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Systemwide failure
BY REPS. KETURAH HERRON and LISA WILLNER It takes just two words to summarize the deeply troubling problems facing Kentucky’s juvenile justice system: systemwide failure. This is not an indictment of any administration, party, branch of government, or group of children’s advocates. It’s an indictment of all of us. For years, Kentucky’s system has let…
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Copper theft endangers the whole community
BY SHERIFFS JOHN KIRK, SCOTT HAZELETTE and JOHN HUNT “Who’s it hurt?” thieves often ask. The store doesn’t care,” they say. “Insurance pays off and it’s all OK in the end.” This is shortsighted and wrong – especially when the crime is metal theft. As the economy slowed, our counties began experiencing a rash of…
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Lies, Damned Lies and George Santos
BY THOMAS L. KNAPP “Of course,” the late P.J. O’Rourke wrote in Parliament of Whores, by way of explaining why government is boring, “politicians don’t tell the truth. … But neither do politicians tell huge, entertaining whoppers: ‘Why, send yours truly to Capitol Hill, and I’ll ship the swag home in boxcar lots. … There’ll…
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Risk is lower, but it’s NOT time to resume pre-pandemic life, New York doctors write in one of the nation’s top medical journals
An editorial in the New England Journal of Medicine by Dr. Wafaa M. El-Sadr, Columbia University; Dr. Ashwin Vasan, New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene; and Ayman El-Mohandes, City University of New York We’ve come a long way. From the early, terrifying days of a rapidly spreading deadly infection to the current…
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AI writing tools are the future; educators must adapt or their students will fall behind
BY PHILL BARNETTMOUNTAIN CITIZEN Artificially intelligent writing tools like ChatGPT, based on the latest language models developed by OpenAI, are taking the world of writing by storm. Professionals and amateurs alike can generate pages of written content in seconds. And it’s really good. Scary good. I asked one such tool, Perplexity.ai to write a summary…
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COVID-19 is mutating and apparently winning, so we need to take preventive measures well beyond vaccinations
BY KEVIN KAVANAGH There is no such thing as “herd immunity” for COVID-19. In this context it is a concept as antiquated as “the Earth is flat.” The theory was based upon the work of William Farr in 1840 who proposed a bell-shaped curve which illustrated the body’s ability to mount a lasting response to…
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KYGA bill would give you new charges for medical records
HB 51 would end the practice of hospitals having to give patients one set of records at no cost BY AMYE BENSENHAVER Move along, folks. Nothing to see here. Just another attempt by Kentucky lawmakers to take from the poor and give to the rich. The pretext for this most recent money grab is the…
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Yes, government is a business. No, you’re not the customer.
BY THOMAS L. KNAPP On Dec. 15, the U.S. Government Accountability Office released a report on the Internal Revenue Service’s failings in “providing customer service to taxpayers.” Are taxpayers “customers?” Let’s have a look at that idea. “For years, George Ochenski writes at CounterPunch, “we’ve all heard politicians claim they should ‘run government like a…
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U of L Health should repay all its state loan, not just half
BY JIM WATERSBLUEGRASS INSTITUTE FOR PUBLIC POLICY SOLUTIONS The University of Louisville Cardinals men’s basketball squad gave its fans a timely stocking stuffer Dec. 14 with the team’s first win of the season, beating the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers at the KFC Yum Center. U of L’s health-care system should follow suit and offer taxpayers some…
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A look back at 2022
The year 2022 was one of triumph, tragedy and change. Before we close the book, let’s take a look back. Perhaps the most popular story of the year was when Louisa construction worker Noah Thompson captured the heart of America and was voted the 2022 “American Idol” winner. In February, Thompson’s best friend Arthur forced him…
Category: Editorial
