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Parents a big part of the learning process

For millions of American students, public schools have been closed since mid-March. School has been wherever a quiet place could be found in the home. For most, class starts when they and their parents decide it will. That simply will not work for many children. There is a reason we still send the youngsters off to school every weekday. Regular, personal contact with professional educators is important. For the foreseeable future, schools will be closed, however. No one knows how long school buildings will have to remain closed as part of the battle to keep the coronavirus from ...

Lawmakers, Trump did right thing to move quickly on CARES Act

No doubt some members of Congress had to hold their noses while they were voting for the $2.2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act. CARES includes a ton of money for initiatives that have nothing to do with COVID-19. Why on earth did anyone think it was important to cough up $25 million for the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, in Washington, D.C.? Still, members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives were right to approve the bill, in overwhelming bipartisan fashion. Handling it as nearly all legislation is dealt with on Capitol Hill would have ...

Investing in American business still good bet long term

On Feb. 12, the Dow Jones Industrial Average on the New York Stock Exchange stood at 29,551 points. By last Friday, it had plunged to 21,636. Though the DJIA is just one measure of the value of securities worldwide, it is one seen widely as a guide to performance of the markets in general. Losses on the scale of the DJIA - more than one-fourth of its value shed in six weeks - are the rule rather than the exception. That has hurt tens of millions of Americans badly. With retirement savings invested heavily in stocks, many know they will have to stay at work for years longer than ...

Time to bring key manufacturing home

Sources ranging from the CIA to the Census Bureau disagree on how reliant we Americans are on drugs and medical equipment imported from China. Extend that to international agencies and the variances are even greater. For example, some sources place China far down on the list of countries exporting drugs to the United States. We are about 15 times more dependent on Ireland, according to the International Trade Centre. We import only about $2.6 billion’ worth of drugs a year from China, agrees the Census Bureau. Other analysts say the reliance is substantially greater, especially ...

Time to double-down on attitude of helping others

We Americans are renowned for our compassionate generosity. When we learn of a need, we rush to fill it. It is time to double-down on that attitude of helping others. Throughout the nation, tens of thousands of non-profit organizations — some big national ones, others strictly local — are relief upon by many of our neighbors, friends, co-workers and even family members for certain services. Think of a need, and a charitable group strives to take care of it. Soup kitchens for the homeless, shelter for abused spouses and children, medical treatment for those who cannot afford it, ...

Make good decisions in these stressful times

There is a reason “Yankee ingenuity” is recognized throughout the world. We Americans have a reputation for identifying challenges and devising ways to overcome them. Use your head if you decide to come up a home remedy, a way to stretch supplies such as those of food — or any other challenge to which you think you have a solution. You may have seen reports that an anti-malaria drug, chloroquine, shows promise in battling COVID-19. Just a few days ago, a man and his wife living near Phoenix, Arizona, decided to try it. They found some chloroquine phosphate, a substance use ...