Karen DeLuccie’s service to her city
Successful communities, especially those of much size and complexity, demand a good deal from their elected leaders. Have an overall vision for the future, communicate it clearly and bring others along.
Opinion
Read MoreKaren DeLuccie’s service to her city
Voters must do more for better gun laws
President Joe Biden on Monday finally carried through on a promise to rein in “ghost guns” — guns assembled from kits that are sold without serial numbers, allowing anyone to own an untraceable weapon. Biden announced new federal requirements including that such kits have serial numbers and that background checks be conducted on those who buy them.
Amid the shadows and questions, this is simple: Follow your heart
The good thing about a long drive is it gives you time to talk. My grandson, Randy, is 11, soon to start middle school, that turning point in life when being with friends is a lot more fun than hanging out with Nana.
Looking back while looking ahead
It’s been a few years and memories fuzz and fade, but I recall a history professor who seemed to think part of his calling was to get his students to prepare for “the cosmic cocktail party.” That’s not a euphemism for drugs or a four-figure weekend retreat of enlightenment at the spa. What he meant was, what if you found yourself at the ultimate cocktail party, surrounded by the smartest and most creative and successful people you could think of? Could you hold your own? This is not the time to drop the pig-with-the-wooden-leg joke.
Extending student-loan repayment pause is a mistake
By extending the moratorium on federal student-loan payments through the end of August, the Biden administration has cheered borrowers and those advocating for across-the-board debt cancellation. Taxpayers have little such reason to celebrate.
Will the U.S. and West have to go to war to stand up for freedom?
Here’s a prediction that, unfortunately, may be as inescapable as it is undesirable: The current war between Ukraine and Russia will expand into a larger shooting war that involves the United States, as well as its NATO allies.
Biden’s defense budget is big. Democrats will vote to make it bigger
WASHINGTON — Last week, President Joe Biden sent Congress his proposed defense budget for the next fiscal year: an $813 billion wish list, almost $60 billion more than he requested a year ago — more military spending than any president, including Donald Trump, has requested since World War II.
A historic moment for a judge and for a country
The confirmation of Ketanji Brown Jackson as a justice of the Supreme Court is a moment to exult in as a nation. Jackson is the first Black woman to be appointed to that bench, and only the third Black justice and sixth woman to serve on the Supreme Court.
Live the dream, as it emerges and evolves
Out in the garage, my husband is playing his bass. I’m in the living room working on a column. He thinks I don’t hear him, but I do. Nothing is noisier than somebody trying hard not to make too much noise.
Independence gets a reset
Independence will have a couple of fresh perspectives on the City Council heading into some big decisions and some big issues that deserve more council attention. Voters elected a new mayor, Rory Rowland, re-elected Council Member Karen DeLuccie and elected a new council member, Jared Fears.