Archive By Section - Columnists
Cher gilmore: A global warming solution
With 2012's record-breaking heat (it was the hottest year our nation has ever experienced) and a resulting series of disasters - wildfires in the West, drought and dust storms across the Great Plains, record ice loss in the Arctic, and Superstorm Sandy, to name a few - Americans are finally waking up to the reality of global warming.
Gary Horton: Understand the limits, frailty of life
A while back I visited a back surgeon to take a gander at my lower back. I'd been experiencing bothersome pain in my lower back and hips and felt that it was about time to face the music. It seemed that every day was just a little more painful than the prior, and, even with all the stretching, exercise, and even hanging upside down on one of those teeter things…
Charlie Vignola: If you can’t beat ‘em, cheat ‘em
Imagine a football team that's made it to the Super Bowl six times in a row but has only won it once.
Jan Ting: Will Joe Biden succeed Obama as next president?
It's less than three years now before the first presidential primary elections of 2016. Anyone who wants to be a serious candidate in those primaries will need to start organizing a campaign soon. My home state of Delaware knows Vice President Joseph Biden well. He was first elected to the U.S. Senate from Delaware in 1972 when he was only 29 years old. Delaware voters re-elected him six times ...
Will Durst: A parallax view of Obama’s inauguration
Astronomers have a name for the phenomenon of an object appearing to be in different places, depending on the perspective from which it is viewed. It's known as the parallax view, and could be seen on display for the second Inauguration of the 44th President of the United States. Speaking of it, folks described events occurring on different planets. Some called it a disaster, some a triumph. Crime scene in a cave versus ascension on ...
Kathryn Lopez: Commentary
We've been wandering in the desert for 40 years," declared Boston Cardinal Sean O'Malley. It was an ever-present reflection during the week that marked four decades of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision that established a woman's right to an abortion. Last week, Cardinal O'Malley led a Mass that began at least 24 hours of prayer and protest for thousands of people gathered at the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in our nation's capital.
David Hegg: Find joy, not happiness
One of the essential components of healthy living is knowing how to respond to the circumstances that barge into our lives.
Laurene Weste: Live From City Hall
The recently-released Pew Research Center's Internet and American Life Project, "Library Services in the Digital Age," surveyed 2,252 Americans ages 16 and older between Oct.15 and Nov. 10 of last year, and concluded that even in the digital age, libraries continue to serve a variety of functions, with nearly 60 percent of respondents having had some kind of interaction with a library in the last 12 months, and 91 percent saying that "public libraries ...
Tim Myers: Those thinking to flee California, beware the cold
The three or four regular readers of this column know that I and the rest of the local Myers clan do not originally hail from these parts, spending just under 40 years in the extreme climates of the upper Midwest in Iowa and Nebraska.
Betty Arenson: United we stand, divided we fall
The media is flush with Democrats reminding everyone that they won big last November while ignoring they did not prevail in the House of Representatives.
Kevin Bayona: Deadly civil war continues to rage on in Syria
The civil war in Syria still rages on with approximately 60,000 dead, according to the United Nations. Almost half the dead are civilians, the other half armed rebels and Syrian soldiers.
Peggy Stabile: Dick Bongard was a fierce advocate of PFLAG in SCV
Members of the Santa Clarita chapter of Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, or PFLAG, were saddened to learn of the death of Dick Bongard, loyal member since 1992, past treasurer and catalyst behind completing the very complicated paperwork that moved the group from its position as a satellite of PFLAG LA into becoming its own nationally affiliated entity.
Tom Purcell: Can I have a side of flu with that?
"Hi, I'm Stacy, and I'll be your server. Can I get you something to drink while you look at the menu?" she yelled over the high-decibel music. Over Stacy's shoulder I could see seven large-screen TVs, each showing a different sports event - football, basketball, soccer, skiing, snowboarding, hockey and pingpong. Many more were scattered around the restaurant out of my line of sight.
Gary Horton: Post Recession Americans
A funny thing happened during the tumult of the past few years. Economic heat and pressure have morphed us into "Post Recession Americans."
Jonathan Kraut: A new kind of politician heads to Sacramento
Each year my wife and I host a little holiday party to raise awareness and funds for the SCV Winter Homeless Shelter.
Articles by Section - Columnists
Phil Kerpen: Sick people versus lobbyists
What if you had to choose between making insurance more affordable for Americans with pre-existing conditions or funding lobbyists and political hacks? That's the decision the House will face when it considers H.R. 1549, the Helping Sick Americans Now Act, sponsored by Rep. Joe Pitts of Pennsylvania. It should be an easy choice.
Tim Myers: Setting a bad example
I often utilize the term "geography" partisan. The definition of a geography partisan? An elected official or someone who aspires to elective office who adopts a party label pretty much solely because that party stands dominant in the particular area where the individual lives.
Dick Cesaroni: Congress, listen to the voters, not the NRA
I am a wavering Republican. By that I mean I am at the crossroads of going to the right, left or just canceling my participation all together.
Frank Ferry: Live from City Hall
In Santa Clarita you know you can shop for the latest styles or eat at a terrific restaurant, but did you also know that you can enjoy some of the best hiking in the region on oak-shaded trails with creeks and waterfalls?
What other abuse can be heaped on Castaic?
The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transit Authority has plans to place a carpool lane on Interstate 5 northbound from Highway 14 to Parker Road in Castaic. In fact, a Metro committee approved the plan - as a toll road - this week.
Right Here Right Now: Ending bad finance deals in education
In a rare display of solidarity, the California Assembly approved AB 182 by a vote of 73-0.
Kevin Bayona: What happens after Boston?
The bombings in Boston are beyond what I ever thought I would see in an American city.
Jim Mullen: Algebra comes in handy
Pop quiz: How often do you use algebra, trigonometry and calculus as an adult? Most of us would say "never"! The folks who do use advanced math would say that without it, you wouldn't have cellphones and Wi-Fi and TV and weather satellites and GPS and Google and nuclear power and a gazillion other things that make modern life worth living. And for a change, both camps would be right.
Gary Horton: Timeless lessons to be remembered
Last week our Starbucks friend Herman invited Carrie and me to attend a special Holocaust memorial service at Santa Clarita Valley's Congregation Beth Shalom.
Maria Gutzeit: California needs to improve business attitude
My one-word summary of the community lobby day put on by Assemblyman Scott Wilk. R-Santa Clarita, and KHTS radio last month?
Peter Funt: Steal this video
Back in 1971 when the hippie revolution's Pied Piper, Abbie Hoffman, authored "Steal This Book," he got the very outrage he sought. Thirty publishing houses rejected it and, when the book finally came out, more than a dozen newspapers refused to print ads to promote it.
Kevin Buck: It's been a long and winding road
Over the course of a lifetime I have observed, joined, written about and learned much from political battles.
David Hegg: Ethically Speaking
The existence of evil in our world has been the grounds for some of the greatest questions we humans ever ask. Why did tragedy take the life of someone so young? Why did a stray bullet hit an innocent bystander? Why did my father die of Alzheimer's?
Kathryn Lopez: Abortion law ramifications frightening
In the face of the darkness that befell Newton, Conn., there has been an expectation of something more, but it doesn't have to do with legislation. Father Peter Cameron, a Dominican priest, preached to the families gathered at St. Rose of Lima Church there the Sunday after the school massacre about the hope that he saw in them.
Timothy Myers: What I like about the SCV
The die for the Myers clan is finally cast. This past week we made an offer on a home in Irvine, California.
