney’s office needs an integrity unit
Our chief local prosecutor is the Allegheny County district attorney. Bucking a national trend, our DA has failed to establish a conviction integrity unit. It’s past time to create one. Mistakes happen in criminal trials. Just like they happen in any human endeavor. But the stakes are high in criminal...
Cal Thomas: Trump should follow LBJ’s example
If, as seems likely, Donald Trump is indicted by a New York grand jury for reportedly paying hush money to porn star Stormy Daniels and if, as also seems likely, Trump is also indicted by a Georgia grand jury for trying to force election officials to overturn that state’s vote...
Elwood Watson : Not ‘woke’ enough to understand its meaning
You have to be “woke” to understand it, I guess. Last week, conservative activist and author Bethany Mandel went viral for her screeching response on defining the term woke, which has become the catch-all phrase on the right for everything wrong with our country. During the March 14 edition of...
Pat Garofalo: Ending health care systems’ abuse of nonprofit status
A court recently ruled that the health care system Tower Health did not meet the mandated requirements to receive tax exemptions on four of its properties in Pennsylvania, in part because it was too focused on profit despite its status as a nonprofit institution. “This decision is validation that our...
Jeff Kotula: Unleashing Pa.’s energy resources will grow economy
As the first quarter of 2023 comes to an end, the economy remains a prime concern for many Americans. It has been difficult to ignore the effects of inflation on everyday essentials, and market results have reflected this uncertainty. While the current unemployment rate is at a near 50-year low...
Ryan Costello: Pharmacy benefit managers help keep drug costs down
These days, it seems it is always political campaign season. That is true on the presidential level, with several candidates already seeking the Republican nomination. Here in Pennsylvania, we will also be electing a U.S. senator (Bob Casey’s seat) and a full state and federal House delegation next year. As...
Christopher Decker: Inflation is proving particularly stubborn
The Federal Reserve is facing a rather sticky problem. Despite its best efforts over the past year, inflation is stubbornly refusing to head south with any urgency to a target of 2%. Rather, the inflation report released on March 14, 2023, shows consumer prices rose 0.4% in February, meaning the...
Heidi Zinzow: 54% of firearm deaths in the US are from suicide — and easy access to a gun is a key risk factor
More than half — 54% — of all firearm deaths in the United States in 2021 were attributable to suicide, according to February 2023 data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Suicide deaths involving firearms — the most common means of suicide in the U.S. — have increased...
David Galluch: Coming soon — the Shapiro energy tax
In a sleight of hand worthy of a card shark, Gov. Josh Shapiro quietly acted to raise home heating and electricity costs for Pennsylvania families. It’s officially termed the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, or RGGI. It should be called the “Shapiro Energy Tax.” Little noticed until recently, the governor tucked...
Jim Pieffer: Federal staffing mandates would hurt Pa. nursing home care for seniors
There has been an undeniable nursing home workforce crisis in recent years. While many have moved on from the pandemic, the stress and anxiety continue in nursing homes as employees work hard to protect those most vulnerable to covid-19. Though well-intentioned, a proposed federal staffing requirement by the Centers for...
