Letters to the Editor category, Page 229

Indiana University of Pennsylvania has announced plans to restructure academic programs. Part of the plan is to eliminate 128 faculty positions, nearly one-quarter of current faculty. Eighty-one faculty members were notified last week that their jobs would be eliminated (“Indiana University of Pennsylvania notifies 81 faculty members of pending job...

I’m so glad that this election is over. I’m fed up with getting at least five political ads a day in the mail — wish I could put “return to sender” and mail them all back, plus the annoying phone calls and TV ads. Enough is enough. Keith J. Piecka...

Life is precious. God is the creator of life. Black lives matter. Absolutely. Blue lives matter. Absolutely. Handicapped lives matter. Absolutely. White lives matter. Absolutely. Baby lives matter. Well, not really. God creates lives, but politicians decide which babies live and which babies die. Insane! Francis P. Murrman Sr. Greensburg...

I agree with taking down Columbus’ statue because the taxpayers will be saved millions of dollars. No city or county or federal employee will be off that day, right? I mean, surely we wouldn’t give a day off to government employees to celebrate a mass murderer, right? Peter A. Mamula...

In 2017, my wife and I purchased a new car. The dealer gave us a new license plate. Within the next year, we noticed that the plate was starting to peel in strips. In August, the service manager at the dealer told us the car did not pass the yearly...

The first full week in November is National Animal Shelter Appreciation Week. Animal shelters provide much-needed services to keep our communities healthy and safe. Animal shelters provide a bridge between homeless animals and people wanting to share their lives with an animal. We are very fortunate in the Alle-Kiski Valley...

BLM, equality, diversity: Baseball, football, basketball — I want to see the same number of white players as there are Black players. I want some Catholics, Muslims, Jews, Chinese, Japanese … . Silly? You bet! Frances Olyarnik Hempfield...

Once upon a time in America, bad men wore masks and robbed people. Today in America, bad men wear masks run for high political office, then use governance to rob people. The eighth Commandment is: “Thou shalt not steal.” David Scandrol Lower Burrell...

On Columbus Day I was thoroughly amused by Larry Richert’s interview on KDKA Radio with Italian Sons and Daughters of America President Basil Russo, during which both host and guest expressed the belief that by removing the Christopher Columbus statue in Schenley Park, the city is erasing history and depriving...

To our beloved community of Monroeville and beyond, The Monroeville Interfaith Ministerium reflects the diversity of our community, nation and world. Each of our faith traditions — Hindu, Unitarian Universalist, Baha’i, Sikh, Jewish, Jain, Christian, both Catholic and Protestant, and Muslim — share a common core of love and respect...

I keep reading about all the deaths that covid-19 has caused, and it is a staggering number of deaths in this country. My concern is whether these deaths are being reported accurately. I’ve dealt in the past with deaths of family members and how death certificates are completed. I have...

The Roman ruler Julian, who reigned for a brief period in the mid-fourth century A.D. and who despised Christianity, had this very specific complaint about the early Christians: “As children are coaxed with cake, so have these Christians enticed the poor to join them by kindness. Strangers they have secured...

I have grown tired of watching “peaceful” protests on television. So many have turned into violence, burning, looting and even death. I believe most of these protesters are paid hooligans bused into cities to protest incidents they are not truly involved with, paid $15 to $18 an hour to participate...

I would like to point out some facts about the conduct of the election. First, you can no longer vote a straight-party ticket by marking that option. The option was eliminated in the new election law. If you want to vote for all the candidates of your party, you must...

Everyone is familiar with the joke about the drunk looking for his keys under the streetlight, because that is where the light is best, even though he dropped his keys elsewhere. I feel there is something similar going on with the notion that closing schools will somehow affect the spread...

As Election Day nears, it’s impossible not to be more and more excited for the results. Finally learning which candidate will be able to start fulfilling all our hopes and dreams, starting Nov. 4. Just think, all your wants, wishes and desires will soon begin to be filled. Sometime between...

Voters in Pennsylvania need to know that if they received a mail-in ballot, they can trade that mail-in ballot at their polling location to vote on Election Day. They need to bring the ballot and the two envelopes that came with it. Democratic voters should be doing that to ensure...

Since its beginning, the moral standard of American society has been based on faith and family values, and that all people have certain unalienable rights endowed by our creator (per our Declaration of Independence). George Washington stated that “Religion and morality are the essential pillars of civil society.” Other founders...

Growing up in an evangelical church, I recall “Sunday School,” where kindly parents taught us young teenagers the story of David fighting the fierce Philistine, Goliath. With only a sling in his hand, but also deep faith in God, David defeated a seasoned army champion! Later, I learned that the...

Woodward and Bernstein set the journalistic standard in the Watergate scandal. A third-rate burglary set into motion a chain of events that led to the resignation of a president. There was Deep Throat. Follow the money. All the president’s men. The Washington Post set the standard for journalistic excellence in...

The Democrats elected President Trump and they haven’t learned one thing from their blundering performance under President Obama. Instead, have doubled-down on that eight-year folly. Sobering up from their defeat would have taught them that their shrillness in insisting on control, silence, obedience and conformism is not working for them....

With a record number of people across the country voting by mail, the U.S. Postal Service is actively working to ensure the secure, timely delivery of the nation’s election mail. This is our No. 1 priority, and we value our partnership with state and local election boards to ensure a...

Peter, Paul & Mary had a hit with “Where Have All the Flowers Gone?” in 1962. Today a new hit song might be “Where Have All the Adults Gone?” I have exercised my right to vote since I was 18. I knew the date of the election and voted, and...

I believe the current partial and/or complete closings of businesses, schools and sporting events would come to an abrupt halt (and prevent future closings) if the salary and per diem of the governor, lieutenant governor, state legislators, and city mayors and council members were terminated for the duration of the...

Elections are about choices, and nowhere is there a bigger contrast than in the Pennsylvania state treasurer race. Our current treasurer, Joe Torsella, is a member of the Philadelphia elite. I don’t believe he has any idea how middle-class, hard-working Pennsylvania families in the state struggle to make ends meet....