Opinion category, Page 10
Chris Cargill: Citizens are fleeing bad policy — here’s the proof
The latest Census migration data tells a clear and consistent story: People are voting with their feet. In King County, Washington’s largest population center and economic hub, domestic migration has been negative for years. Between 2023 and 2024 alone, the county lost 12,501 residents to other parts of the United...
Letter to the editor: Hempfield renovations uninspired
I saw the renovation rendering of the front of Hempfield Area High School. It looked like something you would see at a Google office or industrial headquarters — benign, uninspired office/industrial plastic frontage. No Western Pennsylvania sandstone or limestone, no hemlock or maple lumber, no local identity, no soul. Perhaps...
Letter to the editor: A counterpart to March Madness
With March Madness over, I am reminded that the further a team goes, the harder the loss is felt. Former Pitt women’s basketball coach Agnus Berenato once said, “Only one team ends its season with a win.” This is a hard truth. That being said, I propose yet another basketball...
Editorial: Political violence is all target, no aim
We have become inured to the way politics bleeds into everything. Harrisburg and Washington are defined by division. We have come to expect the animosity. In our neighborhoods, it spills over into red-versus-blue fights over things as small as yard signs and bumper stickers. At its worst, it turns deadly....
Letter to the editor: Protest the do-nothings, not Trump
America dispensed with the king 250 years ago, and that is what we should proudly be celebrating and having parades about, not demonstrating about the successes of Donald Trump. I would encourage the demonstrators flying communist, Hezbollah, Iranian and Venezuelan flags to leave America for their flag-touting locations and see...
LZ Granderson: Here’s why Trump fired Pam Bondi
In President Donald Trump’s first term, many members of his Cabinet were establishment conservatives with tangible, executive experience who were willing to follow the president far to the right … but had lines in the sand they were unwilling to cross. In this second term, Trump has prioritized surrounding himself...
Letter to the editor: Pa.’s gas impact fee an example of effective taxation
While I wouldn’t say this for all of Pennsylvania’s systems of taxation (many of which are convoluted), I do think that our state could be a case study for effective taxation as it pertains to the natural gas impact fee. The impact fee is notable for a few reasons: 1)...
Letter to the editor: Trump damaging the country
The Trump administration’s whack-a-mole approach to problem solving is damaging the country for decades to come. Let’s address the elephant in the room. I believe this is all about the felon in the White House desperately trying to avoid consequences for his self-indulgent lifestyle, courting sexual predators, cheating contractors, bankruptcies...
Editorial: A promising plan to spur housing gets wrecked by Congress
Among the few things Americans agree on these days is that housing is too expensive. With a shortfall of at least 3.7 million homes, the obvious solution is to build more. Regrettably, a once-promising effort in Congress intended to do just that now seems to be falling apart — a...
Editorial cartoons for the week of April 6
Editorial cartoons for the week of April 6....
Mallard Fillmore cartoons for the week of April 6
Mallard Fillmore cartoons for the week of April 6....
Daniel Trujillo Esmeral: On pharmacy lawsuit strategy, government must go back to basics
If a government hopes to function, it has to be able to enforce its laws. Our country is no exception, and in fact, the U.S. government is very good at enforcement. So when a big fraud case comes up, it’s absurd to think of Washington scrambling for a way to...
Ross Douthat: Is there a religious revival in America?
In the early 2020s, secularization stopped: After rising for 15 years, the nonreligious share of the American population suddenly stopped growing. Ever since, there’s been a vigorous debate over whether this plateau is a precursor to religious revival or just a leveling off preceding a further fall from faith. The...
Letter to the editor: Time for PRT to have vision and expand subway system
I find it amazing that Pittsburgh Regional Transit is telling the people of Pittsburgh not to drive during the NFL Draft. If PRT back in the 1980s had a little vision it would have continued to build a effective/efficient “subway system” that went north, east and west, not just south....
Letter to the editor: Shell plant continues to pollute
How would you feel if you had to live next to a neighbor who consistently burned waste in their backyard, left trash scattered around your neighborhood and pushed off any growing concerns with a, “I’ll fix it later.” This is the reality for many Beaver County residents who live next...
Editorial: Take a seat at the holiday table
The stories of Easter and Passover are very different. Easter is the story of sacrifice and redemption. It is the heart of the Christian faith. Passover is the story of survival and freedom. It is central to Jewish identity. There is overlap. It often happens with the calendar, as it...
Letter to the editor: Open primaries and the First Amendment
Regarding the editorial “Opening primaries isn’t simple, but it deserves debate” (March 18, TribLive): If one thinks of voting as a form of expression protected by the First Amendment, it becomes easier, if not unavoidable, to conclude that closed primaries, ranked choice voting and gerrymandering are unconstitutional. Oddly, and without...
Cal Thomas: Debunking the lone wolf ‘myth’
Since the 9/11 terrorist attack in 2001, government officials have said their greatest fear is self-radicalized individuals they call “lone wolves.” The March 12 terrorist attack on Temple Israel synagogue in West Bloomfield, Mich., prompted a Department of Justice news conference Monday which offered new information about the attack and...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: Rogue judges or a rogue president?
In “On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century,” historian Timothy Snyder warns us that unless we defend our institutions “from the beginning,” they will fall one after the other. And the courts are among the institutions that he singles out as being in jeopardy. “It is our institutions that...
Christopher Fiorentino: Closing Pa.’s talent gap starts with affordable higher education
Pennsylvania has 61,000 jobs that require education beyond high school and not enough qualified workers to fill them. By 2032, the gap will grow to 218,000 jobs that lack workers with postsecondary-level credentials, according to a Pennsylvania Department of Education study. The gap has real-world consequences for our economy and...
Jess Reia: Cameras’ integration with AI is sounding alarms
For decades, cars dictated urban planning in the United States. Few could have predicted that they one day also would double as nodes for surveillance. In thousands of towns and cities across the U.S., automatic license plate readers have been installed at major intersections, bridges and highway off-ramps. These camera-based...
John Poister: Credit Myron Cope for draft coverage spectacle
It is fitting that the NFL will hold its annual draft spectacle in Pittsburgh with ESPN originating three separate draft shows and WTAE-TV providing wall-to-wall coverage leading into the draft. That’s in addition to massive media attention from other TV stations, sports networks, podcasters and a phalanx of print reporters....
Letter to the editor: Is Trump too old?
Should Republicans or the general public continue to back Donald Trump? Democrats faced a similar situation with President Biden, despite an apparent cognitive decline. Some believe a similar pattern is emerging with Trump. Recent events suggest he is focused on cementing a legacy by putting his name on unnecessary projects,...
Letter to the editor: Health care and the right to ‘life’
The Bill of Rights states we are endowed with the inalienable rights of “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” In today’s society, there has been a lot of debate about the “right” to government-subsidized health care. Health care provided by the employer became a widespread benefit in the U.S....
Editorial: Mental health support protects and serves
The issue of health and safety of police officers gets attention. These are the men and women whom communities depend upon in emergencies. They face physical risks, from something as accidental as a car crash to something as intentional as a gunshot. But the risks aren’t only physical. Police officers...
