Category Archives: Civil Liberties

Winter Digest – Reorganization, Resolve, Revelation…and Rachmaninoff

Posted on March 10, 2024 by John Linko

I hope you’ve had a good year thus far. Over the last few months I’ve been collecting ideas for new stories, revisiting old ones, and reviewing developments locally and elsewhere that stand to embellish both. They will make their way … Continue reading →

Posted in Civil Liberties, Community, Development, Energy, Environment, Government, History, Local, Media, Money, Music, Personal, Politics, Public Safety, Schools, Technology, Zoning | Tagged Big Sewickley Creek, Big Sewickley Creek Watershed Association, DEP, Devlin Robinson, Edgeworth Borough, Elder Vogel Jr, Emily Kinkead, Hadley Haas, Harshman CE Group, Leet Township, Leetsdale Borough, PA Environmental Hearing Board, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Quaker Valley School District, Rachmaninoff, Rob Matzie, Sewickley Borough, Valerie Gaydos, William Jasper, Yuja Wang | Leave a comment

2023 Campaigns and Beyond – Quaker Valley School Board

Posted on December 1, 2023 by John Linko

Your Quest stands upon the edge of a knife. Stray but a little and it will fail, to the ruin of all. Yet hope remains while all the Company is true. – Galadriel, from The Fellowship of the Ring by … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Censorship, Civil Liberties, Community, Economics, Education, Government, History, Local, Media, Personal, Politics, Public Safety, Schools, Security, Youth | Tagged Bud Smith, Edgeworth Borough, Gianni Floro, Jessica Webster, John English, Leet Township, Leetsdale Borough, Melissa Walls, Muottas, Quaker Valley GOP, Quaker Valley High School, Quaker Valley School Board, Quaker Valley School District, Sewickley Valley Historical Society, Thomas Tull, William Jasper | Leave a comment

Political Weather Alert

Posted on October 30, 2023 by John Linko

The National Windbag Service has issued a Flash Mud Warning for the greater Quaker Valley area, including Leet Township and surrounding locales. Spotters report that increased mudslinging from certain candidates for office has extended unchallenged into the local online/print media … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Censorship, Civil Liberties, Community, Education, Government, History, Humor, Local, Media, Politics, Schools | Tagged Bud Smith, Carolyn Verszyla, Gianni Floro, Jessica Webster, John English, Leet Township, Martin McDaniel, Michael Molinaro, Missy Walls, Quaker Valley School Board, Quaker Valley School District, QV Strong, QV Taxpayers for Strong Schools, QVGOP, William Jasper | 3 Comments

Summer Shorts: School Board Double Down, Jasper’s Jabber and Jaunt

Posted on July 17, 2023 by John Linko

This month I’m posting some brief (for me) pieces on subjects that beg mention due to their timeliness and/or significance. Many of these topics have been fleshed out already – others don’t really need as much analysis to get a … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Censorship, Civil Liberties, Community, Government, Local, Media, Politics, Schools | Tagged Education, Gianni Floro, Moms for Liberty, National Parents Union, Quaker Valley School Board, Quaker Valley School District, Sewickley Herald, William Jasper | 1 Comment

Election Postscript: I’d Rather Have a Ballot in Front of Me than a Cholecystectomy

Posted on June 20, 2023 by John Linko

(Apologies to Dorothy Parker et al) With all of the lead-up to the May 16 primary election, I was looking forward to working that morning and coming home afterward so that Leslie and I, as is our past practice, could … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Civil Liberties, Community, Government, Health, Justice, Local, Media, Personal, Politics, Public Safety, Schools | Tagged AHN Wexford, Allegheny County, Bud Smith, Carolyn Verszyla, Corinna Garcia-Skorpenske, Donna Adipietro, Dorothy Parker, Franklin Park Borough, Geoff Bsarnes, Gianni Floro, Giuseppe Rosselli, Jessica Webster, Joe Rockey, John English, Joseph Bellissimo, Katherine Longwell, Kristie Shelton, Leet Township, Leet Township Police, Magisterial District Judge, Martin McDaniel, Matt Dugan, Melissa Walls, Michael Molinaro, Quaker Valley High School, Quaker Valley School Board, Quaker Valley School District, Robert Ford, Sara Innamorato, Stephen Zappala, Suzanne Filiaggi, Todd Hamer, William Jasper | 3 Comments

In Praise of Libraries – New Pathways vs. Old Attitudes

Posted on April 25, 2023 by John Linko

If you’ve followed this blog for any length of time, you know that my family is rather enamored of our local library. The Sewickley Public Library is celebrating its 150th anniversary this year – my wife has held a library … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Censorship, Civil Liberties, Community, Family, Government, History, Justice, Local, Media, Personal, Pittsburgh, Politics, Schools, Youth | Tagged American Library Association, Andrew Carnegie, Banned Books, Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, Carolyn Toth, Jessica Whipple, Judy Blume, Kathleen Madonna-Emmerling, Leetsdale Borough, Moms for Liberty, Moon Township, Moon Township Public Library, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Quaker Valley School Board, Quaker Valley School District, Sewickley Public Library | Leave a comment

New Year Marked by Multiple Media Missives

Posted on January 17, 2023 by John Linko

The last two weeks of December were typically hectic, punctuated by the bitter cold that enveloped the Christmas holiday, and included a visit from my son, who we hadn’t seen in 4 years. He brought his new girlfriend. Some of … Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Civil Liberties, Government, History, Human Rights, Internet, Justice, Local, Media, Personal, Politics, Public Safety, Radio Hobby, World | Tagged Amanda Knisley, Columbia Journalism Review, Gazette 2.0, George Santos, Legal Notices, Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh, North Shore Leader, Photography Is Not A Crime, PINAC, Pittsburgh City Paper, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Radio Garden, RadioResource Media Group, Sewickley Herald, The Citizen, Trib Total Media, West Virginia Public Broadcasting | Leave a comment

From Columbine to Uvalde – The Years of Living Dangerously

Posted on August 3, 2022 by John Linko

It’s August already. Hard to believe that it’s been over two months since the May 24 shooting incident at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas. This tragedy has produced levels of scrutiny, criticism, and incredulity not typically seen in the aftermath … Continue reading →

Posted in Civil Liberties, Government, Justice, Local, Media, Personal, Politics, Public Safety, Schools, Security | Tagged Aaron Vanatta, ACLU, Columbine High School, Police, Quaker Valley School District, School Resource Officer, Uvalde School Shooting | 2 Comments

Book Bans, and Other Boogeymen

Posted on April 12, 2022 by John Linko

As a teenager, my interest in reading ran the gamut of the literature of the time period. I was already a voracious newspaper and magazine reader – I had a student subscription to Newsweek (courtesy of my 8th grade social … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Censorship, Civil Liberties, Government, History, Human Rights, Local, Media, Personal, Politics, Schools, Youth | Tagged American Library Association, Banned Books, Conservative, Critical Race Theory, First Amendment, LGBTQIA+, Quaker Valley School District, Racism, Republican Party, Sewickley Public Library | 1 Comment

Sewickley Academy – A Frenzied Fortnight of Fractious Foment, Across the Fourth Estate

Posted on March 29, 2022 by John Linko

In mid-February the Sewickley Herald reported on the appointment of Sewickley Academy Interim Head of School Ashley Birtwell to fill the position on a permanent basis. Included in the reporting was a brief review of the controversy that began last … Continue reading →