Opinion category, Page 431
Editorial: Why not a state gas tax holiday, Gov. Wolf?
On Monday, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf joined his counterparts in Colorado, Michigan, New Mexico and Wisconsin in appealing to congressional leaders. Minnesota’s governor hopped on the bandwagon later. The problem is the rising gas prices that are making it more expensive by the hour to fill up a tank. When...
Letter to the editor: Biden must open access to American energy
In his State of the Union speech, President Biden promised to fight inflation. One of the biggest contributors to inflation is rising energy costs. The cost of gas, heating oil, electricity, etc., affects every aspect of our society. The price of food, consumer goods, transporting products and just about everything...
Letter to the editor: Casey, Toomey should support Jackson as justice
The selection of a Supreme Court justice has a profound effect on the well-being of our democracy. The decisions made by a justice over decades of his or her lifetime affect each and every one of us on issues of health care, a thriving environment, jobs and civil rights and...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: Sacrificing and standing with Ukraine
It was one of those little surprises, a card sent to the office by a friend from overseas in the thick of the pandemic, not getting into my hands until months later because we were all still working from home. It was from Simon Kale, from Bath, England, a keen...
Sounding off: Why fear critical race theory?
Having read the article “Norwin director claims assignment on racism was critical race theory teaching,” I can’t help wondering what Shawna Ilagan is fearing. I am not an expert on critical race theory, but I know it is another way of looking at race and systemic racism in our country....
Lena Surzhko Harned: How a cathedral of guns and glory symbolizes Putin’s Russia
A curious new church was dedicated on the outskirts of Moscow in June 2020: The Main Church of the Russian Armed Forces. The massive, khaki-colored cathedral in a military theme park celebrates Russian might. It was originally planned to open on the 75th anniversary of the Soviet Union’s victory over...
Randy Santucci and Dan Davila: Bring back Monday hunting opener
The Pennsylvania Game Commission arbitrarily changed the opening day of deer season, destroying a highly successful 60-year Thanksgiving weekend structure. Moving the opening day from Monday to the Saturday after Thanksgiving revealed a gross lack of knowledge and enormous disregard of the economic benefits linked to hunters. One of the...
Letter to the editor: Good time to get back to work
The unemployment rate is low and wages are rising, but so are inflation, interest rates and energy prices. History has taught us that when things get bad enough, we end up in a recession and real estate prices and the stock market drop. My advice to people sitting on the...
Letter to the editor: The person, not the product, is the problem
Families and survivors of the Sandy Hook shooting recently settled their lawsuit with Remington Arms. They said the company should never have sold such a dangerous weapon to the public. Doesn’t this open up a can of worms for other companies? What about cars that end up killing people? What...
Editorial: Taxing students, patients instead of nonprofits is ludicrous
Pittsburgh might have been built by the big-profit industries of steel and coal and glass, but today its economy is driven by high-dollar nonprofits. There are the institutions of higher learning. The University of Pittsburgh is one of the largest in a state full of post-secondary schools. Carnegie Mellon University...
Letter to the editor: A chronicle of Biden’s failures
President Biden’s disasters are accumulating at an alarming pace. The Biden team has bungled the covid response with financial waste, crushing mandates and misinformation. Biden assured Americans that inflation is only temporary, but it’s now approaching 8%, the highest in 40 years, and shows no sign of abating. The next...
S.E. Cupp: In Ukraine and around the world, cause to worry about what lies ahead for women
As heartbreaking and unimaginable images, videos and reports flood out of war-torn Ukraine, comparisons to World War II Europe are impossible to avoid. Thousands of families sleeping underground in subway stations, cramming onto outbound trains, air-raid sirens the new normal, beautiful buildings that once lit up a cosmopolitan city now...
Gary Franks: Peace can be found in Ukraine
At one time, the U.S. and NATO countries all seemed to believe that sanctions would work to prevent a Russian invasion of Ukraine. They were mistaken. Now they believe sanctions will stop Russian President Vladimir Putin. The record shows the more sanctions the West imposes, the faster and harsher Putin...
Sheldon Jacobson: March Madness and advanced analytics
March Madness begins March 15. Blue-blood programs like Villanova, Duke and Kansas are locks to make the tournament. Mid-majors like Loyola-Chicago and Murray State hope to pull upsets and advance to the second weekend. Virginia Commonwealth and BYU are just hoping for a spot in the Big Dance. College basketball...
Dr. Andrew Smolar: An ode to friendship
When the virus struck, we were terrified. We saw people dying alone on television. Confused about how the virus spread, we washed groceries and hands repeatedly, changed our clothes and immediately modified our work. For me, that meant seeing my patients online. This felt heretical, because I’ve always sat with...
Stephanie Sowl: 3 things that influence college graduates from rural areas to return to their communities
When high-achieving students from rural areas go off to college and graduate, they often choose to live in suburban or urban areas instead rural communities like the ones where they grew up, decades of research have shown. Often they are following the advice of adults — or just deciding on...
Letter to the editor: Past time for a carbon price
The need to put a price on carbon is the main theme of Matthew Brown’s Feb. 23 Associated Press article “As climate change costs mount, Biden seeks to price damages.” Citizens’ Climate Lobby has been pushing for a carbon price for over 10 years. The legislation we like, the Energy...
Letter to the editor: Klein should be reinstated to Jail Oversight Board
The apparent decision to not reinstate Allegheny County Jail Oversight Board member Terri Klein should be reconsidered (“Fitzgerald seeks to appoint former warden to Allegheny County Jail board,” March 4, TribLIVE). It feels like Klein not being reinstated is an act of retaliation for recent votes where she sensibly represented...
Lori Falce: Banning books cages potential
The most miraculous invention in the history of the world is not something with a plug or gas tank. It is not a medicine or surgical technique. It doesn’t fly you to the moon or explore the inner workings of the Earth. But without it, none of that would have...
Letter to the editor: War on fossil fuels
Unimpaired strategic energy planning would have allowed our fossil-fuel independence to continue unabated until clean energy products became nationally available and affordable. But clean energy ideologues convinced President Biden to declare war on fossil fuels. Americans are now living under the impact of that decision. Prices for everything are significantly...
Letter to the editor: Business tax reductions do not create jobs
A common false narrative, pushed by Republican politicians, is that reducing an employer’s income tax will lead to job creation. Not true. The theory is that employers, upon learning that their tax liabilities are being reduced, will be so overjoyed that they will rush right out and hire a bunch...
Laurels & lances: Shooting, sentencing and structure
Laurel: To surviving. Oakmont is not the kind of place where a mid-afternoon shooting is commonplace. It was certainly not what Greg Scampone was expecting at the Fox’s Pizza Den he owns on Allegheny River Boulevard. But it’s what happened when the shop was robbed Sunday. A man walked in,...
Douglas Hannah: How a nondescript box has been saving lives during the pandemic — and revealing the power of grassroots innovation
One afternoon, a dozen Arizona State University students gathered to spend the morning cutting cardboard, taping fans and assembling filters in an effort to build 125 portable air purifiers for local schools. That same morning, staff members at a homeless shelter in Los Angeles were setting up 20 homemade purifiers...
Letter to the editor: Why voting is a political issue
Regarding the letter “Biden, Casey, protect our borders first” (Feb. 13, TribLIVE): When I applied for my mail-in ballot, I was required to send a copy of my driver’s license and sign. They compare my signature and license number on file with PennDOT. I renew my mail-in voting privileges every...
Letter to the editor: Non-intervention may be best for peace
Mysticism is poorly understood. Properly engaged, it’s like an old television variety show, not unlike “Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In” or “The Carol Burnett Show.” Naturally, this requires an explanation. I was gazing into my crystal ball this morning and, as usual, faces of world leaders appeared between scenes of global...
