Featured Commentary category, Page 45

There already was going to be much written about Franco Harris, the legendary Pittsburgh Steeler who 50 years ago caught a deflected pass off his teammate at the last minute of a game against the Oakland Raiders in a play that would be known forever as the “Immaculate Reception.” Now,...

Technology companies are shedding jobs at disturbing rates. Those with experience in computing are being laid off, sometimes with little warning. Freshly minted computer science graduates are facing employment headwinds not seen for well over a decade. Is this the next dot-com bubble burst, which could send the economy spiraling...

The Christmas season is a time to be cheery and celebrate the good things in life. So I will take a break from my running criticism of our overpaid state legislators to note some of the positive work they’ve done recently that should make Pennsylvania a safer place to live....

From Los Angeles to Washington, D.C., antisemitism is once again on the rise, being echoed by celebrities with wide audiences such as Kanye West and Kyrie Irving. To Jewish people who remember the Holocaust — or those, like myself, who survived it — this shameless bigotry is nothing new. Although...

Chances are if you’ve read the news in the past year you’ve seen a headline like these: It’s time to go nuclear. Mark Zuckerberg is choosing profit over children. We need to ban kids from social media … . And who could disagree with them? After all, you must be...

Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter, and his controversial statements and decisions as its owner, have fueled a new wave of calls for regulating social media companies. Elected officials and policy scholars have argued for years that companies like Twitter and Facebook — now Meta — have immense power over public...

It sure didn’t take long for right-wing media figures to criticize the release of WNBA star Brittney Griner. Griner was released Dec. 8 by the Russian government as part of a negotiated prisoner exchange for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, nicknamed “the merchant of death.” Since the deal was made...

As a health educator in Southeastern Pennsylvania, I’ve seen firsthand just how harmful methane pollution from the oil and gas industry can be to our health. That’s why I am relieved that the Biden administration and the Environmental Protection Agency recently proposed new federal safeguards to curb methane pollution from...

American scientists have announced what they have called a major breakthrough in a long-elusive goal of creating energy from nuclear fusion. The U.S. Department of Energy said Dec. 13 that for the first time — and after several decades of trying — scientists have managed to get more energy out...

In 2023, Henry Kissinger will mark a century since his birth and more than 50 years of influence on American foreign policy. Kissinger’s centennial represents an important opportunity to reflect on not only his influence, but also the effects of the vision of foreign policy he has espoused. When Kissinger...

I used to be a mall Santa. From the ages of 17 to 27, I dressed up as a hairy, overweight elf to bring joy to children throughout the Pittsburgh area. It was good honest work. OK … it was honest work. For three to four hours a day, seven...

During infectious disease outbreaks, clinicians and public health officials are tasked with providing accurate guidance for the public on how to stay safe and protect themselves and their loved ones. However, sensationalized media coverage can distort how the public perceives new emerging infections, including where they come from and how...

The Federal Reserve raised interest rates by half a percentage point Dec. 14 to a range of 4.25 to 4.5%, the seventh increase this year. So far in 2022, the Fed has lifted its benchmark short-term rate, which influences most other borrowing costs in the economy, by 4.25 percentage points...

This time of year, most inflation-weary Christmas shoppers — and perhaps even the inflation-fighting Fed — would welcome an end to our government’s effort to raise the prices of the goods we buy in high volume. In this year’s third quarter, the federal government collected tariffs on imported goods, putting...

A blue wave drowned the Keystone State on Nov. 8, flipping contested state House and Senate districts, delivering every tossup congressional seat, and elevating Attorney General Josh Shapiro to the governor’s office in one of the largest statewide landslides in the country, complimented by a decisive win for Lt. Gov....

Living and working in Pennsylvania this past election cycle has been reminiscent of a 1985 Sally Field Oscar acceptance moment: “You like me. Right now, you like me.” With Florida now a deeper red, Pennsylvania looms as perhaps the most important swing state in the 2024 election. Native Pennsylvanians like...

Donald Trump’s family business was found guilty of 17 counts of tax fraud and other financial crimes on Dec. 6 in a case prosecutors said displayed a “culture of fraud and deception” at the Trump Organization. Allen H. Weisselberg, the company’s former chief financial officer, had previously pleaded guilty to...

The Pennsylvania Game Commission changed the most popular deer hunting weekend in 2019, moving the 60-plus-year Monday after Thanksgiving opening day to the Saturday prior. As Thanksgiving is the most traveled family holiday of the year, that created problems for hunters with family conflicts. Additionally, hundreds of thousands of hunters...

Our Appalachian riverfronts should be thriving centers of commerce, trade and recreation. But, instead, the region is scattered with facilities that were abandoned by industry. The sites lie on contaminated land, seeping waste into our waterways. Meanwhile, the population continues to decline in the Mon Valley. The families that stay...

President Joe Biden vowed to end the federal government’s use of private prisons on the campaign trail. His campaign platform further stated that “the federal government should not use private facilities for any detention, including detention of undocumented immigrants.” And in 2021, Biden stepped into office continuing to promise that...

On his campaign website, then-candidate Joe Biden vowed to “end for-profit detention centers,” asserting tendentiously that “no business should profit from the suffering of desperate people fleeing violence.” “For-profit” in this context is a pejorative used to describe privately run detention facilities, and such assertions elide many key facts —...

With Russian troops digging trenches to prepare for an expected winter standoff, it would be easy to conclude that fighting will slow in Ukraine until after the ground thaws in the spring. But evidence from the Ukrainian battlefields point to a different trajectory. This war has demonstrated that only one...

In 1835, the Cherokee Nation was promised a delegate in Congress as part of the same treaty — Treaty of New Echota — that led to the death of thousands on the Trail of Tears. Nearly 200 years later, the Cherokee are still fighting to make that promise a reality....

Federal Reserve policy makers should not waver in their pursuit of 2% inflation but talk less about it. As measured year-over-year by the consumer price index, inflation slowed from 9.1% in June to 7.7% in October but the Fed faces tough challenges beyond the reach of monetary policy. Sanctions on...

There is little Republicans and Democrats in Congress agree on these days, but spending (and borrowing) money is as nonpartisan as it gets. House Democrats apparently have decided to leave their majority with a spending spree. They’ll do it the way they usually do. In a script familiar to an...