Breaking News

Editorials

Deregulating broadband will save billions

Did economists underestimate the damage of the Biden regulatory barrage? One reason the U.S. economy is outperforming expectations may be that the Trump Administration’s deregulation is offsetting tariff harm. Consider how it has uncorked broadband investment and saved taxpayers billions by slashing the Biden team’s red tape. Congress appropriated $42 billion in the 2021 infrastructure bill for states to expand broadband to “unserved” and rural communities. The spending was unnecessary since satellite services like SpaceX’s Starlink and 5G fixed wireless services were rapidly ...

PSU trustees still aren’t talking enough in public

Penn State’s Board of Trustees deserves credit for spending more time in public discussion this year than it has in the recent past. After years in which outcomes often were treated as foregone conclusions, more conversation is a welcome change. But more is not the same as enough. The measure of a governing board is not whether discussion increases but whether it is robust, wide-ranging and focused on the decisions that matter most — because fiduciary duty needs more than transparency. It requires discussion. Penn State’s Board of Trustees has 39 members, including the ...

Two new year’s resolutions for state government

The year 2026 is upon us, and our state lawmakers and state officials should offer Pennsylvanians two resolutions — to reform our state’s government in ways that encourage rather than punish development and job creation, and to reduce state spending. Our region’s own lawmakers have respectable records of understanding both points. Unfortunately many others in Harrisburg fail to recognize the imperative nature of ensuring that working-age Pennsylvanians have plentiful opportunities to work, live and build lives. Many of the same politicians in Harrisburg — and unfortunately, ...

It’s time to take political pay raises off autopilot

Wouldn’t it be great if your income automatically increased based on the cost of living? Higher food, gas or electricity prices would sting less. Rent increases might still hurt, but not nearly as much if paychecks rose alongside them. That is the reality for some in Pennsylvania. State lawmakers and other elected officials see their salaries rise annually based on the Consumer Price Index. So do those elected in Westmoreland County. But Westmoreland officials might not see that continue. TribLive has been pushing for years to take elected officials’ pay raises off ...

Socialism vs. Capitalism: A closer look

People criticize capitalism. A recent Axios-Generation poll says, “College students prefer socialism to capitalism.” Why? Because they believe absurd myths. Like the claim that the Soviet Union “wasn’t real socialism.” Socialism guru Noam Chomsky tells students that. He says the Soviet Union “was about as remote from socialism as you could imagine.” Give me a break. The Soviets made private business illegal. If that’s not socialism, I’m not sure what is. “Socialism means abolishing private property and ... replacing it with some form of collective ...

Ignoring vehicle recalls might results in real tragedy

About 12 million vehicles were recalled from 2015 through 2024 for safety defects that could result in air bags not deploying. The recalls were well-publicized. In fact, many vehicle owners, upon learning about a recall, were unhappy about the fact that a trip to the service department outside of routine maintenance would be necessary. Still, most owners were satisfied that service department visit could someday prevent a catastrophic situation for them and also for passengers, if their vehicles were involved in a crash. It made sense to schedule the service as soon as possible. But ...