Opinion category, Page 295
Letter to the editor: Zappala’s seeking death penalty is out of step with Pa. Democrats
Allegheny County District Attorney Steven Zappala’s announcement that his office will seek the death penalty against Jonathan Morris (“DA to seek death penalty against man charged in Pittsburgh triple homicide,” March 26, TribLIVE) says all that local Democrats should need to know about his unfitness to represent the party in...
Laurels & lances: Negotiated security and serious pranks
Laurel: To a summer tradition. Kennywood will be open. No, don’t check your zipper. Just rest assured that the West Mifflin amusement park will operate as usual this summer. There were questions about that in March when Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. said he would go to...
Letter to the editor: Racism in Tennessee
The state of Tennessee added another chapter to its sordid history of racism when Republican legislators voted to expel three duly elected colleagues charged with violating a laughable rule of acceptable “decorum.” Guilty only of joining protesters demanding gun control, following the killing of six people at a nearby school,...
Paul Kengor: Pa.’s outrageous gas prices and gas taxes
My family just took a long road trip to Florida. We have a 2010 Ford E-350, a 12-passenger van. It’s an ugly thing, with a 30-gallon tank. I call it our “Baptist Church van,” though we’re Catholic. I’d buy a new model, but they’re obscenely expensive. So, I cling to...
Rep. Arvind Venkat: Medical debt, a uniquely American problem
Medical debt is the most common form of debt in the United States, plaguing more than 100 million Americans. Other industrialized nations do not bear the load of medical debt as we do. So only Americans will ever require a GoFundMe or similar crowd-funding page for a beloved community member...
Cal Thomas: Kindness could go a long way in politics
From the beginning politics has always been a contact sport with competing interests attempting to achieve power over each other. A friend recently said to me he has never seen it so bad as it is today. The friend appears to be in his 50s, so he missed the divisions...
Letter to the editor: Vote Smail for Pa. Superior Court
Judge Harry F. Smail Jr. has been a judge of the Court of Common Pleas in Westmoreland County since 2014. He was appointed by Gov. Tom Corbett and then won both parties’ nominations to a full term. Initially, Smail served in the Family Court division, proving to be very effective...
Letter to the editor: Comparing Civil, Ukraine wars
The North defeated the South in the Civil War. The Civil War has parallels to the war between Ukraine and Russia. The North had more factories, a standing army, a greater population and more raw materials to manufacture munitions. What it didn’t have was good generals. The South lacked many...
Editorial: Figure out the source for state police fund money first
The idea of a dedicated fund to support the state police is a perfect illustration of Pennsylvania’s ongoing governmental challenges. Gov. Josh Shapiro wants to pay the annual bill for the agency — about $1.4 billion — by replacing the $500 million or so that comes from the Motor License...
Letter to the editor: Drag racing and roundabouts
$25 million to $30 million to revitalize Route 981 (“Design in final phase for Route 981 upgrade between Palmer airport and Pleasant Unity,” Feb. 12, TribLIVE)? This plan is to moderate sharp curves and steep grades and improve drainage and traffic flow. So then we add in the roundabouts, at...
Jonah Goldberg: Putin’s war on Ukraine is in the sinister tradition of the Russian war machine
Vladimir Putin and his war machine get more respect than they deserve from the West. This may seem a bit counterintuitive. After all, just 9% of Americans have a favorable opinion of Russia and the International Criminal Court has recently issued an arrest warrant for Putin for war crimes. But...
Morgan Polikoff: 40 years later, are our schools ‘mediocre’?
The National Commission on Excellence in Education’s release of a report titled “A Nation at Risk” in 1983 was a pivotal point in the history of American education. The report used dire language, lamenting that “the educational foundations of our society are presently being eroded by a rising tide of...
Ronald Suny: Finland, NATO and the evolving new world order — what small nations know
In the world of geopolitics, great powers make, break and play by their own rules. Smaller states largely have to make do with adjusting to the world as determined by others. Which is why the decision by Finland — a country of just 5.5 million people, noted for decades as...
Habibeh Khoshbouei: Misuse of Adderall promotes stigma, mistrust for patients who need it
The nationwide shortages of Adderall that began in fall 2022 have brought renewed attention to the beleaguered drug, which is used to treat attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and narcolepsy. Adderall became a go-to drug for ADHD over the past two decades but quickly came under fire because of overprescription and misuse. In...
Letter to the editor: E-ZPass costs the people who don’t have it
Regarding the editorial “Make E-ZPass easier for low-income drivers” (April 3, TribLIVE): You forget the people who don’t use E-ZPass because they seldom drive on toll roads. E-ZPass does have a cost. Although I live in Pennsylvania near Washington, the only time I use a toll road is when I...
Letter to the editor: Politicians, guns and violence
I wish something could be done about gun violence. I think nothing will ever get done. I deeply feel sorry and sad for the three children and three adults killed at the school in Nashville. There is nothing anyone can say or do to appease their loss. It seems this...
Letter to the editor: Saturday vs. Monday deer opener
I would like to address two recent letters to the editor: “Saturday deer opener takes fun out of hunting” (March 24, TribLIVE) and “Saturday deer opener works fine” (March 25, TribLIVE). I agree with the writer of the second letter, that we had to accept antler restrictions. None of my...
Editorial: Should judges be allowed to prevent death penalty cases in Pennsylvania?
Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas Judge Anthony M. Mariani no longer plans on seating a death-penalty jury for cases brought to trial. Capital punishment technically is something that could happen in Pennsylvania. It’s a penalty that is on the books. It is used only for first-degree murder but requires...
Letter to the editor: Time to end taxpayer-paid vehicles for county employees
Let’s continue to beat the dead horse and reclassify it as living impaired. Why does any Westmoreland County employee have a taxpayer-paid vehicle to commute to work? According to Rich Cholodofsky’s latest expose (“Westmoreland DA vehicle usage declines as a result of crash,” April 5, TribLIVE), the county coroner uses...
Letter to the editor: Let’s work together to better City of Pittsburgh
In February, I started a new job in the City of Pittsburgh. I was thrilled to start working downtown in a bright new space. I’ve made Allegheny County my home for more than 30 years. I have seen and heard from various media outlets that the City of Pittsburgh “is...
Bill Kovarik: Reporting is not espionage — but history shows that journalists doing the former get accused of the latter
The detention of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich in Russia on espionage charges marks an unusual throwback to the old Soviet tactics for handling foreign correspondents. Authorities in Vladimir Putin’s Russia have increasingly used criminal charges against their own journalists as part of a “increasing crackdown on free and...
Hallie Dong: Early school start times harm students’ health, success
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! It’s 5:30 a.m., and all around the North Allegheny School District, alarms jolt teens from their dreams. They wake up, contemplate life choices, then groggily crawl out of bed, sometimes eat breakfast, and try to catch the school bus in time. Sleep deprivation, whether due to late-night...
Letter to the editor: Will we hold Biden accountable for immigrant deaths?
I read the article “Pence says Trump ‘endangered my family’ on Jan. 6” (March 12, TribLIVE). Former Vice President Mike Pence said, “I had no right to overturn the election. And (Trump’s) reckless words endangered my family and everyone at the Capitol that day, and I know history will hold...
Letter to the editor: Immigrants exploited in U.S.
The letter “DeSantis would be better than Biden” (March 28, TribLIVE) notes that “Over the last two years, our (shining city on a hill) has been tarnished” by illegal immigration. Both political parties use immigration as a political football. Neither one wants to solve the issue. They would rather have...
Letter to the editor: Legislation targeting university funding limits students’ opportunities
Eric Nelson is proposing legislation to decrease funding to the University of Pittsburgh, University of Pennsylvania and Temple University. These are premier public schools in the state. The University of Pennsylvania is an Ivy League school and supports one of the few veterinary schools in the nation. This legislation is...
