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Editorial

Not safe to leave kids, pets in cars, even for ‘a minute’

As we start to see temperatures climb consistently into the mid- to upper-80s (with today expected to be a scorching 93-ish degrees), this is a PSA to parents of human and fur babies not to leave kids and pets unattended in the car. We’re sympathetic to the stress and hassle of traveling with babies, little kids and/or pets.  And it’s just for a minute. You’ll be in and out before anyone can even notice there’s still someone in the car. Right? Except “just a minute” is rarely one minute or less. Often, it stretches into several minutes, and it only takes a couple ...

Alito’s draft willfully misrepresents history

In its May 7 cold opening, Saturday Night Live took a jab at Justice Samuel Alito’s reference to a Dark Ages legal treatise. Host Benedict Cumberbatch, playing a man of some authority with a Medieval bowl cut, proposed eliminating abortion. The chatter among the skit’s characters — which included two other white men making decisions,  an almost 12-year-old girl of child-bearing age objecting to the proposal and  a Black man fully aware he has no rights — included some laugh-to-keep-from-crying one-liners like “That’s why we’re also offering maternity leave. When ...

What happens if we forgive student debt?

Yesterday, we discussed the generational cycle of student loan debt: how the pressure from parents, the (unfulfilled) promise of better economic fortunes and skyrocketing tuition over the last several decades have contributed to $1.7 trillion in national student loan debt, with Millennials bearing the brunt of the burden. If the “I paid mine, you pay yours” argument is an issue of fairness, the other argument is one of fiscal responsibility. What happens to the economy if the government forgives $1.7 trillion in loans? First, you have to understand who has the loans. According ...

Student debt is a generational burden

The closer we get the midterm elections, the more debate we hear about student loan forgiveness. President Biden campaigned on tackling the student debt crisis, but he hasn’t done more than continue to extend the loan freeze started under Trump at the beginning of the pandemic. Prior to Justice Samuel Alito’s leaked draft opinion, it was thought Biden and Democrats would have to do more than pay lip service to student debt forgiveness in order to mobilize young and progressive voters. That may no longer be the case, but Biden and Democrats should still make an effort to reduce ...

Addiction is not a moral failure

There are many stigmas around addiction. The most harmful one, though, may be that addiction is a moral failure. That succumbing to the siren’s call of drugs or alcohol is a testament to one’s character. That being an addict makes you a bad person. But people with substance use disorder are not bad people. Granted, some do bad things (and some more often than others), but the mere fact that someone is battling addiction does not mean they aren’t a good person. Lauren Cole is the perfect example. Lauren received her bachelor’s in social work from WVU. She had a heart ...

Court overreacting to Daniel’s Law

Regular readers are likely aware of the Daily Report/Area Arrests lists that appear in the newspaper. It includes the names of the arrestees, their age, their hometown and the charges against them. Our cops and courts reporter routinely checks the arrest records at the public access terminal in the courthouse to gather this information. Usually included in the record are the name and address of the defendant, officer, magistrate, prosecutor (office address, never personal), what the charges were, case number, defendant’s date of birth, arrest date, bond amount and future court ...