Recent editorials from Kentucky newspapers:
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Feb. 3
The Lexington Herald-Leader on coal mining in Kentucky:
The death rate from cancer has declined across the nation - but not in Eastern Kentucky. There, in sharp contrast to most of America, residents are dying from cancer at higher rates now than they were 35 years ago, according to new research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Of the 10 U.S. counties with the largest increases in cancer mortality rates from 1980 to 2014, six are in Kentucky’s mountains. (Owsley, Lee, Estill, Breathitt, Powell and Johnson.)
So what did Kentucky’s Republicans in Congress do last week?
Helped give the coal industry a green light to further pollute Kentucky’s water with more tons of toxin-laden leftovers from surface mining.
Congress’ decision to overturn the Stream Protection Rule was hailed as good news for the sagging coal industry by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Rep. Hal Rogers. (Not to be outdone, Rep. Thomas Massie on Friday signed on to a bill to abolish the Environmental Protection Agency.)
The “friend of coal” in the White House will gladly sign the rule’s repeal, said McConnell, adding, “I am grateful for President Trump’s support and I look forward to working with him in the future to protect coal families and communities.”
Some might say that making it easier to poison their water and air is an odd way to protect coal families and communities.
And, because the rule took effect only last month, it can’t be blamed for the almost 12,000 coal jobs Kentucky has lost since 2011.
The Obama Interior Department’s Office of Surface Mining lagged in drafting a rule to replace one from the George W. Bush era that was overturned by the courts. If OSM had gotten its act together sooner, Congress could not have so quickly overturned the Stream Protection Rule, which expanded protections for streams and groundwater.
Hoisting a bottle of orangey-brown water from a Pike County family’s well, Rep. John Yarmuth, D-Louisville, said that repealing the rule will harm coal communities. Yarmuth renewed his call to suspend permits for mountaintop removal while the government comprehensively studies its health effects.
Many factors contribute to Eastern Kentucky’s cancer clusters: smoking, obesity, poverty, lack of medical care. Even accounting for those factors, the incidence of disease is higher among people who live near surface mining, according to some epidemiological studies, which the coal industry disputes.
One thing no one can dispute: Coal families and communities will be harmed if 120,000 retired miners or their widows lose their pensions, which could happen this year unless Congress acts.
The United Mine Workers of America pension and health funds that are teetering on insolvency pumped $160 million into Kentucky and $511 million into West Virginia in 2015.
McConnell, who killed a bipartisan plan to save the miners’ pensions in December 2015, has been oddly silent about this looming threat. He recently announced that he has a plan for permanently extending health benefits but has said not a word about the pension problem.
So, in addition to high rates of cancer and other disease, chronic poverty and thousands of jobless coal miners, Central Appalachia may soon be hit by the impoverishment of coal-industry retirees and their dependents - many suffering from mining-related disease and injuries.
It would be an odd way to thank a region that overwhelmingly cast its votes for President Donald Trump, even as his Democratic opponent promised to save the miners’ pensions.
Online: https://www.kentucky.com/
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Feb. 3
The Bowling Green Daily News on Western Kentucky University’s new president:
When Western Kentucky University President Gary Ransdell retires in June, it will mark the close of a transformative chapter in the university’s history and the arrival of a new beginning.
We believe that Timothy Caboni, the current vice chancellor for public affairs at the University of Kansas, is the best choice to lead WKU into a new, uncertain chapter of its history when he officially starts the job on July 1.
We realize that some at WKU, particularly faculty members, have been vocal with their concerns that the presidential search process should have been more transparent and inclusive in hearing their voices.
Among them is journalism professor Mac McKerral, who addressed the Board of Regents last semester during a meeting and asked the process be open to the public. McKerral repeated his concerns at a University Senate meeting last week as Caboni was visiting campus and speaking to its constituents.
“We’ve been left out of this process,” he told faculty senators at the meeting. “The sad part of that is that we don’t know who the other candidates were.”
Regardless of how one feels about how the search process was conducted, that was a decision made by the Board of Regents and not Caboni.
In fact, Caboni seems to show a commitment to transparency. When he was a finalist for president positions at Valdosta State University and Georgia Southern University in the fall and spring last year, Caboni visited campus publicly and made no secret about who he was.
We believe that critics of the search process shouldn’t penalize Caboni for how it was conducted. Instead, Caboni should be given the benefit of the doubt when stepping into his new role as WKU’s 10th president. Caboni has already gone out of his way to listen to the concerns of students, faculty and staff across all of WKU’s campuses.
Caboni has repeatedly said he plans to hold office hours in the Downing Student Union for any student to raise concerns or issues on campus. Caboni has also described a vision for leading the university by getting out of his office and hearing from people on the ground.
“I tend to do most of my work in person and beat a path to everyone’s door from my door,” he told the Daily News in an interview after he was named president last week. “That face-to-face interaction is crucial to building trust.”
Although Caboni hasn’t had time to put his ideas into action, he has communicated them clearly to those at WKU and in the larger community on multiple occasions. He’s said that before the university can prioritize raises for faculty and staff, the university has to do more to recruit and retain its students, which has been a perennial hurdle facing WKU.
“Twenty-five percent of our students leave after their first year,” Caboni said during a campus forum last week. “That’s not acceptable. We must do better as a community.”
That urgency has also been echoed by Ransdell, who has said “what we’re doing just is not sufficient” and that changes must be made.
We believe that Caboni is the best person to meet that challenge going forward. His experience extends beyond just being the chief spokesperson for the University of Kansas. Caboni has been a faculty member and administrator and has published a body of research on university fundraising and support. That experience will no doubt come in handy as the university sets its sights on a new capital campaign.
Although it isn’t yet clear what role his wife, Kacy Schmidt Caboni, will play, she’s also a capable fundraiser. At the University of Kansas, she participated in a campaign to support a $70 million school of business - all done with private support. Her experience could prove critical in WKU’s plans to build its own business college.
With the myriad challenges facing WKU in today’s higher education landscape, we believe that the level of trust and cooperation between those in the WKU community will determine the level of success it has. That same trust should be extended to Caboni, who has done right by the university and made a good-faith effort to make WKU’s first step into the future a graceful one.
Online: https://www.bgdailynews.com/
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Feb. 7
The Advocate-Messenger of Danville on immigration laws:
If you haven’t read Bobbie Curd’s story about Junction City woman Tori Morris and her husband, Mahmoud Al Saloum, that appeared in our most recent weekend edition, find a copy or visit amnews.com and give it a read. You won’t regret it.
Morris and the man she loves are kept apart - and Mahmoud has never been able to hold his son - because of our country’s complex, bureaucratic immigration system.
It shouldn’t be hard for an upstanding, hard-working person like Mahmoud to make it to this country, especially when his family is already here.
This country is built on many free-market principles, including healthy immigration. We have long profited off the fact that the U.S. is the place immigrants strive to reach. Whenever other countries are hurting because of regressive governments that push their people down and make life harder, the residents of those countries dream of coming to the U.S. They know they won’t have much and their wellbeing will be dependent on how hard they’re willing to work. But they also know the U.S. is where anyone can succeed with hard work - and that hope drives them.
That hope of being judged on your merits rather than your origins is one of the secrets to American success. It’s why decade after decade we take in immigrants from countries where things aren’t as good, and decade after decade those immigrants aspire to succeed and contribute to the U.S. economy - the largest economy in the world.
Right now, it seems we’re in a period of strong anti-immigration sentiment, despite how immigrants have proved over and over to be the lifeblood of our economy.
The U.S. has also always had a streak of isolationism that opposes immigration. Many times throughout our history, fear of people who are different has fueled arguments that immigrants pose a threat rather than an economic benefit. Our track record is far from spotless, but we have fortunately been more in favor of immigration than opposed over our centuries of existence, and our economic dominance is proof positive of that.
Stories like Tori’s and Mahmoud’s show we need to do more than just improve our immigration system; we need a complete overhaul. We cannot allow fear to destroy a linchpin of American success.
Online: https://www.amnews.com/
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