Justin Katz
If only teachers were allowed to marry, this wouldn’t be happening: A nationwide Associated Press investigation found more than 2,500 cases over five years in which educators were punished for sexual misconduct. The figures were gathered as part of a seven-month investigation in which AP reporters sought records on teacher discipline in all 50 states…
Friday’s Dilbert strip is so appropriate to Rhode Island’s predicaments (especially from our unique perspective) that I’ve emailed Scott Adams about making a t-shirt of it. In context of the particular bit of pith from Dilbert’s garbage man, keep an eye out for provisions in the law and in contracts that seek to expand the…
Upon reading some British scientist’s prediction of two species of humans thousands of years hence — a genetically solidified separation of the haves and have-nots — commenters have seemed to overlook the possibility that the haves are rapidly divesting themselves of the only thing that is actually worth having as they rend themselves from the…
Peggy Noonan touches on something about which I mused just before my first full-time day as carpenter. Writes Noonan: I’ll jump here, or lurch I suppose, to something I am concerned about that I think I am observing accurately. It has to do with what sometimes seems to me to be the limited lives that…
In the comments to a previous post, Brendan writes (beginning by quoting me): I simply don’t believe that communities would begrudge them ample provisions, remuneration, and benefits no matter their employment structure. Entirely too trusting Justin. Look at West Warwick and Johnston- running two men per truck when NFPA calls for 4. Look at Providence-…
With little doubt that the observation and conclusions will be misconstrued, I find myself comparing Kate Brewster’s Poverty Institute and Planned Parenthood. When people construct their lives such that they profit from — survive by — the evil outcomes of their faulty solutions, accuracy of analysis is apt to be subordinate to a priori prescriptions…
I grew up a fifteen minute drive from the George Washington Bridge into New York City. I lived in Pittsburgh for a year. And I’m a wanderer. That is to say that I’ve been lost in some of the most confusing areas that the (expanded) East Coast has to offer, but tonight I discovered a…
Look, I think it’s largely irrelevant that J.K. Rowling thought of Albus Dumbledore — whom she outed during a lecture at Carnegie Hall — as homosexual while writing the Harry Potter books: The question was: Did Dumbledore, who believed in the prevailing power of love, ever fall in love himself? JKR: My truthful answer to…
The details of Firefighter Third Class Robert Thurber’s receipt of recognition at last night’s Tiverton town council meeting prove me to have understated Mr. Thurber’s merit: Firefighter Third Class Robert Thurber III was awarded a Medal of Valor, second class, by Fire Chief Robert Lloyd for his attempt to save two people from a car…
I very much wanted to attend Donna Hughes’s lecture this evening at URI’s Kingston campus, but with teacher contract negotiations still ongoing, I felt somewhat obligated to attend tonight’s school committee meeting. Committee and union members alike may be asking: What school committee meeting? Apparently, it was canceled, but I’m not sure how a regular…