What do you get when you’re a citizen of a state that’s 49th out of 50 in voter participation? You get legislative scandal after legislative scandal, with no end in sight. You get the ethical swamp that is Albany, where news that two state legislators have been wearing wires has put everybody at the Capitol into a defensive crouch. You get yet another recommendation for yet another lame oversight committee. This time, it will surely fix all the problems.
It was entirely unremarkable. As a newsman, that is usually the worst possible condition. Events that are really good or really bad tend to be far more noteworthy. But when Dawit took the field for his first tee ball game, it was entirely unremarkable.
In the 1960s, 15 percent of all college grades nationally were A’s. Today that has escalated to 43 percent. One conclusion is that students today are three times as smart as they were 45 to 50 years ago. Put that one under the label Urban Legend.
Vacation season is fast approaching, and you know what that means. It’s time to stock up on products that will aid digestion and other troubles that ensue, if you catch my distended drift.
The senior class saw first-hand the result of a decision to drink and drive in any circumstance.
If you are employed by the federal government or you are receiving unemployment benefits, workman’s compensation or a government pension, you may have been compromised. If you receive food stamps, rent subsides, child support, health care benefits, free cell phones, educational grants, etc., the government, in effect, can influence your vote.
Now that the Internal Revenue Service has proven that it is willing to play politics, maybe even taking its audit marching orders straight from the White House, it's high time to abolish this unnecessary evil.
Last week was a great week for Obama-haters. They’ve been writing and calling me to gloat: Obama’s mired in scandal, they crow. His agenda is stalled. He’s sleazy, tyrannical and incompetent, heading up a corrupt administration – just like we’ve been saying for years. Not so fast.
President Obama is reluctantly nearing a tipping point regarding what, if anything, the U.S. should do about the dangerous chaos engulfing Syria and spilling over into neighboring countries. After dithering for two years and losing some reasonable opportunities for assisting the good guys among the rebels, it is becoming impossible to continue to ignore what is happening on the ground in Damascus, Aleppo. Hama and Homs.
I just don’t get it.
Gov. Cuomo recently held a big Tourism Summit. He apparently is designating large sums of money to promote tourism in upstate New York. Commendable as that may be, why is this same governor refusing to take a stand against horizontal hydrofracking for gas in the very area where he promotes tourism?
Bill Moyers’ and Winship’s recent piece (“Let’s fulfill the Sandy Hook promise,” May 10) is the biggest load of horse apples I've read in a long time.
What President Obama, Gov. Como and the anti-gun crowd is doing is despicable. They are trying to make political points by standing on the dead bodies of children!
As a district, we have taken a cautious and conservative approach to our budgeting over the years, balancing the needs of children with the community’s ability to pay.
My wife and I don’t have a computer. If we want to use one, we go to the public library. We don’t have cell phones, smart or otherwise, and we don’t own any gadgets whose names begin with a lower-case “i.” We don’t have cable or satellite TV.
Prom season brings me much worry. I go to bed at night and hope my phone doesn’t ring in the early hours. When it does, what comes next is the worst part of my job.
Steve’s knowledge, research, expertise and fiscal conservancy served all of us well over the years.
Paul would be an unequivocal asset to this community by holding a seat on the Webster Board of Education. He has our vote.
I personally lost count of the number of times Tom has gone to Albany to advocate for the children, our school district and the Webster community as a whole, using his personal time to do so.
In a time when the reform agenda is at the forefront and education in New York state is ever changing, Paul is the type of person who would be a steady and calming presence for our district.
Paul Benz will always put the needs of students first.
Knowing him for many years, we find Mike knowledgeable, enthusiastic, and interested in his community.
