Featured Commentary category, Page 89

My junior and senior years in high school were 1968 and 1969; five decades later, I can still remember some of the main events of that era: the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert F. Kennedy, the bombing of Cambodia, the Apollo 8 spaceflight that orbited the moon, and...

Instead of standing in line at polling places, hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvanians are signing up online to vote by mail in the state’s June 2 primary — a herculean effort to avoid the spread of the deadly coronavirus (the deadline to apply for a mail-in ballot is May 26)....

There’s been an enormous amount of talk lately about viruses. For the SARS-CoV-2 virus, given its ability to sicken and kill us, we speak as if we are fighting a war against an enemy bent on destroying us, as if the virus has a consciousness and developed a war plan....

History is being made in the energy industry. But that history has been both positive and negative. The latter, of course, is best showcased by the recent “contango” in the crude oil industry that pushed futures prices well into the negatives as reported by outlets worldwide. Those prices have since...

Fred Rogers called upon us to look for the helpers during dark times. And right now, our helpers are everywhere. They’re in our hospitals, driving our buses, stocking our shelves, delivering our packages and so much more. They’re keeping us safe and healthy while we get through this pandemic. Last...

Insults. Threats. Bullying. Last week, Gov. Tom Wolf’s video statement featured all three. Wolf launched these salvos against his fellow Pennsylvanians — local elected officials, job creators, and workers in eight counties — seeking to provide for themselves and their families. He called them “cowards” and “deserters” for assessing local...

Prior to covid-19, our nation was silently witnessing another growing epidemic — suicide. Specifically, among first responders. Many members of this at-risk population are now on the front lines of the pandemic, working in high-stress professions where the nature of their work leads to experiencing trauma or post-traumatic stress disorder....

In the last few weeks, Pennsylvania Republicans have ramped up the political theatre in a brazen attempt at politicizing the Wolf administration’s response to the coronavirus pandemic. From staged political rallies organized by out-of-state, extreme right-wing agitators to attempts at strong-arming local officials to ignore the governor’s executive order on...

In late March, Congress passed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act. In part, it calls for $13.2 billion to be provided for K-12 education across the country, with an estimated $523.8 million for Pennsylvania, according to the U.S. Department of Education. That money has been earmarked for...

Pennsylvania manufacturers helped save countless American lives during the coronavirus pandemic — the least we can do in return is to help protect their jobs in the upcoming presidential election. As the coronavirus outbreak spread throughout the world, many health care experts and journalists speculated that the U.S. would not...

Like many of us out there, I’m worried about a new Great Depression. And like fewer of us, I was born in the last one — in 1938. My parents, Chuck and Pauline, met and married in 1926. They started their family a year later in Freedom, Beaver County, in...

Nothing about the spread of the coronavirus or the nature of the disease suggests that it’s safe to get back to business as usual. And yet “reopen” is the word on almost every American’s lips, despite apocalyptic warnings from public heath experts suggesting that, without an aggressive national public health...

Dennis Davin is the secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development. Russell Redding is the secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture. Since the beginning of time, food has been something that brings people together. Pennsylvania is home to more than 26,500 restaurants — from the classics...

Dr. Rachel Levine is Pennsylvania Secretary of Health. The 2019 novel coronavirus pandemic is taking an emotional toll on everyone. But one group of Pennsylvanians is facing unique challenges during this pandemic: our front-line workers in health care. As a physician, I understand how emotionally exhausting it is to care...

Pittsburgh Public Works Director Mike Gable made quite a splash recently when he ordered that the West Penn Skate Park in Polish Hill be filled with sand. He did this in reaction to people’s desire to use the skate park for its actual purpose: skateboarding. Speaking of the young people...

Gov. Tom Wolf is bringing to life the maxim: Never let a good crisis go to waste. As the covid-19 pandemic continues, Wolf wants to roll out a new program that will cripple the state financially and supposedly fix a problem the governor himself is causing. Through his Commonwealth Civilian...

Michael Madison is a professor of law at the University of Pittsburgh who published Pittsblog, a 2004 to 2011 weblog about economic development and Pittsburgh’s post-steel renewal. Christopher Briem is a regional economist with the Urban & Regional Analysis program at the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Social and Urban...

The story of American women’s fight for their right to vote is full of inspiring examples of persevering through difficult times, and Pittsburgh women led the way. During the current health crisis, we must find sources of inspiration that can help us cope during these unprecedented times. As vice chair...

I can honestly say what many cannot — I love my job. As a software engineer, I love the challenges and rewards, the product, the company and the intelligent, passionate, infuriatingly arrogant but wildly talented colleagues I have come to call friends. Before coronavirus forced me to set up shop...

Under fire for his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, President Trump, his campaign and his party are moving to lay blame for the 80,000 U.S. dead at the feet of the Communist Party of China and, by extension, its longtime general secretary, President Xi Jinping. There is talk on Capitol...

Jeff Kupfer is a former acting deputy secretary of energy in the Bush administration and an adjunct professor of policy in Carnegie Mellon University’s Heinz College. Each day brings more evidence of the economic wrecking ball unleashed by the coronavirus. And as the country deals with the crisis, that wrecking...

Dear Rep. John Joyce, Thank you for your op-ed “America must hold China accountable for coronavirus” (May 6, TribLIVE). Dr. Joyce, some of us feel that the word “partly” might have been inserted between “China” and “accountable.” As someone who has lived through the administrations of 14 presidents, I have...

Every parent has warily confronted the hypothetical question: What would you do if you suspected your child was unwell? Not physically, but emotionally unwell, or mentally unstable? Imagine learning your teenager, for example, had been yelling demeaning slurs at the girls in his class, harassing them and calling them names....

Pennsylvania’s fight against the covid-19 pandemic has upended its economy and rendered one in four workers jobless, all while putting our seniors in care homes at greater risk because of a serious policy flaw by Gov. Tom Wolf. In mid-March, the governor issued an executive order — he has run...

Recently, many politicians were in such a hurry to ban plastic bags. California and Hawaii banned them, then New York. Then Oregon, Connecticut, Maine and Vermont passed laws against them. More than 400 cities did, too. Why? Because plastic bags are evil , didn’t you know? “Look at the damage...