Featured Commentary category, Page 58

Mental health challenges have always been with us, but the covid-19 pandemic has pushed Pennsylvanians, and our state’s mental health safety net, to the breaking point. Without meaningful and sustained support from our state lawmakers, many of our most vulnerable residents will confront unacceptable consequences. As the Tribune-Review’s reporting has...

Americans are tired of losing sleep. On the second Sunday in March, Americans push their clocks forward, and the disruption to sleep patterns creates fatigue and a lot of irritable personalities. Church attendance is unusually sparse. Some folks miss the exercise altogether or show up late, just in time for...

Before I start talking about pot and why the federal prohibition should end, here are some numbers for you to consider. Seventy-two U.S. senators accepted donations from the pharmaceutical industry ahead of the 2020 election. That number was 302 for the House. Combined, that’s more than two-thirds of Congress. If...

Close your eyes and let your imagination transport you back to the ninth grade. Do you remember a teacher standing at the front of a classroom explaining the three branches of government? Division of power? Checks and balances? Me, too! But I’m increasingly concerned that many of our elected officials...

President Biden’s agenda has stalled on Capitol Hill, where Democrats have been unable to overcome Republican opposition in the Senate to pass bills such as the Build Back Better Act and voting rights reform. Democrats are increasingly concerned that failure to pass more of their legislative agenda before November’s midterm...

In his final annual budget address, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf proposed a major reduction in the state’s corporate income tax. Wolf’s tax-cut plan may come as a surprise to some, considering his liberal bona fides, and has been lauded by business groups desperate for relief from the second-highest business tax...

In recent years, big cities have been plagued by roving packs of young men on dirt bikes and ATVs who ignore traffic laws and terrorize the streets. Residents are asking how to fix this problem — but they are asking the wrong question. They need to ask, rather, if controlling...

Last year, during his Earth Day Summit, President Joe Biden said, “The United States sets out on the road to cut greenhouse gasses in half by the end of this decade. That’s where we’re headed as a nation, and that’s what we can do, if we take action to build...

Our fellow Americans may not consider the so-called “Rust Belt” to be the epicenter of our nation’s green economy. But the discovery of our region’s abundant and clean natural gas resources over the last 15 years has transformed Appalachia into a technology hub and innovation-driven economy at the forefront of...

Every weekday morning around 7 a.m., as I waited for my bus to get to school, I would see a man on a walk down Fifth Avenue heading toward the Cathedral of Learning in Oakland. We shared our daily hellos (and maybe a joke or two about the weather). I...

With CNN airing its new “Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain” this month, the public’s fascination with the late chef, writer and travel storyteller, who died in 2018, continues. Part of the interest may be due to Bourdain committing suicide and the difficulty for many to understand why someone at...

Dear Mayor Gainey: We are high school students concerned about climate change and the environment. Through our firsthand experiences and the stories that we have heard, we believe that it is essential to share our voice for the future of Pittsburgh and the world. We urge you to fulfill and...

Thank you, Gov. Tom Wolf, for pressing the Pennsylvania Legislature to immediately enact civil child sexual abuse statute of limitations reform so that thousands of middle-aged and older survivors can bring predators and their institutional enablers to justice. For far too long, perpetrators and the religious institutions, schools, summer camps,...

In the days leading up to Easter Sunday, Christians around the world participate in retellings of the story of the last days of Jesus’ life, from his entry into Jerusalem to the Last Supper and to his trial, crucifixion and resurrection. They may walk the Stations of the Cross, a...

As the Ukrainian people fiercely defend their nation and fight for their freedom, Pennsylvanians are eager to do what they can to weaken Russia and help Ukraine’s freedom fight. To be sure, Pennsylvania has already taken important steps to help Ukraine in this fight — pulling Russian-made products from the...

I can honestly say I was not particularly surprised by the question Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., posed to Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson at her confirmation hearing: “Can you provide a definition of the word ‘woman’?” I am not perplexed because it is obvious to me certain members of...

“The best way to conceal the truth is to hide it behind something of less significance.” – Confucius In 2008 during the Great Recession, Barack Obama hammered an $800 billion stimulus bill though Congress. Those who actually read it found it was a wolf in sheep’s clothing. It had little...

Every spring, school and district leaders ask teachers about their plans to return to teaching in the fall. They need to know how many teachers to begin recruiting for the next school year. These career conversations are currently taking place under the unprecedented circumstances brought on by the covid-19 pandemic....

Organizations’ failure to properly manage the servers they lease from cloud service providers can allow attackers to receive private data, research my colleagues and I conducted has shown. Cloud computing allows businesses to lease servers the same way they lease office space. It’s easier for companies to build and maintain...

A couple of years ago, it was toilet paper. But now, it’s more sporadic — maybe you’ve had to buy a different brand of coffee or forgo your favorite candy. But as supply chain disruptions continue, imagine what it would be like with no options on the shelves: no fresh...

Pennsylvania, where deep-blue and deep-red politics collide, is in the midst of an unprecedented primary election season. The May primary is the first one in the commonwealth’s 235-year history in which voters — except registered independents — will have the chance to vote for candidates in open gubernatorial and U.S....

Late last summer, the dedicated staff and volunteers who run church food pantries across our region noticed something was missing: families with kids. The parents and grandparents who had relied on these pantries to feed their children throughout the pandemic had disappeared. They weren’t dropping in for bags of macaroni...

In 2014, as Russia launched a proxy war in Eastern Ukraine and annexed Crimea, and in the years that followed, Russian hackers hammered Ukraine. The cyberattacks went so far as to knock out the power grid in parts of the country in 2015. Russian hackers stepped up their efforts against...

It’s hard to read the reports emerging from Bucha and other Kyiv suburbs, and nearly impossible to look at the images. Retreating Russian soldiers have left evidence of unthinkable brutality. Ordinary men and women lie dead on the street, in the dark mud and dirt, many shot, some with hands...

As the war in Ukraine continues, officials in the U.S. and Europe are sounding alarms about alleged war crimes being committed by Russian troops there. President Joe Biden has called Russian President Vladimir Putin a “war criminal,” as has the U.S. Senate, on the grounds that schools, hospitals and civilian...