Hill Country News

Commentary: Trade schools are an equally respectable option as traditional 4-year colleges

The days of having a college diploma guarantee a good job have long been over. More and more, college graduates are not only seeing employers shrug their shoulders at diplomas, but also the job … more

Jeffery Leving, Guest Columnist | 5/19/22

There is a persistent Black-white wealth gap, one sign of racial inequality.

Commentary: Deep racial inequality persists in the US — but many Americans don’t want to believe it

Progress toward racial equality in the United States is real – and possible – if we look, for instance, at changes in racial attitudes across time.However, a rigid belief that progress … more

Michael Kraus, Guest Columnist | 5/18/22

Aaron Jordan, of Buffalo, adds to a sidewalk chalk mural depicting the names of the people killed as people gather at the scene of a mass shooting at Tops Friendly Market at Jefferson Avenue and Riley Street on Sunday, May 15, 2022, in Buffalo, NY. (Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times/TNS)

Commentary: Day after day of gun violence in America. Nothing changes

"Nothing changed after moviegoers were slaughtered in Aurora. Nothing changed after children were massacred in Newtown, after worshipers were killed inside a church in Charleston, after office … more

Mark Z. Barabak, Los Angeles Times (TNS) | 5/18/22

Commentary: Enjoy the prom while you can, kids

Prom season is upon us. It’s wonderful to see the excitement on the faces of young people as they pose for photos in their front yards, dressed up in their finest duds. I hate to admit … more

By Tom Purcell, Guest Columnist | 5/16/22

A TSA worker stands in a security check-in area at O'Hare International Airport Tuesday, June 29, 2021, in Chicago. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune/TNS)

Commentary: COVID-19 cases among TSA officers shows effects of end to federal mask mandate

On April 18, a federal court judge ended the federal transportation face mask mandate, deeming it an overstep of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention authority. Almost immediately, airlines … more

Sheldon Jacobson, Chicago Tribune (TNS) | 5/16/22

Hormonal birth control. (Barbara Johnson/Dreamstime/TNS)

Commentary: The pendulum is swinging back, reversing hard-won sexual freedoms and civil rights

The leaked Supreme Court opinion by Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., which would overturn Roe v. Wade, marks a devastating setback for reproductive justice in the United States. It also highlights how … more

Rebecca L. Davis, Los Angeles Times (TNS) | 5/12/22

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at a rally on the Ellipse on Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, near the White House in Washington, D.C., shortly before his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol. (Yuri Gripas/Abaca Press/TNS)

Commentary: Jan. 6 committee has delayed delivery long enough

Perhaps with the unrelenting volume from one screaming news cycle after the next, you failed to note this week that after an extensive, exhaustive, meticulously deliberate investigation, the Jan. 6 … more

Gene Collier, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (TNS) | 5/12/22

Pro-choice and anti-abortion activists demonstrate in front of the U.S. Supreme Court Building on Tuesday, May 3, 2022 in Washington, D.C.

Commentary: For pro-lifers, overturning Roe is one step in fight to make abortion unnecessary, not the end

Abortion-rights’ supporters’ sky-is-falling hysteria is contributing mightily to the misapprehension that the leaked draft U.S. Supreme Court opinion that would oveturn Roe v. Wade means abortion … more

By Cynthia M. Allen, Guest Columnist | 5/12/22

Commentary: The GOP’s anti-abortion crusade is not pro-family at all

In the hours after the bombshell leak of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito's draft opinion toppling Roe v. Wade, I awaited the torrent of Republican-authored press releases vowing to provide every … more

By John L. Micek, Guest Columnist | 5/12/22

Abortion rights signs hang on a police barricade at the U.S. Supreme Court Building on Tuesday, May 3, 2022, in Washington, D.C. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images/TNS)

Commentary: What’s behind the Supreme Court's bid to overturn Roe v. Wade? A hidden GOP agenda against women

What’s behind the manipulated and blatantly partisan U.S. Supreme Court bid to overturn a critical landmark decision that allowed women in this country the right to make the most important … more

Fabiola Santiago, Miami Herald (TNS) | 5/5/22

U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks on gun violence prevention in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington on April 8, 2021. (Yuri Gripas/Abaca Press/TNS)

Commentary: Inflation, recession and the 2022 midterms

With six months to go until the 2022 midterm elections, the economic indicators continue to deteriorate for Democrats. While unemployment remains low and the economy continues to grow (except for a … more

Stuart Rothenberg, CQ-Roll Call (TNS) | 5/5/22

Passengers make their way through Delta Airlines Terminal Two at Los Angeles International Airport on Tuesday, April 19, 2022, in Los Angeles. Airports and airlines dropped their mask requirements after a Florida federal judge voided the Biden administration's mask mandate for planes, trains and buses.

Commentary: Abolish the courts’ wanton use of nationwide injunctions

One federal district court judge should not be able to halt a federal government policy for the entire country. Yet that is exactly what happened when Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle, in Tampa, … more

By Erwin Chemerinsky, Guest Columnist | 5/5/22

Commentary: Under Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover, who will protect users?

Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover has triggered widespread criticism. Many people are panicked about the direction Musk will take the social platform. There’s a reason for alarm, but focusing solely … more

Safiya Noble and Rashad Robinson, Guest Columnists | 5/4/22

Angela Resto, right, helps Carol Pfister of Inverness with instructions for her self-test at the drive-thru COVID-19 testing and vaccination site on March 31, 2022, in Chicago. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune/TNS)

Commentary: The US response to COVID-19 hasn’t been a train wreck. We’re just average

The COVID-19 pandemic has taken another turn with new variants BA.2 and BA.2.12.1, which are apparently more contagious but less severe than their predecessors, causing a new mini-wave of infections … more

Cory Franklin and Robert Weinstein, Chicago Tribune (TNS) | 5/4/22

A crowd gathers outside the Supreme Court on May 2, 2022, after a purported leak indicates that Roe v. Wade will be overturned. (Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times/TNS)

Commentary: Silent majority of Americans who support abortion rights just learned the danger of silence

Here we go again. While the planet sizzles and Russia invades Eastern Europe, as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to claim hundreds of lives every day and millions of Americans search in vain for a … more

Mary McNamara, Los Angeles Times (TNS) | 5/3/22

Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden takes selfies with guests during a campaign rally at Coastal Carolina University on Feb. 27, 2020, in Conway, South Carolina. (Scott Olson/Getty Images/TNS)

Commentary: A better presidential primary for 2024

No election in the United States is as important as our elections for president. Yet if the last two cycles have told us anything, it’s that how we nominate presidents is broken and deeply … more

Rob Richie, The Fulcrum (TNS) | 5/2/22

Analysis: Texas is great — and ought to be better

2022 is an election year, a chance for Texas voters to tell the people who represent them what the state needs and what it doesn’t need, to bear down on the biggest problems we face together … more

By Ross Ramsey, The Texas Tribune | 4/30/22

Commentary: What are book bans really about? Fear.

More years ago than I really care to count, the children’s librarian in my little town in rural northwestern Connecticut, apparently tired of my endlessly renewing the same book over and over … more

By John L. Micek, Guest Columnist | 4/27/22

United States astronaut Buzz Aldrin salutes the American flag on the surface of the moon. He and fellow astronaut Neil Armstrong became the first people to land on the moon on July 20, 1969, during the Apollo 11 space mission.

Analysis: The case for big ideas in Texas government

John Kennedy set out to put humans on the moon. Lyndon Johnson wanted a Great Society. Ronald Reagan dared the Soviets to tear down the Berlin Wall. They went big and made it happen, ignoring the … more

By Ross Ramsey, The Texas Tribune | 4/27/22

A protester dressed as a handmaiden holds up a sign at a protest outside the Texas state capitol on May 29, 2021, in Austin, Texas.

Commentary: We can’t let people policing others become a new form of status and citizenship

Everywhere you look, people seem to be losing rights. Texas’ Senate Bill 8, which its legislators passed last year, was perhaps the most shocking example of this anti-rights wave. It’s one of the … more

By Rahim Kurwa, Guest Columnist | 4/26/22

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