IF YOU WANT TO KNOW HOW political power is ebbing and flowing in Pennsylvania, take a look at counties comprising Mon Valley communities. Pennsylvania’s politics swing like the clapper of a bell. It c...

Of all of President Trump’s zany ideas— making boring, self-righteous Canada the 51st state, we take Gaza, Perkins Coie lawyers banned from federal buildings— his claim that Joe Biden’s pardons are in...

By JOYCE DAVIS Opinion Editor PennLive/The Patriot-News Now, more than ever, you need to know. You not only need to know about the chaos in Washington, but you need to know what’s happening in your ow...

THERE ARE FEW THINGS IN LIFE that are more important than water. We need it to drink. We need it to clean. We might need it to control a heating system or a power plant or to run a factory. None of th...

To the Editor: Last week there was a meeting at Monessen High School concerning the contaminants in our drinking water. Where were our city officials, state officials and school board members? They sh...

PARIS (AP) — Hey, America: Give the Statue of Liberty back to France. So says a French politician who is making headlines in his country for suggesting that the U.S. is no longer worthy of the monumen...

Over the last three decades, elite American universities have engaged in economic, political, social, and cultural practices that were often unethical, illegal — and suicidal. They did so with impunit...

To the Editor: I certainly wish there was some way to apologize to Mr. Zelenskyy. It was truly a shame what he had to go through in the meeting with the dictator, now posing as our president and one o...

“Good morning. I’m Kathryn, what’s your name?” It was a natural enough question — at that awkward part of a meeting where we knew the vaguest things about one another. I knew he had a family member be...

SUNSHINE WEEK IS AN ANNUAL March observation that celebrates the importance of shedding light in the darkness, and the Mon Valley Independent takes the Sunshine Act, the public’s right to know and the...

Donald Trump is a singular figure in United States political history — an elitist at war with the country’s elite, a beneficiary of the American commercial system who is resentful of the institutions ...

EARLIER THIS MONTH, Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey got his hackles up about money. Was it about the financial troubles his city finds itself experiencing? Nope. It was about the funds of his Democratic ch...

To the Editor: Donald Trump, aided by Elon Musk, a billionaire with no federal governmental connection, in a month has managed to eliminate thousands of federal workers, entire agencies, and has creat...

There’s a classic episode of The Simpsons in which Homer gets a gun. He thinks his awesome gun is great for everything: home defense, opening beer bottles, whatever. When Marge says she doesn’t want a...

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...

“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...

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...

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump in recent days has dismissed fears of a recession and brushed aside the stock market sell-off, going so far as to say, “You can’t really watch the stock market...

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...

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....