Opinion category, Page 38
Letter to the editor: Drug savings should go to patients
National Health Center Week, Aug. 3-9, is a timely reminder of the essential role community health centers (CHCs) play across Pennsylvania. More than 400 CHCs in the commonwealth serve more than 1 million patients annually, many of them low-income, uninsured or living in medically underserved communities. An important tool CHCs...
Editorial: Rustic Ridge lawsuits shouldn’t be a surprise to plaintiffs, but for some, they are
The first lawsuits over the fatal 2023 explosion in the Rustic Ridge development in Plum have been filed in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court. This was to be expected. The two-year anniversary of the explosion is rapidly approaching. The incident has been investigated. The timing is appropriate. Last week, suits...
Letter to the editor: Saving independent pharmacies
One privately owned pharmacy in Ligonier closed last month. The remaining independent pharmacy is battling with pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) and insurance companies to retain its customers and stay open. In its July 24 story “Pharmacies are disappearing across Pennsylvania as operators blame a broken payment system,” Spotlight PA reports...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: Local radio stations show how to fight back in tough times
As public broadcasters and nonprofit organizations across the country struggle with President Trump’s federal funding cuts — including the July congressional recission of funds already granted for this year — the different responses by two Pittsburgh broadcasters provide lessons for others in similar straits. Trump’s war on public broadcasting specifically...
Aaron French: Is ChatGPT making us stupid?
Back in 2008, The Atlantic sparked controversy with a provocative cover story: Is Google Making Us Stupid? In that 4,000-word essay, later expanded into a book, author Nicholas Carr suggested the answer was yes, arguing that technology such as search engines were worsening Americans’ ability to think deeply and retain...
Shannon Gibson: US government may be abandoning global climate fight, but new leaders are filling void — including China
When President Donald Trump announced in early 2025 he was withdrawing the U.S. from the Paris Agreement for the second time, it triggered fears that the move would undermine global efforts to slow climate change and diminish America’s global influence. A big question hung in the air: Who would step...
Patrick Parenteau: Revoking EPA’s endangerment finding could have unintended consequences
Most of the United States’ major climate regulations are underpinned by one important document: It’s called the endangerment finding, and it concludes that greenhouse gas emissions are a threat to human health and welfare. The Trump administration is trying to eliminate it. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin announced on...
Letter to the editor: Trump vs. reality
I always find it interesting that sometimes when the editors publish a letter that is critical of Donald Trump, a supporter of his counters with some absurd reply claiming that “Trump derangement syndrome” is to blame. Whatever that is. I assume it is a made-up mental condition Trump himself has...
Editorial: How do you test for religion?
In the biblical Book of Judges, a story is told of a test. When the Gileadites vanquished the Ephraimites, the defeated people tried to escape across the Jordan River. The Gileadites, however, countered by testing refugees. Knowing the Ephraimite language didn’t have a “sh” sound, they asked people to say...
Letter to the editor: Leaders must stop methane leaks
I am concerned about the dangerous public health impacts of living near oil and gas development sites that leak methane. Natural gas can heat our homes and cook our meals. But when natural gas — mostly methane — leaks into the air, it’s a big problem. Methane is a colorless,...
S.E. Cupp: The Democratic Party has to grow up and go young
With all eyes on New York City’s mayoral race, Democrats are hoping, wishing, praying that Zohran Mamdani is the proverbial canary in the coal mine. With the party in a state of total disarray and weakness — a whopping 63% of voters have an unfavorable view of Democrats, and a...
Matt K. Lewis: Cane sugar Coke? Bringing back the Redskins? Trump’s little gripes serve a larger purpose
With the Jeffrey Epstein controversy still dogging him, President Donald Trump has embraced his favorite distraction: the culture wars. It began when he announced that Coca-Cola was switching to cane sugar instead of high-fructose corn syrup. Coke responded with a statement that basically boiled down to: “Wait, what?” — before...
Letter to the editor: Pirates stink
The Pirates stink. And to say such is a gross understatement. In my opinion a high school Pony League team could beat the Pirates. George Wesolosky Leechburg...
Letter to the editor: Why farmers embrace solar
We are the owners of an 82-plus-acre farm in Sarver, which we bought 38 years ago. We are in our 80s and love our farm on which we planted 2,000 trees of various American species. Our three married children and grandchildren love our farm, too, and know we do not...
Lori Falce: Trump’s interest in interest rates
On Wednesday, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell did what needed to be done rather than what President Donald Trump wanted him to do. Powell announced that the Fed was leaving short-term interest rates unchanged, declining to cut them from the 4.3% rate where they have stood for months. The Fed...
Laurels & lances: Fined & fired
Laurel: To accountability. You can get almost anything at a good mall: jeans, televisions, candles, cinnamon rolls. It’s hard to get much of anything at the Pittsburgh Mills mall. Most stores stand empty, and the parking lot is a mix of craters and overgrown plants. But Namdar Realty Group, the...
Letter to the editor: Pa. needs comprehensive strategy for energy dominance
Pennsylvanians could be forgiven for feeling a bit whipsawed when it comes to recent energy-related news. On one hand, the federal One Big Beautiful Bill pulls back from recent progress made in clean energy production, limiting our energy options instead of supporting an “all-of-the-above” energy strategy. That means fewer jobs,...
Paul Kengor: A nation of slobs
“I always know when I’ve landed in America,” observes a German friend, “because the people in the airport look like slobs.” It isn’t just airports. Americans look like slobs everywhere. When they go out to dinner, attend an event, and basically go out and about in public. My friend Jeanne...
Jonah Goldberg: Why MAGA’s ideologues can’t always get what they want
MAGA has a problem, in the form of Donald Trump. Put simply: MAGA wants to define what MAGA (or “America first”) means, and Donald Trump wants it to mean whatever he says at any given moment. I should offer a little definitional clarity and political nuance. Make America Great Again...
Letter to the editor: Trouble in Trump paradise
Well, on the outside it looks like there is trouble in paradise. President Trump’s followers are asking questions, maybe even demanding answers. Could these blind disciples suddenly be seeing the light? Time will tell if the erosion of support will continue, but what a breath of fresh air to finally...
Letter to the editor: New budget an abomination
The Senate passed a budget that gave the top richest 0.1% Americans the largest tax break in this country’s history. It throws an estimated 14 million to 20 million Americans off Medicaid and will probably close the majority of rural hospitals over the next six years. Billions of cuts to...
Editorial: Name change at Bushy Run Battlefield is about authenticity
Imagine that Pennsylvania was not named by Charles II after founder William Penn’s father, a British admiral. What if, instead of christening it in the Latin for “Penn’s Woods,” the king listened to one of the admiral’s most bitter enemies? What if the same happened with William Pitt, the Earl...
Letter to the editor: Cupp’s anti-Trump campaign
In her continuing campaign to diminish Donald Trump, S.E. Cupp wields her verbal knives, saying he “is a convicted criminal, an adjudicated sexual abuser and an ignoramus” (“We are obsessed with Coldplay’s kiss cam couple,” July 25, TribLive). Wow! She concludes by saying that he is incompetent. Not so. Since...
Cal Thomas: Hey, Democrats, autopsies are for the dead
It’s being described by the media as an “autopsy,” an examination by Democrats as to why they lost the last presidential election and a congressional majority. According to The New York Times, the autopsy will not include Joe Biden’s decision to seek a second term, or Kamala Harris’ poor performance...
LZ Granderson: Malcolm-Jamal Warner carried a heavy load for Black America
There were three television characters who really mattered to me as a kid: Michael, Leroy and Theo. In elementary school, “Good Times” was the television show that most closely resembled my family. And seeing reruns of Ralph David Carter’s portrayal of a precocious young boy learning what it means to...
