Featured Commentary category, Page 17

Valentine’s Day can be challenging for people in early recovery from drug or alcohol addiction. Most health professionals recommend that people in early recovery wait a year before pursuing a new relationship, and instead focus on recovery. Those in recovery may not have reached a level of emotional stability and...

Jennifer Crumbley’s conviction for her son’s school shooting is a sea change in the public’s view of gun violence. My own parents could have suffered the same fate as hers had not fate intervened. Shortly after a diagnosis 25 years ago for bipolar disorder, I was mis-medicated when I got...

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court delivered a victory to abortion-rights advocates in directing a lower court to consider a challenge to the state’s 1982 prohibition on Medicaid funding for abortions in cases other than rape and incest. The 3-2 decision was widely viewed as an invitation to declare the ban a...

Super Bowl LVIII will be held Feb. 11, with the San Francisco 49ers out of the NFC facing off against the Kansas City Chiefs out of the AFC. This is rematch of Super Bowl LIV, when the Chiefs rallied from a 10 point deficit in the fourth quarter to defeat...

There is nothing quite like Super Bowl Sunday. It is that one day when devout football fans mix with agnostic game watchers, packing tables in bars, restaurants and social clubs. As a former NFL player, it is awesome to see the craze around my favorite sport. Beyond the entertainment, it’s...

Do weapons need to be involved for there to be an invasion? Border states and numerous other states run by Republican governors say no. They would argue that an invasion can be an unwanted overflow or steady stream of people entering your property illegally. If you agree, then President Joe...

Six years ago, my son, Nick, and I were standing in the cold for hours, waiting for the Super Bowl championship parade to begin. Our beloved Eagles had won. The energy was electric. I’ve felt nothing like that connection before or since. Nick was wearing a fuzzy, plush hat in...

My career with former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge has taken me to Washington, D.C., but I couldn’t be more Pittsburgh. I’m a Gateway Gator, IUP alum and proud Steelers season ticketholder. I even bought a six pack of Washington Capitals tickets just so I could get the best seats for...

Progressives are aghast that former President Donald Trump may recapture the White House. Some lament that President Biden should step aside for someone younger like California Gov. Gavin Newsom or Rep. Dean Phillips of Minnesota. Biden’s age is not the primary problem. Rather, his program is incorrectly focused and hurts...

To say that higher education is in a state of flux would be an understatement. Around the world, colleges and universities are racing to adapt to the changing needs and demands of students, and to do so in ways that provide relevant and affordable education. At a time when more...

As the 2020 Election Day count dragged on into the next morning in the crucial swing state of Wisconsin, New York Times campaign reporter Reid Epstein reported a hiccup at 4:52 a.m.: “Green Bay’s absentee ballot results are being delayed because one of the vote-counting machines ran out of ink...

When you’re stuck in the wilderness, Bear Grylls wouldn’t suggest you prioritize searching for Wi-Fi. Instead, survival experts would likely tell you to focus on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. In other words, you should be trying to address physiological needs before you start thinking about self-actualization. There’s also a hierarchy...

“I believe every child of God deserves a shot here in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania,” Gov. Josh Shapiro said last year, “and one of the best ways we can guarantee their success is making sure every child has a quality education.” Referring to the issue of school choice, he has...

Civil libertarians are celebrating the recent announcement by Amazon that law enforcement agencies will no longer be able to obtain Ring doorbell camera videos just by asking. Henceforth, the company will require a subpoena or a search warrant. That’s great news. One needn’t be anti-cop (I’m certainly not) to agree...

One of the few bipartisan traditions left in American politics is hating on the presidential debates. They’re never substantive enough, the moderators always intervene too much or too little and they have little effect on voters. Who needs ’em? So reports that President Joe Biden and Donald Trump are contemplating...

If you held a conference for moderates — inviting federal politicians and citizens — it is unclear who would attend. In Washington, moderates tend to be House members, senators, the president or vice president, or Cabinet officials who belong to either the Democratic or Republican party. One is therefore a...

The crisis at the southern border is caused by bad laws. We could cure the problem by returning to an older American tradition — structured open immigration. Not an open border. Whatever the law is, it must be enforced. It is not acceptable that our current laws are ambiguous and...

In news you might have missed, 22-year old Madison Marsh – a second lieutenant in the Air Force and master’s student at the Harvard Kennedy School’s public policy program – was crowned Miss America in Orlando, Fla., Jan. 14. Marsh, representing the state of Colorado, is the first active-duty Air...

In the heart of Southwestern Pennsylvania, a robotics revolution is unfolding. Examples of paradigm-shattering robotics and automation companies fill our neighborhoods. Some, like Astrobotic, pull the national spotlight by launching a historic mission to the moon. Inside Aurora, teams are creating autonomous vehicle solutions that are radically changing the trucking...

Progressives around the world are worried. Right-wing populists have won national elections in the Netherlands and Italy and enjoy rising strength in Germany. In the United States, despite indictments on 91 counts in three states and Washington, D.C., former President Donald Trump leads President Joe Biden in the 2024 election...

The health care sector has experienced extraordinary stressors over the past few years, including staffing shortages. Research indicates these shortages will worsen in 2024 and beyond. One 2021 study projects more than 6 million lower-wage health care professionals in the United States will permanently leave their positions by 2026, while...

About three months ago, I bought a flip phone and turned off my smartphone for good. I am part of a trend — interest in old-fashioned flip phones is up — but I don’t feel trendy. When I flip my phone open in a hallway of the middle school where...

The 2028 presidential campaign can’t come soon enough. Just think: Fresh faces, furrowed by fewer lines. Fresh ideas, not of the authoritarian, willfully divisive kind (we can hope). Fresh blood, and without triggering Hitlerian talk of “poisoning” our nation. A new contest, not a rematch of two unpopular geriatric retreads....

In March 2021, San Francisco’s Mission Hotel held a joint funeral service for seven residents. The hotel is one of the sites leased by the city to house the unsheltered population, and resident deaths have become so frequent in these facilities that joint memorials have become the norm. Although the...

Homelessness in the United States surged by a record 12% between January 2022 and January 2023, according to a report by the Department of Housing and Urban Development. In the world’s wealthiest nation, how does this happen, and what can be done to remedy it? The primary reason people are...