The runaway horse that is Donald Trump
Opinion, Politics
February 4, 2026
PALM BEACH, Fla. — From his lair at Mar-a-Lago, Donald Trump sees the sun rising. His sunshine retreat doesn’t allow him to see the sun setting. But it is another of the human senses that may be the m...
Opinion, Politics
By By STEPHEN GROVES Associated Press 
February 4, 2026
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton agreed late Monday to testify in a House investigation into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, but th...
Opinion
February 4, 2026
THE LATEST REPORT ON CTE is both enlightening and alarming. A groundbreaking study from Boston University researchers found that those with CTE have a much higher chance of being diagnosed with dement...
Opinion
February 3, 2026
To the Editor: With the winter storms and cold weather making the news headlines this past week, there were two stories in the Mon Valley Independent that warmed my heart coming out of Charleroi. Ther...
Slouching towards Fort Sumter?
Opinion, Politics
February 3, 2026
In the months before the April 12, 1861, firing on Fort Sumter, there were lots of sharp divisions in the North about the proper reaction to the first seven Confederate states that had already left th...
Opinion, Politics
February 2, 2026
EVERYONE KNOWS 2026 is an important election year. It is a midterm, carrying the familiar post-presidential pressure that takes the political temperature of the country. In Pennsylvania, it is also a ...
Opinion, Politics
February 2, 2026
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The mayor of Portland, Oregon, demanded U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement leave his city after federal agents launched tear gas at a crowd of demonstrators — including you...
Opinion, Politics
By By LISA MASCARO AP Congressional Correspondent 
February 2, 2026
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Mike Johnson said Sunday it will be a few days before a government funding package comes up for a vote, all but ensuring the partial federal shutdown will drag into the...
Opinion
January 31, 2026
To real-life learning. When winter storms dropped more than a foot of snow across Southwestern Pennsylvania, young people responded the same way — by getting to work. In the South Allegheny School Dis...
Facts about Alex Pretti’s death are undeniable. The WH is denying them anyway
Opinion, Politics
January 31, 2026
The killing of Alex Pretti was unjust and unjustified. While protesting — aka “observing” or “interfering with” — deportation operations, the VA hospital ICU nurse came to the aid of two protesters, o...
Opinion
January 31, 2026
To the Editor: Did you ever see a little boy sit on the floor and play with his Army men? This is what I see when Donnie “five time bone spurs” does with our U.S. military. He puts a couple in Los Ang...
Opinion, Politics
January 31, 2026
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...
Opinion, Politics
January 30, 2026
A RECORD 45% OF AMERICAN adults now identify as political independents, according to new Gallup polling — up from 33% in 1990. That’s a big change. As the ranks of the politically homeless grow, the s...
Hail to the truth-tellers
Opinion, Politics
January 30, 2026
After two American citizens were gunned down by ICE agents in Minneapolis, Sen. Bill Cassidy, a conservative Republican from Louisiana, called for a “a full joint federal and state investigation” and ...
Does America have the resolve to deport illegal border crossers?
Opinion, Politics
January 29, 2026
The United States experienced a mass incursion of illegal border crossers in the years 2021 to 2025. Estimates vary, but in that period at least 9 million people entered the U.S. illegally. Rather tha...
Opinion, Politics
By By JAMES ENGEL TribLive 
January 29, 2026
President Donald Trump threw his support behind Republican Stacy Garrity on Tuesday night as she aims to unseat Gov. Josh Shapiro as Pennsylvania governor. In an evening Truth Social post, Trump calle...
Opinion, Politics
January 29, 2026
U.S. SEN. DAVID MCCORMICK is among Republicans calling for a full accounting in the Minneapolis death of Alex Pretti, 37, a Veterans Administration intensive care nurse who was shot during an encounte...
Opinion
By By MATT OTT Associated press 
January 28, 2026
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. consumer confidence declined sharply in January, hitting the lowest level since 2014 as Americans grow increasingly concerned about their financial prospects. The Conference Boa...