Featured Commentary category, Page 9

Russian nationals have been arrested in Germany on charges of planning to attack military facilities. English prosecutors claim that Russian agents set fire to a warehouse containing aid for Ukraine. Sweden is investigating alleged Russian-sponsored acts of sabotage. The Czech government accuses Moscow of sabotaging its railways. Estonia, meanwhile, has...

LOS ANGELES — When I used to complain about the divisiveness of American politics, my son, Henry, would often suggest I do something about it. Henry had been a poll worker during the 2020 elections, when he was 17. It was his first official job and he loved the experience....

Like hundreds of local families, I have been left scrambling last month after finding out my child’s school — one of 39 in the city — would switch to remote learning due to extreme heat. Days with a dangerously high heat index are happening earlier and earlier, and so many...

Many in southwestern Pennsylvania were horrified by the recent gut-wrenching treatment of U.S. tourists in Turks and Caicos, including Somerset County resident Bryan Hagerich. His family’s vacation started out normally, but when he tried to leave the islands, their beach getaway suddenly turned into a nightmarish reality. As Hagerich describes,...

June 7 will be a bittersweet day in TV history, as the final “Wheel of Fortune” hosted by Pat Sajak airs. Sajak announced his retirement plans a year ago, allowing himself time for a VICT_RY L_P, naming of a successor and cleaning all the spare bullion out of the sofa...

The verdict is in. Former President Donald Trump was found guilty Thursday of all 34 felony counts against him in the New York hush money case in connection with falsifying records around a payment made to silence porn star Stormy Daniels shortly before the 2016 election. Now the real test...

As Pennsylvania’s budget discussions and negotiations continue, there is an urgent issue that needs immediate attention: the state’s outdated and restrictive net operating loss (NOL) carryforward provisions. For too long, Pennsylvania has lagged behind the rest of the country in providing a fair and supportive tax environment for businesses, particularly...

Free and fair elections, the foundation of our democracy, face an unprecedented array of threats as the next one approaches. While some of these threats are well-known, others go largely unnoticed, with potentially serious consequences. Among the latter is a dangerous attempt to persuade one of our financial regulators to...

Homeownership has long been a cornerstone of the American dream. I have 12 nieces and nephews, and as they reach young adulthood and try to establish their careers, they are daunted by the soaring cost of homeownership in a way their parents and grandparents never were. In 1960, about 68...

The former Western allies will shortly begin commemorating the 80th anniversary of their greatest World War II achievement, the June 6 landings in Normandy, forever famed as D-Day. The pomp and circumstance of the grand events to be attended by President Joe Biden and other national leaders are entirely justified...

It’s of course true that come Nov. 5, the nation’s voters could well decide to shrug off the historic guilty verdict that a Manhattan jury rendered against Donald Trump on Thursday afternoon. And that is the conclusion many have already reached about the seismic event that just took place in...

It is no accident that the U.S. is a world leader in innovation. A major reason we hold this advantage over other nations and the European Union is due to many countries following the European model, which leans so heavily into regulation. But when it comes to the proposed merger...

Despite what some Iranian leaders say to the gullible West, denying their intention to build nuclear weapons, Tehran’s pursuit of weapons-grade fissile material and the development of ballistic missiles to potentially deliver a nuclear warhead continues unimpeded. Though it is obvious to anyone paying the least bit of attention, The...

For decades, Jewish and Muslim Pennsylvanians have inched closer to one another. With each interfaith marriage officiated and each community event stage shared, connections between these two great faiths have multiplied and strengthened. Then came Oct. 7. Since that terrible day and the many terrible days after, our commonwealth’s Jews...

In 1859, the first oil well was drilled in Titusville. That action by Edwin Drake sparked what has become the modern global petroleum industry. Since then, oil and gas wells have proliferated throughout Pennsylvania. Unfortunately, so too has the number of abandoned and orphaned wells. The Department of Environmental Protection...

Fifty-six years ago in August 1968, Richard Nixon achieved what The New York Times called “the greatest reversal of fortune in American political history.” Times columnist James Reston went further, calling it “the greatest comeback since Lazarus.” This from a newspaper, along with The Washington Post, that hated Nixon, as...

In May 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its landmark decision to overturn the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA), paving the way for legal sports betting across the country. Six years later, 38 states and Washington, D.C., now have legal wagering markets, working together with legal gaming operators,...

Will the threats associated with artificial intelligence be as bad as some fear? Or will AI be relatively benign? Could the answer be somewhere in between? Perspectives on AI abound. Whether it be in medicine, security or education, new applications in search of an AI advantage continue to grow. This...

We know the history of President Abraham Lincoln choosing political rivals to serve in critical positions in his Cabinet and administration. He chose William H. Seward as secretary of state, Salmon P. Chase as secretary of the treasury and Edward Bates as attorney general, all politicians who opposed him to...

With all the misinformation spread about “trans” people and about “only two sexes,” the scientific evidence for individuals born with both male and female characteristics has not been part of the national conversation. These individuals, currently referred to as “intersex,” are those who, due to genetic variations, have both male...

When I entered the world of professional journalism more than four decades ago, I quickly discovered that certain colleagues felt so strongly about the mere appearance of political bias that they abstained from voting. This is not true of most reporters, but you can still find some who choose not...

For 107 years, Puerto Ricans have lived as second-class U.S. citizens. Just last month, the U.S. Commission for Civil Rights’ Puerto Rico Advisory Committee released a memorandum highlighting the subjugation of Puerto Rico and revealing continuing disparities faced by its 3.2 million U.S. citizens. The memo exposed a sad yet...

Every so often, whether Puerto Rico should be granted statehood becomes a hot topic, especially inside D.C.’s Beltway. Historically, the people of Puerto Rico have generally voted against becoming the 51st state. However, that has not stopped many from advocating for Puerto Rican statehood, which would assuredly result in two...

The opioid epidemic has left a trail of devastation across the United States, claiming countless lives and tearing apart communities. In 2022 alone more than 110,000 Americans succumbed to a drug overdose with opioids accounting for nearly 70% of those deaths. Meanwhile, fentanyl and counterfeit pills continue to flood America...

As lawmakers and regulators in the U.S. consider policy born of their Big Tech concerns such as data privacy and artificial intelligence, they should carefully consider how such changes could end up trampling the small and midsize businesses that drive innovation and competition. While policymakers may have Google and Facebook...