TWENTY YEARS AGO, NO ONE really knew where social media was going to go. Facebook had just dropped “The” from its name. It was not yet ubiquitous. It was only beginning to move beyond college campuses...

To the Editor: The death of American military personnel in a senseless war is just that: senseless. As of this writing, 13 American military personnel have died. Over 100 have been wounded, some no do...

What did you vote for? That is the critical question facing Americans — more than 77 million of them — who voted for Donald Trump in 2024. For the true believers who wear red hats and belong to MAGA N...

Life is hectic. Keeping track of work, home, and family commitments is challenging enough. Now imagine adding another task to your daily routine: checking multiple government websites just to find out...

On March 1, an immigrant from Senegal, apparently angry over the U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran, donned a T-shirt that said “Property of Allah,” grabbed a Koran, a pistol and a semi-automatic rifle and h...

ASK WHO WROTE THE DECLARATION of Independence, and most people will promptly respond with Thomas Jefferson. Ask about the Constitution, and Broadway enthusiasts and history buffs may wax poetic about ...

HAM IS PORK CURED in a brine of water, salt and sugar. The process was meant to preserve the meat and make it last longer. But it also made it taste better. What about a different kind of pork? “Pork ...

When President Donald Trump ordered an armada of naval vessels, fighter planes, bombers and hightech surveillance drones to the Middle East, he thought he had the answer to decades of tension and terr...

By WILLIAM M. COTTER President and CEO Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association National Sunshine Week, March 15-21, is a time to highlight the importance of open, transparent government and to call attenti...

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...

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...

Until last year, for some 46 years, Iran enjoyed a North Korea-like reputation in the heart of the Middle East: always unpredictable, reckless, dangerous, inevitably to be nuclear, self-destructive, a...

THERE ARE THINGS you think about a college student needing to pay for at school. The obvious cost is the tuition. The average cost of two semesters at a Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education s...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Since starting a war with Iran caused oil and gasoline prices to spike, President Donald Trump has pivoted from a focus on keeping energy prices low to trying to paint high oil price...

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...

Let’s state the obvious: We’re at war with Iran. My evidence? Turn on your TV. U.S. forces, working with Israel, killed the supreme leader of Iran and many of his top aides. We sunk Iran’s navy and de...

AS ELECTION REFORMS have become a key issue across the nation, independent voters in Pennsylvania still cannot cast a ballot in primary elections. That’s because Pennsylvania’s election law shuts out ...

The single biggest reason Donald Trump won the last election boils down to two words: gas and groceries. Joe Biden’s failure to control prices on those key commodities enabled Trump, who has never won...

To the Editor: Whatever happened to cocaine in the White House (the most protected home on earth)? Joe Biden was president and his drug-addicted son, Hunter, was in residence. Cameras were and still a...

FRAUD IS ONE OF THOSE THINGS that happens to other people. That’s what we want to believe. That’s true of plenty of bad stuff in life. Fires, crimes, cancer — all of that is easier to accept when we d...