Commentary
What emergency? Rushing through education overhaul landed Arkansas in a mess
The state finds itself in a quandary of its own making as the Arkansas Supreme Court considers arguments for and against blocking enforcement of the Sanders administration’s signature education overhaul law. All of this legal wrangling could have been avoided had the Sanders administration not been so hellbent on getting its complicated overhaul of Arkansas’ […]
LEARNS lawsuit “aims to protect our school district”
My name is Laverne Sims, chair of the group Concerned Citizens of the Marvell Area. I am writing to dispel some of the rumors, misinformation and propaganda that our state leaders are spreading about our lawsuit against the state concerning the plan to sell our school district to a charter-school management company. I was a […]
What House Republicans got in return for pushing the US to the brink
House Republicans pushed the U.S. to the edge of a fiscal crisis because they wanted deep cuts in government spending. So, based on the tentative deal announced on May 27, 2023, how did they do? In broad strokes, the deal would suspend the debt limit until January 2025, freeze nondefense discretionary funding at current levels […]
Yanking books off library shelves doesn’t really ‘protect children’
The puritanical extremists who’ve taken over the Saline County Republican Party aren’t satisfied with getting the county governing body to terrorize their local library. They’ve now launched an offensive public offensive to “Stop X-Rated books at the Saline County Library” via a billboard next to the Walmart in Benton. The billboard directs readers to a […]
Doctors can help teachers recharge, lessen burnout
Dr. Leah Joseph, Teladoc Health Summer vacation beckons a spirit of rest, not only for students but for teachers, who crave the respite as much (if not more) than their students. We’ve all seen the headlines time and again — our educators are overworked, and in turn, their mental health may be compromised. In the […]
Free speech used to be honored by both left and right
Students’ shutting down campus public speakers has become increasingly common at universities across the U.S. Recently at Stanford Law School, student protesters shouted over a Trump-appointed federal judge and disrupted the speech he had been invited by students to give. Instead of telling the students that they were in violation of Stanford’s speech policy, the […]
On transgender student athletes: Just let them play
I received some needed clarity from an unlikely source while working on a column about recent legislation that has passed the U.S. House of Representatives targeting transgender athletes. “Trans Marathoner Defeats 14,000 Women in Race after Competing as Man Months Earlier,” reads the National Review headline. The wording seems to support the contention that transgender […]
Here’s how reporters should cover Trump’s campaign
On the evening of Jan. 6, 2021, CNN personalities tried to interpret for viewers across the world what had transpired that day in the nation’s capital. “I would just like to remind our viewers that President Trump now for years has referred to journalists as the enemy of the American people,” anchor Jake Tapper said, […]
We need to broaden the conversation about guns to include manufacturers
There is a familiar pattern after the mass shootings that have become a well-known feature of American life. The initial shock and grief gives way to demands for greater regulation of gun ownership by Democrats, while Republicans dismiss such measures and blame mental illness instead. But if we actually want to do something about it, […]
The Honoring Our PACT Act: a game-changer for Arkansas veterans affected by toxic exposure
Arkansas is home to over 222,000 veterans, which equals nearly 10% of the state’s entire population. During the last century, many were stationed on military bases with known environmental contamination, making these brave people susceptible to developing life-threatening diseases such as liver cancer, prostate cancer, leukemia, and bladder cancer. While Arkansas offers special benefits for […]
Anyone can claim to be a journalist or a news organization
Headlines in early March 2023 implied Fox News mogul Rupert Murdoch had made a damning confession. He had affirmed that some of his most important journalists were reporting that the 2020 presidential election was a fraud – even though they knew they were propagating a lie. It was an admission during pretrial testimony in a […]
In the face of unrelenting terror, teacher unions should force gun reform
As I teach my college-bound seniors “Antigone,” in what will be their final month and a half of school, I am asking them to consider: What laws are worth breaking? What superordinate priorities should people hold above what they’re told to do? For what would you be willing to sacrifice your comfort, your prosperity, your […]