The (Grand Junction) Daily Sentinel, June 20, on newspapers shrinking and communities suffering:
“Not having reporters at government meetings is like a teacher leaving her room of 7th graders to supervise themselves. Best case scenario: Tiffany gets gum in her hair. Worst case scenario: You no longer have a school.”
- John Oliver, host, “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver”
How accountable would government be if there weren’t newspaper reporters poking around and asking questions?
Unfortunately, there’s a growing body of evidence to suggest an answer; and it’s not pretty.
The quote above came from the popular HBO series, which despite being a comedy show, does a good job of explaining social challenges related to current events.
Oliver’s 2016 riff on the importance of local journalism actually inspired a university-level researcher to wonder if there was a measurable societal cost associated with dwindling (if not altogether disappearing) reporting resources at newspapers across the country.
Bell, California, offers perhaps the most egregious example of stress-free graft in the absence of a local newspaper.
Authorities said the working-class Los Angeles-area city of 36,000 was looted of more than $5.5 million by a number of officials, including the city manager, who was giving himself an annual salary and benefits package of $1.5 million.
“An audit by the state controller’s office found Bell illegally raised property taxes, business license fees, sewage fees and trash collection fees; illegally diverted gas taxes and other state and federal funds; and issued $50 million in voter-approved municipal bonds for a public park that was never built,” according to The Associated Press. “A good portion of that money, auditors found, went into the salaries and pensions of the top officials.”
Stories like this have actually impacted communities in insidious ways beyond the actually fleecing by corrupt officials. Dermot Murphy, a finance professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, co-authored a study of 1,600 daily newspapers serving more than 1,200 counties across the country between 1996 and 2015.
Researchers “found that lenders classified cities without a strong journalistic presence as riskier investments because of the possibility that corruption could go undiscovered,” according to Colorado Public Radio, which interviewed Murphy this week. “The riskier the municipality, the higher the interest rates on bonds and loans.” That’s a cost passed on to taxpayers.
As newspapers struggle to make up for revenues lost to digital platforms that emphasize infotainment over hard local news, we can expect the potential for corruption to grow. The number of reporters covering state legislatures was down 35 percent between 2003 and 2014. Until newspapers regain their financial footing, the public remains vulnerable to shenanigans. “The next 10 to 15 years in this country is going to be a halcyon era for state and local political corruption,” said David Simon, a former Baltimore Sun reporter and creator of “The Wire.”
Every time you see a legislative bill that attempts to leave a local government’s financial disclosures out of the newspaper, consider who benefits. Government corruption is much more alluring when no one is watching.
Editorial: https://bit.ly/2M5TuEq
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(Loveland) Reporter-Herald, June 16, on tragic incidents being a reminder to drive safely:
A child was shot and killed Thursday afternoon in Westminster and his mother, brother and a bystander were shot and injured by a man with whom the woman had a road rage encounter.
Last Tuesday, a Loveland man died after he drove into the shoulder of U.S. 34, trying to pass a car that was waiting to turn, then overcorrected, crossed into oncoming traffic and hit another vehicle.
These two very different, but both tragic, events did not have to happen.
Probably every driver has had an incident in which actions by someone else on the road have angered them, but most don’t end so terribly.
It’s important for drivers to try to control their anger and to control their actions that might cause another driver to become angry. It’s important they not be in such a rush that they drive unsafely.
On its website, GEICO insurance agency cites figures from the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety that say aggressive driving plays a role in 66 percent of traffic fatalities, that 50 percent of people who encounter aggressive driving behavior respond in kind, and that a firearm is involved in 37 percent of aggressive driving incidents.
GEICO offers tips for handling such problems, which include:
. Move over if someone is tailgating you.
. Use an “I’m sorry” gesture (e.g. wave) to attempt to defuse the situation.
. Plan ahead; allow time for delays during your journey.
. Consider whether you’ve done something to annoy the other driver and adjust your driving accordingly.
. Listen to music you enjoy.
. Use your horn sparingly.
Some courtesy and understanding could help defuse tense times on the road.
But road rage isn’t the only concern on our roads this summer.
On Friday, the Colorado Department of Transportation pointed out in a press release that the time between Memorial Day and Labor Day is one of the deadliest on state roads.
Factors that make the season so deadly include an increased number of cars on the roads, an increase in motorcyclists and teen drivers, and an increase in impaired drivers.
“More fatal crashes happen on Colorado roads during the three months between Memorial Day and Labor Day than any other time of year,” the release said.
Since 2013, 908 people have died in crashes on Colorado roads during the summer months, nearly one-third of the total traffic fatalities during that period, according to CDOT.
So that agency, along with the Colorado State Patrol and other agencies, is working to implement several safety enforcement and outreach efforts across the state.
Those efforts will include a “Summer Blitz” of DUI enforcement, car seat safety education, a campaign to ask drivers to check blind spots and look twice for motorcyclists when pulling onto roadways, teen driver outreach and efforts to get people to wear their seat belts.
During a statewide “May Mobilization” Click It or Ticket high-visibility seat belt enforcement drive from May 21 to June 3, a total of 5,877 drivers and passengers were cited for not buckling up, including 239 drivers who had an improperly restrained child under the age of 15 in their vehicle. The Loveland Police Department issued 464 citations.
There is much drivers can’t control while on the road. But using seat belts, not using alcohol or drugs before getting behind the wheel, giving yourself extra time to get where you’re going - these are all measures drivers can control to play a part in keeping our roads safer.
Editorial: https://bit.ly/2K32cTk
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Aurora Sentinel, June 14, on adding DACA reform to the list of items fall voters will decide in Colorado:
After decades of angst and political histrionics over immigrants entering the country illegally and elusive reform, change still eludes America.
The country has actually been closer than ever to come to grips with the need to enact comprehensive immigration reform. Congress, again, appears ready to resolve the issue of children who’ve lived here illegally almost their entire lives.
We have little faith this Congress or this president is capable of doing anything but making a bad situation worse.
Former President Barack Obama compelled the country onto a path of common sense and decency in 2012 when he imposed the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals by executive order. The measure gives children raised in the United States, brought here illegally by their parents, a reprieve from the threat of deportation.
Obama had no choice but to impose the awkward rules because a GOP-controlled Congress - held hostage by far-right party extremists - has, for years, refused to enact realistic immigration reform. While illegal-immigrant adults are still suffering in political purgatory, at least those children who qualify for the DACA program have been shown some mercy. It’s a no-brainer. These children have known nothing but life in the United States, and they bear no responsibility for finding themselves in the affliction they are unfairly punished for.
Because of Obama’s DACA order, millions of children now have the opportunity for education and jobs, helping themselves and their families, and helping all of America.
The logic behind the program is so compelling that even stalwart tea-party type Republicans - who once wailed and railed against it as an executive order - have been falling behind DACA as likely legislative action.
Aurora GOP Congressman Mike Coffman has joined with other swing district lawmakers to offer a way to force the GOP-controlled House to enact decent, needed and common sense DACA changes, creating an end-run around President Donald Trump’s obstruction.
Other Colorado Republican members of the House aren’t following Coffman’s commonsense lead.
Even the recalcitrant GOP House Speaker Paul Ryan has signaled he would yield to a controversial maneuver to finally force a vote. The hope is to press reluctant House members and the Senate into action as the midterm elections approach.
Since 24 House Republicans have publicly signaled they’re willing to a DACA bill, it creates false hope this could be that this piece of the immigration puzzle is at finally solved.
In reality, a Senate paralyzed by Trump Republicans, bent on pushing through cruel, senseless and dangerous attempts to evict as many immigrants living in the country illegally as possible, will stymie a DACA bill.
Rather than fear the wrath of an overwhelming majority of Americans who demand sensible immigration reform, these Senators fear the Trump loyalists and Trump himself.
It’s but one more reason that the November elections will become a referendum on a laundry list of issues, including immigration, abortion rights, health care, Social Security, and, most likely, Trump’s impeachment.
Perhaps a starkly new Congress can finally get the immigration reform job done. This one won’t.
With so much growing bipartisan support, even if President Donald Trump decides to abandon the program, and even if Texas and eight other states make good on suing to end DACA, an overwhelming push to make it permanent is likely inevitable.
It’s not enough. Despite the shrill, xenophobic dramatics by Trump and his dwindling fan base, the reality of America’s illegal immigration problem is inescapable.
This is about jobs. People come here for jobs, legally and illegally. And while some conservatives and Republicans fume bravado about deportations and making life so hard that we chase unwanted immigrants out of the country, the reality is that numerous American businesses know that labor from immigrants living in the country illegally is critical to their industry and the American economy.
With newfound wisdom and compassion, it’s time to build on the momentum created by resolving DACA and push through other components of a comprehensive answer to the immigration quagmire. The country doesn’t have to provide a path to citizenship to every immigrant living in the country illegally. But we must provide a path to legal status. By offering work permits and visas, we can properly tax working residents fairly. By creating substantial penalties for businesses caught employing workers who are in the country illegally, we can force the country into a workable immigration solution. But first, there has to be a solution to work toward.
Rather than indulge the unrealistic and inhumane path that Trump and U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions are inflicting on all of America, Congress should bypass the White House and impose a far more realistic and compassionate plan. It’s a path that polls have long made clear is the preference of a majority of Americans. And now would be a good time,
Editorial: https://bit.ly/2teAbBJ
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