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Commentary: Emergency price gouging regulations can be detrimental
One year ago, California and Hawaii were the first states to announce emergency declarations to fight COVID-19. In doing so, they activated preexisting price gouging regulations. The reasoning, California Gov. Gavin Newsom claimed, was so that “consumers (will be) able to purchase what they need, at a fair price.” Unfortunately, for some of those consumers that fair price cost them their lives. Thirty-nine more states and the District of Columbia, including 11 states who didn’t have previous legislation, subsequently activated price gouging regulations over the next month for health and safety...
Tribune News Service
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Editorial: ‘Anybody else would have been arrested’: Special treatment for Chiefs’ Britt Reid?
It’s hard to imagine that anybody less connected than former Kansas City Chiefs assistant linebackers coach Britt Reid could have admitted to having a few drinks — two or three, he said — before a crash that paralyzed a 5-year-old and yet would not have been arrested at the scene. Reid still has not been charged, of course, nearly a month after little Ariel Young last spoke or moved or responded in any way. On Tuesday, the attorney for her family, Tom Porto, reminded the world of that fact in an interview on ABC’s “Good Morning America.” He told The Star’s editorial board that “Anybody else wi...
The Kansas City Star
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Editorial: A tough and good decision by Florida to rein in the spread of exotic snakes and lizards
For Florida's government, the danger posed by exotic reptiles has been harder to spot than a Burmese python hiding in the brush. But at last, wildlife commission has opened its eyes and decided to crack down on nonnative snakes and lizards whose presence in Florida ranges from destructive to deadly. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission voted last week to restrict owning or breeding pythons, anacondas, iguanas, tegus and Nile monitors — none of which have any legitimate place in Florida except in zoos and research facilities. As delighted as we are — the Sentinel’s Editorial Bo...
Orlando Sentinel
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Editorial: We’re so close to beating COVID-19. Why would Texas Gov. Abbott end mask rule and make it worse?
Before issuing his order to end mask mandates, Gov. Greg Abbott must not have looked at the recent numbers of coronavirus deaths in Texas. Or worse, he did and decided that the 59 deaths reported Monday is good enough. Either way, the governor’s order Tuesday to end the statewide mask mandate and business capacity restrictions is a mistake. Even with recent improvement in COVID-19 case totals, hospitalizations and deaths, the pandemic is not over. Another spike is possible before enough people are vaccinated to finally squelch the disease’s spread, and Abbott’s order makes it more likely we’ll...
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
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Paul Sullivan: ‘Games’ or ‘scrimmages’? Spring training or spring break? Whatever you call it, some of MLB’s spring rule changes have purists shaking their heads.
No one is too worried about spring training rule changes forced upon baseball by COVID-19 protocols. Even traditionalists understand the need to audible during a pandemic, and we already went through the drill in 2020, so seven-inning games aren’t a shock to the system. There aren’t as many players in camp, which means fewer pitchers are available to get teams through the day. And because the outcomes of the games are meaningless, it doesn’t really matter how many innings are played or whether an inning ends early because a pitcher reached his pitch limit. “It just keeps everybody healthy, and...
Chicago Tribune
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Jay Ambrose: The good and the ugly of Trump
He walked out on the stage and the crowd was cheering, the music was blasting “I’m proud to be an American,” and former President Donald Trump did look proud, very proud. This was despite a lost election he says he won, a Capitol riot he says he did not start and a furious but failed impeachment attempt to keep him from ever seeking the presidency again. The song ended with the words, “I love this land, God bless the USA,” and 74-year-old Trump, looking as energetic as ever, later made clear he loved his country now disdained by so many rewriting its noble history and not caring about the flag...
Tribune News Service
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‘Coming 2 America’ star Wesley Snipes ‘giddy’ to be part of ‘Coming to America’ franchise
“Coming 2 America” was a long time coming for Wesley Snipes. The actor, who stars as the eccentric and autocratic ruler of Nextdoria in the long-awaited sequel, is thrilled to now be part of the “Coming to America” franchise after initially auditioning to play Darryl Jenks in the 1988 original. “I’m giddy as a pig at Fatburger,” Snipes told the Daily News. “I’m telling you, I’m happy. I wanted to be a part of that so bad, and James Earl Jones was in the original. For us theater thespians, he was an icon. “The idea of being close to him, just enough to breathe, to listen, to have him breathe on...
New York Daily News
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Commentary: Abolishing the Peace Corps would be a mistake
“Why should you, a white woman, go work in Africa?” The question was from an African American newsroom colleague, and it knocked me back. It was the late 1990s, and I had just announced that I was joining the Peace Corps, assigned to a remote public health post in Zambia, in southern Africa. I’d applied to the Peace Corps primarily to set aside my journalist’s notebook and experience life beyond my own bubble, to better understand the world by immersing myself in hands-on work. I liked the Peace Corps’ grassroots approach to development work — that we would be working as partners with local co...
Chicago Tribune
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Editorial: No, Josh Hawley: We don’t hate America if we want to learn from history’s mistakes
It’s not true, as Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley suggested in his fiery, “America First” Friday speech at the far-right Conservative Political Action Conference, that those who don’t agree with him don’t think we should have national borders. Or that we never stop proclaiming “how terrible our country is … founded in lies and evil.” It is true, however, that it’s not a particular point of pride for us that America freed the slaves. Eventually. And that, apparently, is a dividing line for our Trump-First Republican junior senator, who hopes to run for president himself in 2024. Part of pushing back ...
The Kansas City Star
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John M. Crisp: Could a blue norther help turn Texas blue?
We Texans may have a little schadenfreude coming after our homegrown power grid was overwhelmed by a polar blast. Who could resist taking pleasure in the cold comeuppance of a group of people who are always bragging about their self-reliance? Novelist Stephen King couldn’t. In the wake of our precarious misery, he tweeted: “Hey, Texas! Keep voting for officials who don’t believe in climate change and supported privatization of the power grid! Maybe in 4 years you can vote for Trump again. He believes in the latter but not the former. Perfect.” Thanks, Stephen. And I’ve read a couple of your no...
Tribune News Service
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