Editorial: Is a Knox Box a simple way to speed emergency response?
Good government is a constant battle to keep people safe without stepping on personal freedom. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates automotive deaths decreased by 45% to 65% because of seat belt use. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention credits helmets for reducing motorcycle deaths by up to...
Letter to the editor: SAVE America Act must be passed
The Save America Act is designed to protect and insure election integrity by requiring photo ID in order to vote in all U.S. elections. Twenty-one states already require photo ID, and another 12 require some other form of personal ID to vote. Over 170 out of 196 representative democracies around...
William Akoto: How Iranian hackers pose a threat to U.S. critical infrastructure
Michigan might be more than 6,000 miles away from the war in Iran, but, virtually speaking, it’s well within striking distance. An Iran-linked group calling itself Handala claimed responsibility for a March 11 cyberattack on Portage, Mich.-based medical device maker Stryker Corp. Handala said the attack was in retaliation for...
Tim Derdenger: Hosting the NFL draft is less about weekend beer sales and more about long‑term brand value
When the NFL Draft arrives in Pittsburgh this month, city officials are sure to tout projected economic impact figures. They will likely point to the $73 million generated by Green Bay, Wis., and the surrounding area in 2025, the $213 million generated by Detroit in 2024 or the $164 million...
Letter to the editor: Veterans deserve better care
Several million young Americans went off to serve their country in Vietnam. More than 55,000 never came home alive. Nearly 500,000 died back home from wounds and mental ailments. A mistaken war. An erroneous report from a tugboat captain in the Gulf of Tonkin to the secretary of defense to...
Editorial: Building the workforce Western Pennsylvania needs
It would be easy to look at the closure of schools such as Triangle Tech and assume demand for skilled trades is slipping. That isn’t what the data shows. National Student Clearinghouse data, in fact, shows vocational education enrollment increased nearly 14% in fall 2024. The reasons for those closures...
Letter to the editor: AI requires human wisdom
AI robots will automate repetitive tasks in industry. This will increase productivity. Innovation will be spurred by an increase in research and experimentation. Farming will be augmented and more precise with climate adaptive assistance. But what of the loss of jobs? The December 2025 issue of Time magazine featured the...
Chris Koopman and Kevin Frazier: The problem with pausing data centers
Congress is now being asked to pause data center construction. In March, Sens. Bernie Sanders and Alexandria
Ocasio-Cortez announced a bill to halt the buildout of the infrastructure that makes advanced AI possible. The framing is familiar: the pace is too fast, the risks too great, the window to act...
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...
