Media
Willingboro Jazz Festival Weekend starts Friday
The 33rd Annual Willingboro Jazz Festival weekend will kick off on Friday night with bowling and continue on Saturday with music and food trucks. On Sunday, the main event will include more than nine hours of festival fun that will culminate with what is promised to be a spectacular fireworks show.
NEW REPORTS ON PFCS IN DRINKING WATER RAISE PRESSURE ON REGULATORS
The Garden State’s water supplies have one the highest levels of PFC contamination in the United States two national reports on drinking-water contamination by the toxic PFC family of chemicals are adding to pressure for more detection and cleanup at affected sites, including those in New Jersey, and for tougher regulation by state and federal governments, amid growing concern about the chemicals’ effects on public health.
What’s in a Word?
One of the earliest life lessons that my parents taught me was in the importance of the language we use in our interactions with others. So often, a word or a phrase can reshape a relationship or re-frame a moment if we are not careful in how we employ their usage. I was reminded of that lesson as I sat down to write this week and thought about the word “feminism”.
Having been exposed to many powerful strong woman over the course of my 43 years on this Earth, I believed I knew what the word meant. However, I don’t think I have fully considered what “feminism” means to me or as my parents taught me the importance of this word. I wonder if it’s the “ism” that becomes a jarring note. In some circles, it’s a proverbial red flag, used with the intention of conjuring up negative images of a stereotypical man-hating women bent on a tirade of anti-male criticism directed at men.
EDITORIAL: Stop censorship of student journalists
Censorship must be resisted on all fronts, at all times, wherever conflict occurs. Nowhere is that message more important than in our schools, and that’s why we applaud a newly reintroduced bill aimed at preventing administrative censorship of student newspapers in New Jersey high schools and public colleges and universities.
AGENDA: STATE BOARD TO FINALIZE HS GRADUATION REQUIREMENTS
Busy August: The August meeting of the State Board of Education is often among the sleepiest of the year, but not this year. The board will take its final vote on new high school graduation requirements, starting with the Class of 2021, and also act on new rules for the teacher performance tests as well. In addition, it has slipped in a resolution to shift additional powers to the Newark public schools, an incremental step but significant in its own right.
PUBLIC-EMPLOYEE PENSION SYSTEM WON’T INVEST SO HEAVILY IN HEDGE FUNDS
Unions score big victory as investment managers decide to scale back allocations by more than half New Jersey’s public-employee pension system will significantly scale back its stakes in hedge funds over the next several months, a big victory for worker unions who’ve been lobbying hard against such investments because of pricey fees.
When It Comes to Declawing, Reality Bites
New York could have become a more humane state for cats had two bills to ban declawing passed. The bills, introduced in New York’s Assembly and Senate, sought to prohibit declawing unless medically necessary to treat injured or diseased paws. It would have made New York the first state to ban this veterinary surgery.
The All-of-the Above Energy Strategy
It would be difficult to volunteer a word that has more potential for raising a reflexive concern than the term nuclear.
While we know the benefits it provides — plenty of affordable, reliable energy to the world — we allow, privately at least, to fall into the valley of doubt, skepticism and fear.
For that reason, the role of energy and the environment both now and for future generations is an unending discussion. And if we are to offer our intelligence, creativity and problem-solving skills, then every possible answer is something we must carefully analyze. When it comes to solving the growing need for energy, while reducing carbon emissions to deal with climate change, then honest debate on the pros and cons of nuclear energy should be on our collective agenda.
N.J. student newspapers should not be muzzled
Editorial
A bipartisan bill making its way through the state Legislature would make it harder for public schools and universities in New Jersey to muzzle student journalists.