Featured Commentary category, Page 5

One reason American voters handed the country’s reins back to President Donald Trump was the extreme inflation in housing prices that took place under his predecessor. The federal government has less influence over this issue than, say, California mayors and legislators — but whoever is in the White House can...

Pennsylvania is facing an urgent nursing shortage that threatens the foundation of our health care system. The numbers are staggering — by 2026, the state is projected to be short 20,000 nurses, exacerbating an already strained workforce. Without decisive action, hospitals and health care facilities across the commonwealth will struggle...

MUNICH, Germany — Last weekend will be remembered as the historic moment when the Trump administration broke America’s historic bonds with fellow democracies in Europe to pursue alliances with far-right extremist governments that admire Russia more than they do the United States. The drama took place at the annual Munich...

The president of the United States posted a possibly apocryphal quote often attributed to Napoleon Bonaparte on social media Saturday: “He who saves his Country does not violate any Law.” This is an indefensibly stupid thing for a president to say — at least absent the sort of situation in...

Last week, President Donald Trump shared this quote on Truth Social and X: “He who saves his country violates no Law.” I’ve learned with Trump not always to take him literally but to take him seriously. In this case, I am taking his comment very seriously. It appears that this...

Social Security’s deep popularity among voters has earned it a reputation as the third rail of politics, meaning Congress is afraid to touch it. But the program’s finances require reform, and soon. The trust fund set up to fill a shortfall between what the government takes in for Social Security...

Even as incomes rose in 2023, the number of Americans living in poverty went up. More and more people are struggling to afford their basic needs. But this is a problem we can actually solve. With a fully mobilized, multidimensional effort, the U.S. can slash the poverty rate — especially...

The need for clean, affordable, reliable sources of energy to power our homes and economy is growing more urgent as energy demands rise and the consequences of unchecked greenhouse gas emissions become increasingly evident in the extreme weather events threatening every community. Pennsylvania has long been an energy powerhouse and...

Gov. Josh Shapiro’s recent budget proposal to tax skill game revenue at 52% will fall well short of his estimated $8 billion projection over five years. How far short? To answer that question, one needs to look no further than Pennsylvania’s experience with tavern games. Tavern games, which are games...

The federal district courts have been standing up to Donald Trump’s illegal executive actions, blocking or pausing multiple orders from the denial of birthright citizenship to unprecedented data access for Elon Musk’s “Department of Government Efficiency.” It’s neither surprising nor especially worrisome that Musk is now attacking the courts —...

Should kids have access to smartphones in school? Some argue the smartphone problem leads to distraction. Others say smartphones are necessary for reasons related to safety or other concerns. In reality, it is a more complicated question than it appears. Yet, oftentimes, when complicated questions arise, broad state-level policies that...

In today’s digital age, the ubiquitous presence of cellphones has transformed them into essential tools for communication, information and entertainment. However, when placed in the hands of children under 16, these devices can become detrimental, leading to physical inactivity, social isolation and addiction driven by sophisticated algorithms. As a scientist...

President Trump has ordered the Treasury Department to stop minting pennies to save money. It costs almost four cents to make one and as the president seeks to reduce federal spending, the penny is a good, if largely symbolic, target. The nickel is even more expensive. It costs nearly 14...

Could the United States soon be joining the likes of Norway, Kuwait and Mongolia in having a national reserve to invest on projects of strategic interest? If President Donald Trump gets his way, then perhaps so. On Feb. 3, Trump issued an executive order calling for the creation of a...

Civil service is another term for “professional workforce” and we want this in government, right? And yet, as I write this, our government is being taken over by the opposite kind of worker. The uncredentialed Elon Musk is running a massive government operation. His team of similarly unaccredited private-sector tech...

Imagine a world in which a hurricane devastates the Gulf Coast, and the U.S. has no federal agency prepared to quickly send supplies, financial aid and temporary housing assistance. Could the states manage this catastrophic event on their own? Normally, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, known as FEMA, is prepared...

A cruel twist of fate led Jason Gowin to make a novel parenting decision. Days after his wife gave birth to their twin boys in 2019, she had a stroke. The doctors gave her two or three years to live. Gowin and his oldest son were devastated, but worse was...

As a physician with a long career in alternative medicine and who opposes pharmaceutical marketing, you might think I have a lot in common with Robert F Kennedy Jr. You’d be wrong. I’d be the first to argue that there are plenty of evidence-based alternative therapies. For example, chiropractic or...

President Donald Trump has spent a lifetime in the courts as both plaintiff and defendant, filing lawsuits to justify his actions and benefit his businesses or to defend himself against charges of illegality. For the next four years, however, he will mainly be a defendant as he forces the federal...

If there was any doubt President Donald Trump believes he is no longer bound by history or laws — either American or international — it was eclipsed by his astounding proposal that the United States “take over the Gaza Strip” and turn it into “the Riviera of the Middle East.”...

It’s time to rethink the notion that we Americans are too polarized to work together and get things done. And it’s time to get clear-eyed about what’s really holding us back and what it will take to help us move forward together. A few years ago, I engaged cross-sections of...

One could easily get the impression that corporate America is in full retreat from promoting diversity, equity and inclusion. Each news cycle seems to carry a headline about a rollback of diversity policies by another company, including Tractor Supply, Boeing, John Deere, Brown-Forman, Harley-Davidson, Lowe’s, Molson Coors, Ford, Toyota, Walmart,...

The NFL playoffs are an exciting time for football fans to watch the chase for the Super Bowl. It was a uniquely American obsession that has increasingly captured the attention of live sports fans worldwide. It’s also prime time for live sports piracy, and American lawmakers must enact measures to...

Newly inaugurated President Donald Trump ran on a platform of massive giveaways to billionaire oil and gas CEOs. Trump has pledged to roll back historic clean energy programs — transformational investments that are creating thousands of union jobs and positioning the United States as an international leader in the 21st-century...

The startling news that DeepSeek, an unexpected Chinese AI powerhouse led by 39-year-old founder Liang Wenfeng, has unveiled a chip and software package that could be superior to America’s revolutionary ChatGPT shocked world financial markets and forced political and industrial leaders to rethink their efforts to control the distribution of...