Hits & Misses
Politics
March 15, 2025
It’s great to see curtains going up. All over the Mon Valley things are a little dramatic right now. It is the height of spring musical season, and in middle schools and high schools across the region...
Facts matter, not fantasies
Politics
March 14, 2025
“Tariff Whiplash Spooks U.S. Consumers,” blares the Wall Street Journal. “How the US economy went from booming to a recession scare in only 20 days,” reports CNN. “Donald Trump’s economic delusions ar...
Elections, Latest News, Main, ...
By By RICH CHOLODOFSKY TribLive 
March 14, 2025
The Republican register of wills and coroner will face challengers in the May primary election. No Democratic candidates have filed to run for Westmoreland County row offices this year, further weaken...
What’s going on with ActBlue?
Politics
March 12, 2025
The Democratic fundraising platform ActBlue was created more than 20 years ago, in 2004, at a time when Democrats were up in arms over another Republican president, George W. Bush. “In the early 2000s...
Politics
March 12, 2025
ON MONDAY, PENN STATE’S board of trustees sold the naming rights to its most prized piece of real estate for $50 million. The gridiron of grass inside Beaver Stadium is becoming West Shore Home Field....
Politics
March 11, 2025
THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT has threatened it before. It has dangled the string and tried to make us jump. It has coyly set deadlines only to pull back at the last minute. It’s happening! It is! Ha, ha, no...
Five Ukrainian fables
Politics
March 11, 2025
Fable one: Trump is appeasing Russia? Who wiped out the Wagner group in Syria? Who sold offensive weapons to Ukraine first? Who warned Germany not to become dependent on the Russian Nord Stream II dea...
Justice Coney Barrett is not a DEI hire
Politics
March 11, 2025
“Amy Coney Barrett was a DEI appointee.” These days, political parody is next to impossible, because politics is so absurd. Case in point: The above quote is from a post from someone on the right side...
Trump loves Gilded Age tariffs. It was a great time for the rich but not for the many
Politics
By By WILL WEISSERT Associated Press 
March 11, 2025
WASHINGTON (AP) — In President Donald Trump’s idealized framing, the United States was at its zenith in the 1890s, when top hats and shirtwaists were fashionable and typhoid fever often killed more so...
Politics
By By ALEX GREEN Harvard Kennedy School 
March 11, 2025
The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts. As promised, the second Trump administration has quickly rolled out a slew of policies a...
Musk and DOGE try to slash gov’t by cutting out those who answer to voters
Politics
By By NICHOLAS RICCARDI Associated Press 
March 10, 2025
DENVER (AP) — For decades, conservatives in Congress have talked about the need to cut government deeply, but they have always pulled back from mandating specific reductions, fearful of voter backlash...
Politics
By By STEVE PEOPLES AP National Politics Writer 
March 8, 2025
NEW YORK (AP) — As their party struggles to navigate the early days of Donald Trump’s second presidency, some Democrats are convinced that their road to recovery lies in the price of eggs. Instead of ...
Here’s the key to understanding Trump’s approach to the Ukraine war
Politics
March 8, 2025
I don’t say this often, but let’s give Donald Trump the benefit of the doubt. During Trump’s instantly infamous Oval Office meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy last week, the Ukrainian president was dete...
Hits & Misses
Politics
March 8, 2025
Weekend checklist: Reset your clocks and change your fire alarm batteries as Daylight Saving Time begins at 2 a.m. Sunday, marking the time when clocks “spring forward.” It will stay lighter for longe...
Politics
The new dictators
March 7, 2025
To the Editor: I’ve been reading letters here singing the praises of DOGE and “draining the swamp.” Let’s look at what’s really happening: • $40 million spent on an unnecessary trip to the Super Bowl....
Politics
March 7, 2025
THIS WEEKEND, MANY OF US will lose an hour of sleep as clocks will shift ahead by one hour. Daylight saving time will begin, delaying the moment day becomes night more than four months after it conclu...
Great TV, but dangerous policy
Politics
March 7, 2025
Donald Trump starred in a reality TV show called “The Apprentice” for 14 seasons. In his signature moment, he turned to some quivering subordinate and bellowed, “You’re fired!” Today he’s headlining a...
Politics
March 7, 2025
The editorial department of the Mon Valley Independent encourages letters to the editor. Letters must be no more than 500 words, must be in good taste and must include the author’s name, town of resid...