Opinion category, Page 273
Letter to the editor: Respect our country and its treasures
People today, particularly the younger generations, think it’s OK to bastardize and modernize the documents that created this great nation. They think a modern rendition of the homage to our flag or a modernized version of the national anthem is OK, cute, creative, whatever you want to call it. Taking...
Letter to the editor: Frick Park not place for sensory classroom
Frick Park is planning an outdoor sensory classroom for specialized outside activities for all abilities. Frick Park has multiple issues as a park in decay. One is bikers generating erosion by creating challenging slopes. Another is the expanding deer population seeking food. Protect our Parks and Gardens has been addressing...
Editorial: Harrisburg ethics shouldn’t be a game of chance — or skill
Should Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board officials meet privately with casino lobbyists? That’s a good question. State Sen. Gene Yaw, R-Lycoming County, and state Rep. Jared Solomon, D-Philadelphia, showed a rare moment of bipartisan and bicameral agreement when they asked the Office of the Attorney General and the state Ethics Commission...
Letter to the editor: Fight Alzheimer’s on The Longest Day
Today, June 21, people across the world will participate in an activity of their choice for The Longest Day. The Longest Day is held on the day with the most light — the summer solstice — to fight the darkness of Alzheimer’s disease. The Longest Day participants can support the...
Joyce M. Davis: Pa. highway collapse shows how vulnerable our roads are
Traffic has been severed in both directions on one of America’s busiest and most economically important thoroughfares. It will be months before I-95 is back to normal in the Philadelphia area, after a truck carrying thousands of gallons of gasoline crashed into a wall and burst into flames June 12....
Jason Kavulich and Bill Johnston-Walsh: Pa. needs a master plan written for — and by — older adults
Gov. Josh Shapiro recently signed an executive order laying the groundwork for creating a Pennsylvania Master Plan for Older Adults. The master plan will serve as a roadmap to building and maintaining a commonwealth where every resident can live and thrive at any age. AARP and the Department of Aging...
Letter to the editor: Kennedy’s voice not fair game for criticism
Perhaps the writer of the letter “Biden and Kennedy are the best Democrats have?” (June 7, TribLIVE) should have done his homework before commenting on Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s speaking voice. You don’t criticize someone with a disability. Kennedy suffers from spasmodic dysphonia. This disorder causes spasms of the larynx...
Letter to the editor: Homeless shelter closing a mistake
Allegheny County recently announced the closure of the Smithfield Street homeless shelter by the end of June without a clear plan to relocate its clients. This is a mistake. Closing this shelter will harm hundreds of our neighbors. There has been an estimated 24% increase in people experiencing homelessness in...
Editorial: Taylor Swift and Juneteenth prove peaceful, joyful fun is still possible
Pittsburgh does love a party, and there’s no party like a huge arena concert. On Friday and Saturday, the city welcomed fans of one of the biggest stars in the world when Taylor Swift brought her “Eras” tour to Acrisure Stadium. To say the turnout was heavy is an understatement....
Letter to the editor: Taylor Swift’s concert anything but
The merch says “Eras Tour,” though “Erathon Tour” would be more fitting. It’s a 3½-hour powerhouse, ranking among the longer half of the extended “Lord of the Rings” cuts. Attendees missed the endurance memo, dancing at sprinter’s pace. By the time “Midnights” hit, traditional applause was replaced by desperate gasps...
Tom Purcell: Good luck paying Uncle Sam’s debt
The national debt broke the $32 trillion barrier this week. It’s a number so huge it’s incomprehensible to the average citizen. We knew $32 trillion was coming. It just got here a lot faster than the money experts thought, thanks to the roughly $5 trillion that the feds spent to...
James Cato and Evan Clark: Pa.’s rivers have a plastics problem, and nobody is willing to act
All Pennsylvanians have the right to clean water. But there is a plastics problem in our rivers, and nobody has been willing to address it properly. We know who is currently causing the problem, and we know how to fix it. And, there is precedent to take action — watershed...
Stacy Garrity: First responders protect all of us in our time of need. They deserve basic mental health benefits.
A police officer arrives at the scene of a robbery and disarms the culprit before anyone is injured. A firefighter rushes into a burning building — not thinking about their own safety — and saves a child. An EMT arrives at the scene of a crash, treats anyone who’s injured...
Letter to the editor: We should all celebrate Juneteenth
Juneteenth should be a day of celebration for all Americans. June 19, 1865, was a great day in America. While in the midst of creating a new government, many of our forefathers realized that slavery was wrong even though it was practiced throughout the world. Our country was so divided...
Letter to the editor: Good people in our community
My wife and I attended a concert recently in Greensburg’s St. Clair Park. We are in our late 80s, and my wife is recovering from a broken shoulder, so it was not an easy task. The place was jammed with people even though we went over an hour early. We...
Editorial: Bill to help combat blight statewide
If efforts of Pennsylvania municipalities to diminish blight in their neighborhoods were a video, it would be an endless loop replaying the same story. A building falls into disrepair; an absentee landlord declines to fix it, relying on property rights within the law to preclude the government seizing it. The...
Letter to the editor: City’s contradictory recycling policy
The City of Pittsburgh in its latest recycling plan is distributing blue containers to households with the objective of discontinuing use of blue bags laid at the curb. However, it seems flawed. With the requirement that everything recyclable must be placed in the containers vs. blue bags at the curb,...
Editorial cartoons for the week of June 19
Editorial cartoons for the week of June 19....
Mallard Fillmore cartoons for the week of June 19
Mallard Fillmore cartoons for the week of June 19....
Danielle M. Reiff: White women and racial (in)justice — it’s not black and white
Mayella Ewell is one of the most complex characters in “To Kill a Mockingbird.” She is a white woman who makes sexual advances toward her Black neighbor, Tom Robinson. When he refuses, she falsely accuses him of rape. During Tom’s trial, we learn that Mayella’s father is a drunkard who...
Jason C. Bivins: How Pat Robertson changed Christian media and made it politically influential
For Americans growing up between the 1950s and the ’80s, religion was a predictable presence on television: There were weekly Sunday morning shows and religious programming that issued end-time warnings, sought monetary contributions or staged faith healings. But none of those covered news. Pat Robertson, who died June 8, changed...
Letter to the editor: Is Trump above the law?
The responses of congressional Republicans to President Trump’s indictment, as described in the article, “Trump’s GOP defenders in Congress leap into action on charges after months of preparation” (June 10, TribLIVE) show, that these supporters are more concerned about Donald Trump than about the safety of our nation and the...
Editorial: Big events like Taylor Swift concerts mean economic boon for local economies
There was no way of missing the fact Taylor Swift came to town. Acrisure Stadium may have been built for football, but this past week, the real score was put up by a 5-foot, 10-inch blond with a sequin-spangled wardrobe and a catalog of catchy, autobiographical hits. The two Pittsburgh...
Letter to the editor: When will we see another victory?
Recently we paused to observe Memorial Day and recognize those who made the ultimate sacrifice to protect our flag and nation. These heroes brought us our glorious back-to-back World War victories. Many others fought in wars (conflicts, conflagrations, etc.) not officially declared or fully supported by a government that put...
Letter to the editor: We should all be proud of who we are
It’s Pride Month, and LGBTQ people celebrate who they are — and rightfully so. Yet, they are shunned by many in communities all over in this country because they are “different.” We are all different, from the color of our skin to our religious beliefs. With the spewing of hatred...
