Featured Commentary category, Page 71
Sofia Sunseri: Give abuse survivors their justice
From the time I was 5 years old until I reached puberty, I survived repeated sexual abuse. Like far too many others, there was no justice. The legal system failed me and protected the abuser. I repeatedly and profoundly suffered abuse throughout my life while being held to normal expectations...
Vidhura S. Tennekoon: The U.S. banking crisis isn’t over yet
Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and Signature Bank failed with enormous speed — so quickly that they could be textbook cases of classic bank runs, in which too many depositors withdraw their funds from a bank at the same time. The failures at SVB and Signature were two of the three...
Robert Smith: Waters of the United States
We are once again locked in a debate regarding the proper role of the federal government to regulate what is termed waters of the United States (WOTUS) under the Clean Water Act. On Dec. 30, the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the final “Revised Definition of ‘Waters of the...
Raymond Tonkin: Pa. should retain death penalty for murder of police
In the early hours of Sept. 13, 2014, my phone rang. I answered. On the other end of the phone was a dispatcher informing me that the Pennsylvania State Police were requesting me because two state troopers had been shot outside the Blooming Grove Barracks. I quickly dressed and headed...
Ross Nicotero: PRT’s hiring and retention is crisis that must be addressed now
Several weeks ago, Pittsburgh Regional Transit (PRT) launched a public input process to overhaul the downtown bus network. This is the first portion of a system-wide transit network redesign, to ostensibly make our bus routes faster, more understandable and more effective in serving our riders’ needs. As transit workers, we’re...
Christopher Baxter: Secrecy is too often the norm in Pa. state and local governments
Our state and local governments exist to serve our communities. We pay our taxes each year, and in return, we the taxpayers have a right to know what our government is doing, how it’s spending our money and whether we’re getting the services we deserve. But there are fewer and...
Sheldon H. Jacobson: America’s rite of spring — why we need March Madness
March Madness comes at just the right time for the nation’s sports and social psyche. After the long, dark winter, the college basketball tourney has become a rite of spring. The Super Bowl is history, with the NBA and NHL both tracking toward their respective playoffs set to begin in...
COUNTERPOINT: Advantages abound with changing clocks twice a year
Today’s daylight saving time (DST) system — spring-to-fall DST followed by winter standard time — is an excellent compromise, providing DST’s many advantages the majority of the year and yet avoiding winter standard time’s difficulties during the dark, cold months. One proposed alternative is year-round standard time. This would cut...
POINT: Make standard time permanent
Almost everyone hates springing forward and falling back every year. Moving clocks ahead one hour in March only to return them to their previous settings in November wastes time — literally. No adjustments to clocks change the length of the day, which is determined by latitude (distance from the equator)...
Stacy Garrity: Rage is not part of life in rural Pa.
My roots are planted firmly in rural Pennsylvania. It’s where I grew up, went to school, got married, worked and served in the U.S. Army Reserves. I’m proud to say that I still call Bradford County home, and it is 100% rural Pennsylvania. Recently, some in the media elite have...
Guy Ciarrocchi: Pa. GOP must adapt to state’s changing political map
For Pennsylvania Republicans, the last decade has been the best of times and the worst of times — mostly the latter. For nearly a decade, the GOP has nodded approvingly as Western Pennsylvania’s unionized steamfitters have trended Republican and increasingly joined the Republican Party. Their jobs and personal values draw...
Pat Browne and Josh Ercole: Gambling problem? Help is available.
As we recognize the 20th annual Problem Gambling Awareness Month this March, the Pennsylvania Lottery and its responsible gambling partners are working to spread the word that help is available for those struggling with compulsive gambling issues. How can you tell if you have a gambling problem? Problem gambling is...
Cal Thomas: Read Joe Biden’s lips — more new taxes
President Joe Biden has announced he will raise “some taxes” in the budget he is proposing this week to Congress. Biden again claims no one making less than $400,000 a year will pay more taxes. The federal government receives record amounts of revenue, but spends and borrows in ways that...
Elwood Watson: ‘Dilbert’ creator shows racial progress is needed in America
It’s been over a week since Dilbert creator Scott Adams was canceled by hundreds of newspapers across the nation, as well as Canada, for racist tirades he unleashed on his own YouTube show. Adams, who is white, suggested white people “get the hell away from Black people,” referring to Black...
James Steiner-Dillon: Why can’t Americans agree on, well, nearly anything? Philosophy has some answers.
Does wearing a mask stop the spread of covid-19? Is climate change driven primarily by human-made emissions? With these kinds of issues dividing the public, it sometimes feels as if Americans are losing our ability to agree about basic facts of the world. There have been widespread disagreements about matters...
Art Jipson and Paul J. Becker: 30 years later, Waco siege still resonates — especially among anti-government extremists
It’s been 30 years since the beginning of the Waco siege, the confrontation at a Texas compound that killed around 80 members of the Branch Davidian religious community and four federal agents. Part of the siege’s legacy in popular culture is tied to sensational coverage that has presented the Branch...
Nicholas Dagen Bloom: Why the humble city bus is the key to improving U.S. public transit
Public transit in the U.S. is in a sorry state — aging, underfunded and losing riders, especially since the covid-19 pandemic. Many proposed solutions focus on new technologies, like self-driving cars and flying taxis. But as a researcher in urban policy and planning, I see more near-term promise in a...
Elizabeth Stelle: Tackling poverty in Pa. starts with understanding barriers to prosperity
It’s hard to save money. “I have a daughter that goes to after-school care that I have to pay for,” one Pennsylvania mother said. “I have the gas to get to work. I have to pay fees for the turnpike to get to work. There’s just a lot of cost...
Peter Morici: AI programs like ChatGPT are going to serve us — and that’s the scary part
OpenAI’s ChatGPT3 is impressive and frightening. The artificial intelligence program can write authoritative-sounding scholarly papers, computer code and poetry, and solve math problems — though with some errors. It passed a tough undergraduate microbiology exam. and graduate law and business school exams from the Universities of Minnesota and Pennsylvania. It’s...
Cal Thomas: On Ukraine — pay any price? Bear any burden?
“…we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and success of liberty.” — John F. Kennedy Inaugural Address, Jan. 20, 1961 Those were simpler, though not less dangerous times. The Soviet Union was seen as America’s No....
Elwood Watson: Depression and the expectations of men
Sen. John Fetterman’s announcement that he has checked himself into a hospital was met with bipartisan praise. Far right politicians from Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas to fellow Pennsylvania centrist representative, Susan Wild, to New York left-wing congressmen Richie Torres lavished support on the senator for publicly disclosing and confronting...
Dr. Val Arkoosh: DHS needs help to prepare Pennsylvanians for Medicaid changes
As a doctor, I know firsthand the importance of having quality, affordable, consistent health care coverage in order to be healthy and thrive. Everyone deserves the dignity and peace of mind of knowing they can see a doctor they trust, or get essential preventive care like cancer screenings for themselves...
David P. Hardy: Where is all the education money going?
State and national media are spotlighting Pennsylvania’s education funding system in the wake of a long-awaited Commonwealth Court decision. While the court did not issue a specific remedy, it acknowledged failures within the state’s education funding system. The court called for reforms that give all our students a meaningful opportunity...
Alison Dagnes: Misperceptions of Pa.’s college students
Misunderstandings about college students run deep and tend to be alleged with sweeping generalizations. Those on the right boost the perception that college students are lazy elites who occasionally get out of bed to do drugs and yell about insufficiently woke Republicans. Those on the left reinforce the belief that...
Mikhail Alexseev: Biden’s visit to Ukraine should put Putin on notice
For almost a year now, my former homeland has been under a brutal attack. But even as Russia keeps hammering at Ukraine, hope has sprung up, too. Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians, and tens of thousands of foreigners, have come forward to defend the nation. More than 50 countries are...
