Revolt against $4 tomatoes

Mother's Day. Rushing through Pavilions, gathering groceries for our barbecue just one hour before folks hit the front door. Today's menu: burgers and dogs, baked beans, chips and salsa. And we plan to do the burgers up right, what with big beefsteak tomato slices, white onions, crisp lettuce, American cheese - the works.

Knowing more about our judges

In just a week, California's citizens will be voting for various political candidates-including individuals who want to serve as superior court judges in Los Angeles County.

Imagining the world without America's sacrifices

It is truly a wonderful life we lead in the Santa Clarita Valley and in this great country of ours! We are blessed with an abundance of resources and an ample array of individual freedoms to take advantage of those resources as the spirit moves us. That we take such a notion for granted is a tribute to the individuals who secured such freedoms for us - the American soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines and Coast ...

McCain masters political comebacks

In the 1992 Democratic New Hampshire primary, while drafting a concession speech to massage a draining eight-point second -place finish, Clinton speechwriter Paul Begala concocted a line that maneuvered the Gennifer-Flowers-draf- letter-drenched Bill Clinton into the primary's seeming winner. By spinning a second place finish that had actually fizzled from a 2-point lead on Jan. 19, according to a Boston Globe poll, into the magical circus tent voila of "the comeback kid," the Clinton campaign ...

Judging the judges for June 3 election

Hold on, Santa Clarita, there is another election on the horizon! I was scanning over my ballot earlier this week thinking about whom I am voting for in the June 3 California Primary. Though it is considered by many a rather ho-hum nothing election, there is a great deal at stake in two weeks. Your participation in this upcoming election is really very important. First, the easy choices:

Remembering our heroes in the SCV

I'm glad those few days of scorching weather are behind us! However, I know that August will bring those triple digits back in full force, but until then, I'm enjoying this rainy, cool weather. Ahhh!

Vigilance + water = lives saved

Few news stories are as heartbreaking as those involving children drowning. California's leading cause of accidental death of kids under 5, drowning is profoundly tragic on several levels. It needlessly cuts precious lives short, and in the case of survived near-drownings, can lead to brain damage or other life-changing deficits. It frequently leaves aggrieved families blaming themselves for not preventing the catastrophe from happening in the first place. What a sad, miserable legacy that must ...

What are we doing for Memorial Day?

It's almost Memorial Day weekend, and my family has nothing to do. Last Sunday, I asked my wife what she wanted to do. She said she didn't know. I asked my 4-year-old son what he wanted to do. He also said he didn't know. The two of them asked me what I wanted to do. I said I didn't know. The next day, I left a voicemail for some family friends, asking if they wanted ...

Polluted water shouldn't count

In 2000, after our comments were dismissed, the Friends of the Santa Clara River challenged the Castaic Lake Water Agency in court for overstating the water available to Santa Clarita for existing residents and new development in its Urban Water Management Plan. Four years later, the court finally came to the conclusion that we were right, and that the water agencies had not made the issue of contaminated water clear in their plan.

The times, they are a changin’

It is difficult to believe that only eight years ago the Democratic Party was being relegated to the political scrap heap and Republicans were speaking in terms of wielding power for generations. It is amazing

We need fiscal reform, not education cuts

At City Hall last Tuesday, a huge crowd joined in a rally supporting the Santa Clarita Valley Education Coalition. They were protesting Governor Schwarzenegger's estimated $4.8 billion proposed reduction in education spending. Statewide, there have been many of these public outpourings ever since the governor issued his 10 percent across-the-board budget cuts in January. Among the group were school board trustees, teachers, students, parents, business owners, city officials, school district employees and superintendents. In Santa ...

Summer arrives early in the SCV

While it seems that summer has arrived with guns a-blazing in the SCV, we were fortunate to have the best weather I've ever experienced for Taste of the Town on May 4. Let's hope that June gloom returns ASAP! Seen at Taste of the Town

Staying connected in the event of an emergency

With Southern California being home to not only movie stars, but earthquakes and wild fires as well, it is imperative that residents throughout have the means to stay informed in the event of a local emergency. The city of Santa Clarita is constantly preparing for any possible disasters and has recently launched a new addition to the city's Emergency Notification System that will allow residents to update their own contact information through the city's Web ...

Pressure is on: L.A.'s Special Order 40

I had the pleasure of attending the Ignacio Ramos/Jose Compean Fundraiser, earlier this month at the Skirball Cultural Center. The fundraiser for imprisoned U.S. Border agents was a sell-out. I was delighted to see many Santa Claritans there who contributed the $25 per ticket to see Chris Burgard's Border, the spellbinding movie about illegal immigration, revealing the plight of those who illegally cross the border.

Support federal Wilderness Bill to preserve SCV

In my teenage years my parents decided to move to Los Angeles. Having seen the beautiful beaches of Santa Barbara and the luscious trees of Beverly Hills in soap operas, I was expecting to be blown away by California's nature.

Timothy Myers: Manufactured and actual milestones

One thinks about milestones in life, but few can actually point to a day when their life really changed, for good or ill.

Bob Kellar: Live from City Hall

Betty Arenson: Where is the outrage?

Perhaps there is hope that change will come sooner rather than later with regard to Americans at last expressing due and civil outrage. "Where is the outrage" is a question that has never been more appropriate than under the administration of President Barack Obama.

Doug Patton: The danger in D.C. is bipartisanship

The growing scandals enveloping the Obama administration are becoming a series of shiny baubles being dangled before the right and the left alike.

Terri Crain: Don’t misuse environmental protection law

In 2008, Santa Clarita was named the most business- friendly city in Los Angeles County by the Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation.

Joe Gandelman: Watch the credibility games

Forget the political "blame game." The biggest game in town now is the credibility game - a high-stakes exercise that will end with America's political middle deciding who is trustworthy and who isn't. Some key players:

The scandal of scandal in Washington, D.C.

If you listen loud enough you can almost hear the siren song of the Republican Party spread its dulcet tones across Washington. It's scandal season boys and girls, and for the GOP it's Mardi Gras, Christmas and The Spanish Inquisition all in one!

Steve and Cokie Roberts: Astonishing attack on our core values

Finally, an issue Republicans and Democrats can agree on:

The Village Idiot: Please, invade my privacy

A world-famous entertainer announced that she and her boyfriend were splitting up in one of the saddest tweets I've ever read: "We have decided to go our separate ways. Please respect our privacy."

Charlie Vignola: A scandal is only a scandal when it happens to Democrats

Imagine for a moment a President of the United States who ignored warnings about an imminent terrorist threat that resulted in an attack that killed American citizens, then argued that we didn't need an investigation to figure out what went wrong.

Tom Purcell: Advice from the master

ill Clinton, wearing a white toga and a crown of gold, sat in a garden while attractive women fed him grapes. President Obama, having just suffered the most devastating week of his presidency, sat nearby, seeking advice in the art of telling whoppers. Using the Socratic method of teaching, Clinton began to tutor his new student.

Frank Ferry: Live from City Hall

May is Building Safety Month and the ideal time to tackle all of those home-improvement projects on your "to do" list before summer is in full swing.

David Hegg: Of progress and purpose

There is no debate that time marches on. The sun rises, shines, and sets, and then does it all over again, day after day. And each day we encounter the unknown components of a whole new 24-hour set of life experience.

Tim Myers: Where respect for private property ends

As a Midwesterner and a Lutheran, I must admit to a great love of irony, and there is nothing more entertaining and ironic than the practical behavior of an elected official, particularly a locally elected official, when their ideology runs straight into the practicalities of the moment.

Phil Kerpen: Government can't be trusted with our health

"We have a large government," political consultant David Axelrod offered as a plea of ignorance to all of the scandals swirling around his boss. "Part of being president is there's so much beneath you that you can't know because the government is so vast."