Featured Commentary category, Page 22

After more than a decade of uncontrolled experiments by internet platforms on millions of users, there is an emerging possibility that one group of users — kids — may finally gain some protection. A wave of court cases has an opportunity to fill a void left by the inaction of...

You may not have heard of Project 2025. It is the Heritage Foundation’s vision for our future. Heritage, along with the Federalist Society, are radical-right, ultra-conservative groups that want to restructure our government. If you like how the Federalist Society has groomed lawyers since their college years with gifts and...

I cannot stop thinking about the dozens of Israeli children held in captivity by Hamas and the Islamic Jihad in underground tunnels in Gaza, while above them Israel’s attack has killed, so far, nearly 4,500 Palestinian children. Stopping the violence, and returning the hostages, is urgent for any person who...

At the first reports of a massacre of Israeli civilians, I shuddered, fearing the worst was yet to come. Sadly, I was right. Before sundown on Oct. 7, Israel was being blamed for Hamas’ killings, mutilations and kidnappings of Israeli civilians. As a historian, I know only too well the...

As rabbis, we have been proud to have John Fetterman representing us as a strong voice for humanitarian values in the Senate. We come from a faith that teaches that each and every person is created in the image of the Divine. We understand Fetterman to be someone who shares...

Pennsylvania is home to more than 13 million people, according to the 2020 Census, with more than 2.5 million of those residents being aged 65 and older. The growth rate of the commonwealth’s older adult population is more than 20 times higher than the growth rate of its entire population....

Congress just passed — and President Biden just signed — the latest short-term government funding bill to keep the government running. The bill, which essentially kicks the can down the road, ensures that taxpayers will continue to pay for a bloated government until January, Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Patty Murray,...

Seeing the sign for Hillman State Park in Hanover Township, Washington County, I turned off the main road onto a dirt one and followed it deep into the woods for about four miles. On this beautiful fall day, I noticed the colors of the trees and the brisk air. I...

This year as we gather around tables with our families, friends and neighbors, I ask that we all take a moment to reflect on the year and lift up and celebrate those in our lives that we are truly thankful for. When I came into office, I knew that I...

Leading Democrats, including President Joe Biden and Gov. Josh Shapiro, are gleefully celebrating hydrogen hubs as a political two-for-one deal: good-paying union jobs coupled with clean, renewable energy. However, hydrogen hubs will create neither jobs nor clean-burning energy. Instead, these overhyped projects provide publicity to Biden and Shapiro, who are...

Thanksgiving is upon us, and with it comes many mixed emotions. Houses will be filled with or vacant of loved ones, family and friends. There may be food, traditions and laughter. Or it could be this year is going to look different than years past due to the complexities of...

When I announced my candidacy for Congress in Pennsylvania’s 17th district, I did so with purpose, conviction and authentic intentions for service to my country. I’ve been a public servant most of my life, first in the U.S. Air Force, then as a law enforcement officer for 30 years, and...

The recently reported financial challenges facing Independence Health System are a result of the impact of the covid-19 pandemic. This is true for Independence Health and every health care provider in the U.S. Despite it not being long ago, it can be hard to recall the realities of the pandemic,...

Tired of Congress’ repeated partisan standoffs every time a big fiscal deadline approaches, like last week’s? Weary of the breathless cable coverage of looming government shutdowns or debt defaults, knowing the partisans (almost) always come to some 11th-hour compromise, as they did last week? Or have you tuned out by...

They say that, when one door closes, another opens. Western Pennsylvania lost its bid for a regional hydrogen hub this October as the Decarbonization Network of America (DNA) hydrogen hub project failed to win federal funding from the Department of Energy. It’s a hit to business leaders and the oil...

Although it is welcome and overdue that the Supreme Court finally adopted an ethics code for its justices on Monday, the approach is seriously flawed in that it includes no enforcement mechanism. Instead it continues to leave it to each justice to decide whether to be recused in a particular...

It was one of those mild November days, typical of Washington autumns, the temperature pushing 70. Because I worked nights, I was trying to nap between picking up the 3-year-old at play school and her older siblings at 3. But excited voices interrupting the music on my favorite oldies station...

“It’s so nice to have Representative Jones, who’s a Republican, and Representative Smith, a Democrat, with us today. Even though they belong to different parties, we know that we all want the same thing for our community, and our nation.” As the former CEO of the Chester County Chamber, I...

I am the Jewish grandchild of Holocaust survivors. My grandfather was in a camp. Although I was very close to them, I never learned exactly how my grandparents escaped Austria and then Vichy France, because the experience was so traumatizing that neither one would discuss it for the rest of...

We have again entered the season of gratitude. You remember gratitude, don’t you? It was what we expressed before we became entitled. Last Saturday was the observance of Veterans Day, during which many thanked those who served in the military and have protected our freedoms. Next week is Thanksgiving, when...

Last week a 69-year-old Jewish man was killed on the streets of Los Angeles. Paul Kessler suffered blunt force head trauma when an anti-Israel protestor deliberately struck him with a megaphone. This homicide was preventable. It did not happen in a vacuum. The primary contributing factor was the increasingly normalized...

U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm recently visited Greensburg and hosted a town hall in Pittsburgh to talk about how Western Pennsylvania can benefit from a clean energy economy. It makes sense that Pittsburgh, long a hub for industry and innovation, would be a focus of clean energy investment. We’ve been...

Debates over free speech have deeply immersed themselves into the fabric of our culture over the past few years. Wild and sharp finger-pointing has gone in both directions. Last week, a Cornell University junior accused of posting violently threatening statements against Jewish people on campus was held without bail after...

The Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court rightly recently rejected an effort by prior Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration to unlawfully impose an energy tax on Pennsylvanians by entering the state into the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). RGGI is a multi-state compact that would ultimately lead to higher energy taxes on Pennsylvania consumers...

You may have seen the news last January that outgoing Gov. Tom Wolf had granted 2,540 pardons over his two terms. They were recommended by the Pennsylvania Board of Pardons, which you’ve probably never heard of. This past week, that board recommended 114 more people for pardons, bringing their total...