commentary

COMMENTARY
Construction workers in Minnesota on a job site

Opinion: It’s time to restore dignity to construction work

BY: - October 3, 2023

By Stephen Herzenberg​​ The construction industry in the United States has a rich history, once known for providing quality jobs that were a pathway to the middle class to millions of workers. Over the past 50+ years, however, the quality of construction jobs here in Pennsylvania and across the country has significantly deteriorated, resulting in adverse effects for workers […]

COMMENTARY

The March on Washington happened 60 years ago. Today, the work continues

BY: - August 25, 2023

On August 26, we will mark the 60th anniversary of the March on Washington in what is being called a Continuation, Not a Commemoration.  We will join thousands of people at the Lincoln Memorial, recommitting to the fights for freedom, justice, equality, and protection of our most fundamental rights and the fight against hate. We’ll […]

COMMENTARY
Students, families, and education advocates join Children First and Education Voters of Pennsylvania to host a rally on the Capitol steps to “ring the bells of justice,” and call for equitable funding for Pennsylvania public schools. The rally, which took place Friday, Nov. 12, 2021, occurred on the first day of the landmark trial that could change how Pennsylvania funds its 500 school districts. (Capital-Star photo by Marley Parish)

Pa.’s public school system doesn’t serve low-income communities | Opinion

BY: - August 11, 2023

Communities of color have long waited for public institutions to work for our communities as much as any other. It is time we live up to that ideal, and for the governor and legislators to respond to the Court’s clarion call to finally fund our public schools with the resources and programs needed so all students have an equal opportunity to succeed.

COMMENTARY
Pennsylvania Capitol Building. May 24, 2022. Harrisburg, Pa. (Photo by Amanda Berg, for the Capital-Star).

Sunshine Act abuse should not be tolerated | Opinion

BY: - August 9, 2023

Since 2021 the Sunshine Act, or state open-meetings law, requires that a government agency make its meeting agenda available at least 24 hours in advance of a public meeting. The agency must post the agenda on its publicly accessible internet website, if it has one, as well as at the agency office and at the location of the meeting. In addition, copies of the agenda must be made available to individuals in attendance at the meeting.

COMMENTARY
STUDENT DEBT ART

Biden forgives student debt, brings joy, provokes outrage | Fletcher McClellan

BY: - August 30, 2022

The average public university student borrows $32,880 to obtain a bachelor’s degree. Students at private, non-profit institutions borrow $35,983, and private, for-profit students borrow $42,551.

COMMENTARY

Taiwan dominates the world’s supply of computer chips – no wonder the U.S. is worried | Opinion

BY: - August 8, 2022

One aspect of Nancy Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan that has been largely overlooked is her meeting with Mark Lui, chairman of the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation (TSMC). Pelosi’s trip coincided with U.S. efforts to convince TSMC – the world’s largest chip manufacturer, on which the U.S. is heavily dependent – to establish a manufacturing base in the U.S. and to stop making advanced chips for Chinese companies.

COMMENTARY

Red-state Kansas sends a message to right-wing theocrats | Dick Polman

BY: - August 8, 2022

When high court theocrat Samuel Alito wrote his screed abolishing the constitutional right to an abortion, he insisted – quoting the late rightwing justice Antonin Scalia – that the issue of abortion should be “resolved like most questions in our democracy, by citizens trying to persuade one another and then voting.”

COMMENTARY

Your plane landed safely — thank the bureaucrats at the FAA | J. Patrick Coolican

BY: - August 7, 2022

By J. Patrick Coolican A faddish phrase on the right is something called “the administrative state,” which refers to the federal workforce deputized by Congress to craft and enforce rules over the environment, banking, health care, product safety, mass communications, the power grid, etc. A recent profile of the Claremont Institute — which has the unenviable task […]

COMMENTARY

Here’s what Mastriano won’t be doing on ‘day one’ | Patrick Beaty

BY: - August 5, 2022

There are basically three kinds of actions a governor can take immediately upon assuming that high office. New governors can appoint their senior staff and nominate department heads to carry out administration policy. They can issue executive orders instructing government agencies to act in certain ways. And they can propose new laws for the General Assembly to consider. 

COMMENTARY

5 of the biggest threats today’s K-12 students and educators face don’t involve guns | Opinion

BY: - August 5, 2022

While many American students and their parents worry that the next mass shooting could happen at their school, schools are also facing a number of other threats that do not involve guns. Many of these threats are related to the mental health of educators and students.