Nationally, you hear about institutions that are “too big to fail.” Lawrence, though, isn’t really a “too big to fail” town. Instead, it is often a “too kind to fail” community. For evidence, look to two recent votes. Voters in 2017 approved a new sales tax for affordable ...
Washington — American politics has become a case study of the type that college professors employ in Ethics 101. If the economy is good, does presidential corruption actually matter? That Donald Trump and members of his circle are corrupt has been established beyond doubt. There is the ...
While Georgia, Alabama and Missouri just passed strict abortion bans, the Kansas Supreme Court has taken a completely different tack. In Hodes & Nauser v. Schmidt, the court ruled that the Kansas Constitution protects a woman’s right to have an abortion, except in cases of a narrowly ...
In my line of work, I run into more than a few Democrats whose mood swings of late are frankly semi-wild. Last November, when their party won 41 Republican U.S. House seats and took the House majority from the GOP, Democrats were almost giddy, increasingly confident that voters in 2020 would ...
Washington — With the Huawei case, as with so many other Trump administration gambits, the puzzling question is whether the president is using tough tactics to make a deal — or whether he really means to put China’s most powerful telecommunications company on what’s informally known as ...
Editor’s Note: Views from Kansas is a regular feature that highlights editorials and other viewpoints from across the state. Kansas’ three major universities embrace the same mission as other outstanding higher-education centers nationwide. The Kansas-based institutions of learning are ...
Last week, a man tried to convince me that he believes black lives matter. This is a kind of rhetorical judo some anti-abortion activists have adopted in debating pro-choice African Americans. They argue that black women have abortions at higher rates than others and that this amounts to a ...
Washington — “We’re cutting out some of this ear hair that you get when you get older,” said the 46-year-old manchild who is auditioning to be Skateboarder-in-Chief. Live-streaming his visit to an El Paso barbershop, Beto O’Rourke continued: “It grows out of your ears, and if you ...
Editor’s Note: Views from Kansas is a regular feature that highlights editorials and other viewpoints from across the state. Professional sports teams play an integral role in our region’s economy. Thousands of local sports fans from both Kansas and Missouri cheer on the Chiefs and the ...
To the editor: Michael Gerson writes on a variation of an old theme. Following victory at Fredericksburg, Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee said: “It is well that war is so terrible, or we should grow too fond of it.” Gerson cites liberal philosopher William James (“Our ancestors have ...
To the editor: Having been ranked sixth in the top U.S. cities for bicycling, I hope that Lawrence does not rest on its laurels. As a frequent cyclist, there’s still much work yet to be done. First and foremost, teaching and encouraging children to ride their bikes to school. Surely one of ...
Washington — Huawei’s name is often translated in English as “Chinese excellence.” The Trump administration last week embarked on a campaign to rebrand the tech giant, in effect, as a “Chinese threat” and check its expansion in the West. The Huawei assault may be the Trump ...
To the editor: I am a nice guy, but I have to get this off my chest. Handicap parking is for exactly that. People who have a handicap placard or license plate. Once a parking stall is designated as handicap accessible, that parking stall is under the jurisdiction of the police department. Even ...
Lawrence taxpayers may want to negotiate a better bargain with City Hall. As it stands now, the deal taxpayers have is when the city is flush with cash they get no break in taxes. When the city is tight on cash, they get an increase in taxes or fees or a reduction in services — or sometimes ...
To the editor: As a recent resident (three years) I have found it more difficult to shop in Lawrence than in other locations where I have lived. The south Iowa shopping locations are so diverse that I must move my vehicle multiple times, sometimes crossing Iowa street twice, to find what I may ...
To the editor: I had to take a deep breath before writing in reference to a recent letter appearing in this section. I found it so absurd and offensive to refer to our local police officers as “loose cannons.” I have very good friends — one is an officer with the Lawrence police and one ...
To the editor: Everyone loves to talk about how “progressive” Lawrence is, but until we’re willing to publicly pressure our lawmakers to end disparate policing and school discipline that unjustly targets people of color, Lawrence isn’t very “progressive” at all. While there are a ...
Washington — In a country that spans a continent, in a party that produced Dwight Eisenhower and Ronald Reagan, there is still no serious political challenge to the ideological supremacy of a corrupt, deeply prejudiced con man who cares nothing for democratic traditions, constitutional limits ...
Washington — In any tense military confrontation, diplomats start looking for an “off ramp” that could de-escalate tensions. But in the current standoff between the United States and Iran, it’s hard to find any such exit route. The U.S.-Iran faceoff is one of those odd situations where ...
After spending much time and energy as a candidate and president descrying immigration, Donald Trump now wants Americans to believe immigrants are good for our country. On Thursday, the president touted a new immigration plan put together by his son-in-law Jared Kushner, a man with little ...