by David Safier
The news has been so dismal when I've picked up my morning paper lately, I've considered trying to find a local chapter of NewsAnon to cut back on my addiction. Then came today. It wasn't all good, of course, but I'm not going to let the perfect news day be the enemy of a day with enough good news to cheer me up.
We will return to our regularly scheduled cynicism and dismay in the next post.
From today's Star:
- Great front page pic of Ironwood HIgh grads. Congrats, all!
- Three high school grads are spotlighted. One, an Asian American, works
in a UA lab and wants to be a neuroscientist. She also loves to play
the steel drums. "It's the connection I make with people when I play."
The second is a Somali-American who arrived in the U.S. at 9 without
ever attending school and is graduating with A's and B's. Thanks to
JTED, he interns in the phlebotomy lab at Tucson Medical Center and will
soon be a certified nursing assistant. He wants to be a doctor. The
third is a Hispanic-American who has been a varsity catcher for 3 years,
took Advanced Placement classes, acted as a mentor for freshmen and
raised a pig as part of Future Farmers of America. He's going to college
on a partial baseball scholarship.
It's the mixed-up, crazy-quilt American dream. If the future is truly this bright, I'll have to wear shades. - Baby gets a 3-D laser print of a splint that allows him to breathe on his own and leave the hospital. The age of miracles.
- Factories are moving back to the U.S. because transportation costs and lag time from foreign factories are getting too costly.
- R bites R, Part 1: Democrat and self-proclaimed atheist State Rep Juan Mendez delivered a God-free prayer to open the day's session in the House. Republican Steve Smith was so irate, he offered up a second prayer the next day. Another Rep of the R persuasion, Jamescital Peshlakai, said lots of Native Americans aren't Christians, and they have to hear Jesus' name invoked regularly (Peshlakai says she's a Christian), so what's Smith's problem? And Speaker Andy Tobin, who called himself a "prayerful person" said what Mendez did was fine. For once, the "War of Christianity" outrage wasn't contagious.
- R bites R, Part 2: Brewer brought down the house at Tucson Medical Center with her talk about the need for Medicaid expansion. Joining her was one of my reps, Republican Ethan Orr, who at one time was against the expansion but now proclaims himself one of 8 Rs supporting Brewer's plan, enough to pass it over Republican opposition if it's allowed to come up for a vote.
- Spending is holding strong in Arizona, which speaks well for our economic health.
- "Living Legend" Carole King received the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song, the first female recipient.
- Tesla, which was an "Obama failure" line in the Romney campaign, repaid its $465 million federal loan in full, nine years early.
- The nation has a record-low teen birthrate, spread out over most states.