Columns

“I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round, as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys.

Strength and unity

This is the season when governments from The White House to local school boards start working on their new budgets. The federal budget is unfathomably huge at $4 trillion whereas some local school budgets are the size of a medium business. California’s budget is...

Class of 1968 sought

Last November, the world watched with horror as residents of Paradise tried to escape from an oncoming wildfire on clogged roads, some so desperate that they abandoned their vehicles and fled on foot. Government can reduce the risk from wildfires. Our county government should properly enforce the state’s “fire safe” road regulations to stop new development in fire-prone areas and better enable emergency access and evacuation.

The remedy for whatever ailments we perceive about our local, state or federal governments is a singular prescription. If the federal deficit is too high, or potholes aren’t getting repaired, or public pensions are unsustainable or Congress doesn’t listen, the same fix applies to all.