| Home| News | Money | Sports | Entertainment | Food | Lifestyle | Travel | Health | Politics | Technology | Science | Opinion | Garden | Youth | Community | Video | |
| With school starting, we urge safety Sat, 2 Aug 2008 21:29:54 -0500 The summer, what there was of it, for area schoolchildren is drawing to a close. Public school students in Logan County are already back in school, having returned July 30. Those in Warren, Barren, Allen and Simpson counties start this week, while Butler County returns Aug. 13. For some, the two-month summer is all too short. In fact, there is a grass roots organization in the state, Kentucky Save Our Summers, that wants the Legislature to mandate that school cannot begin until the fourth Monday of August. There are similar movements in other states. For others, though, including some kids, the start of school is a welcome return to routine. For all of us though, we need to realize that with schools back in session, an increased attention needs to be paid to safety. Morning and afternoon traffic increases. School buses travel city streets and rural roads, making frequent stops. During the morning, kids walking and riding bicycles contend with off-to-work traffic. All sheriff’s departments and city police departments urge motorists to be extra cautious during the school year. Pay attention to pedestrians, bicyclists and school warning zones. Put away the cell phones, breakfast muffins and makeup while driving. Obey speed limits. These are all obvious steps to take to protect our young, but they are necessary ones. We’ve been fortunate in the region to avoid many tragedies involving schoolchildren and motorists, but they happen every year in virtually every state. The American Red Cross offers the following list of comprehensive safety tips: For bus riders |
| Flying low Sat, 2 Aug 2008 21:29:33 -0500 BILL O'REILLY With less than six months left in office, George W. Bush has already been branded one of the worst presidents in history by some in the left-wing press. To them, Bush is the worst thing to happen in America since the advent of talk radio. To be fair (something the liberal media rarely are), President Bush was dealt a tough hand. Less than one year into his first term, Muslim assassins in civilian clothing started a worldwide war. To his credit, Bush has fought that war tough, if not always smart. The campaign against terror has occupied most of the president's time. Therefore, things like illegal immigration, energy prices and the nation's airline system, which became enormous problems on Bush's watch, were not dealt with aggressively. Thus, the president will leave office in a few months saddled with very low approval ratings. For anyone who travels in America, the flying experience has become almost painful. Airlines have cut back on basic services, and the comfort level while flying is now a joke. Customers are jammed into seats, forced to endure unexplained delays and often treated with apathy if not outright disrespect. Any other industry would have folded years ago, but many Americans have to fly, whether for business or family concerns. The airline and oil industries have similar profiles: The folks need their services; we can't walk away. The Federal Aviation Administration is responsible for keeping the airline industry safe and efficient. It is safe, that's a fact. But efficiently run? Sure. So is Zimbabwe. FAA Administrator Bobby Sturgell's greatest achievement is that no one has ever heard of him. Sturgell is a former pilot and, apparently, unaware that many American pilots still on the job are slowly being driven crazy because of the chaos in the skies. This is not a complicated situation. There are simply too many planes in the air for air traffic controllers to safely handle because takeoff and landing times are not regulated. Thus, the airports in New York City, Atlanta and Chicago are beyond saturated. If a cloud rolls in or a rabbit runs across the runway, planes begin stacking up back to Katmandu. If someone would awaken Sturgell, something could be done. The federal government has the power to control takeoffs and landings. It is dangerous and a colossal waste of oil for planes to be circling all over the place and sitting on active runways for hours. Apparently, everyone understands this but Bobby. And his boss, George. It's not that the president is a bad man or even incompetent. I do not believe that. But he has no sense of urgency in many matters. Problems like the airline chaos mount and are rarely solved. Hey, Mr. President, people are suffering at the airports. This should not be happening in America. Somebody on Air Force One should tell the guy. |
| The belt tightens Sat, 02 Aug 2008 22:03:00 EST There was quite a dustup over the announcement that security would be cut at state government's Jefferson County human services offices, but the idea was dropped before the dust had time to settle. |
| Billboard burlesque Sat, 02 Aug 2008 22:05:00 EST The billboard lobby had quietly worked its will with the Transportation Cabinet and was about to inflict multi-message electronic signs on Kentucky roadsides. Alerted to this, Mr. FitzGerald informed Gov. Steve Beshear, whose office unaccountably had not been told that an incendiary regulatory change was in the works. |
| Nonprofits Sat, 02 Aug 2008 22:09:00 EST Over the past 30 years, the nonprofit sector has become a significant part of not just our community's well-being, but our economy itself. What does that mean at a national level, and especially what does it mean for our community? |
| Government efficiency critical to our progress Sat, 02 Aug 2008 22:11:00 EST I recently had the opportunity to speak at the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce Economic Summit in Louisville about modernizing state government and creating strong, ongoing public/private partnerships to achieve government efficiencies that will help sustain our state for future generations. |
| A not-very-politic column on a non-political subject Sat, 02 Aug 2008 22:02:00 EST I vowed not to write about politics today. I thought, instead, to discuss the public toilet fiasco in Seattle or the snack attack in Rome. |
| Getting tired of 'eloquence' Sat, 02 Aug 2008 22:10:00 EST As the presidential candidates enter the three-month sprint to November, Barack Obama must be wondering: If that did not do it, what will? The antecedent of the pronoun "that" is his Berlin speech. The antecedent of the pronoun "it" is assuage anxieties about his understanding of the need to supplement soft power (diplomacy) with hard power (military force). |
| Stevens' payback moment Sat, 02 Aug 2008 22:08:00 EST If the charges announced last week are true, the powerful Alaska Republican Ted Stevens will end his four-decade Senate career in a sleazy flameout; the conservative committee baron is accused of concealing more than $250,000 in payments from the oil firm of an Alaska businessman who was allegedly seeking legislative rewards. Stevens says he is innocent, but if he's convicted, few tears will be shed in Washington. |
| As Public Editor's door closes, some wistful thoughts Sat, 02 Aug 2008 21:57:00 EST Years before he died, my friend John sent me the obituary he had written for himself. He was a writer, and he liked to keep the story of his life updated, and he liked to have the last word. The obit covered what he thought were his personal and professional highlights, and the writing conveyed the rueful smile that usually appeared on his face. |
| Ad Watch Sat, 02 Aug 2008 22:02:00 EST This is the third McConnell ad that blames Lunsford for an "automatic gas tax increase." Lunsford served as Gov. John Y. Brown Jr.'s chief legislation liaison on a measure that converted Kentucky's gas tax from a flat 9 cents per gallon tax to one indexed to the cost of the fuel. |
| Puzzling over Obama's exams Sat, 02 Aug 2008 21:58:00 EST How would candidate Obama answer professor Obama's exams? During his years teaching constitutional law at the University of Chicago, Barack Obama favored take-home tests touching on some of the scorchingly hot-button legal issues of the day: gay rights, reproductive freedom, affirmative action and racial profiling. |
| Readers' views Sun, 03 Aug 2008 02:04 EDT Beshear's tour lets him hearfrom the people News coverage of Gov. Steve Beshear's trip to Eastern Kentucky, not surprisingly, has taken a turn toward the negative. Much of the reporting by news outlets in other parts of the state focuses on the negative rather than the great contributions and positive influences that have come from the region. We are most grateful that Beshear regards our opinions and concerns important enough to take into account. Had he not made the trip to Pike County, how many of the people there would have ever gotten an audience with the governor? I applaud Beshear for being courageous enough to stand before citizens of all political affiliations and listen to what they want from their elected leaders. |
| Bad vibes from CentrePointe Sun, 03 Aug 2008 02:04 EDT A few days ago, I walked along South Upper Street between Vine and Main streets. I was there to look closely at the buildings being destroyed ostensibly to make way for CentrePointe. Standing with my back to Vine and looking toward downtown, I saw a rich collection of buildings constructed in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The view in the opposite direction, toward the University of Kentucky, is an uninspired urban landscape that could be anywhere but, unfortunately, is here. As the last century wore toward its conclusion, Lexington clearly had chosen to settle for less. |
| Cycle of tuition. loan increases will drain Ky. Sun, 03 Aug 2008 10:17 EDT This month, young people across Kentucky will be enrolling in state colleges and universities. Students will be relying in large part on student loans to cover the cost. While middle-class incomes stagnate, tuition costs continue to outpace inflation, especially wage inflation. The large tuition increases that have continued for many years are not sustainable in the long run. For some time, money has been cheap. Low interest rates allowed more Americans to fund a lifestyle through loans, which were often beyond the borrower's ability to repay. A lack of financial literacy has separated Kentucky's citizens from a healthy understanding of money and debt. Nowhere is this more pronounced than in young people who have yet to face the challenges of financial independence. |
| Welcome back to less, kids Sun, 03 Aug 2008 02:04 EDT Kentucky has fewer teachers than a year ago. Massachusetts has fewer smokers. Why, you ask, would these two items show up in the same thought? Here's why: The legislature in Massachusetts is driving the decline in smoking by, among other things, raising the cigarette tax. The legislature in Kentucky is driving the decline in the education work force by not raising the cigarette tax. |
| Coal train Sun, 03 Aug 2008 10:13 EDT |
| Responsibility, truth and freedom The cornerstones of your newspaper are responsibility, truth and freedom. James Madison’s 45 powerful words that became the First Amendment, the first tenet of our Bill of Rights, assured the freedom portion of that three-legged stool. |
| Does anyone really know what time it is? Reporters aren’t constitutional scholars. But Franklin Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd’s ruling in a dispute between Gov. Steve Beshear and Senate President David Williams over the road plan passed by the General Assembly is encouraging in at least one way. |
| Your View On June 28, 2008, Barren County lost a talented and inspirational individual. |
| Our View Sheriff Chris Eaton has wasted no time in setting the tone for how things will be at the Barren County Correctional Center. |
| 1 |
Copyright © Andanh.com 2008
Chinese Dir