Thumbs up: To the Ogden School District, which is a finalist for a federal Race to the Top grant that could reach as high as $29 million. It’s still a longshot to get the grant, but being named a finalist, out of hundreds of applicants, speaks well of the district.
Thumbs down: To the unhealthy influence the drug industry has over the financing of drug studies that are published in scholarly journals. One solution would be to earmark more funds for federal studies of drug products. Thumbs up: To the Weber School District, for its success with its student interns program. The work-based learning program boasted about 110 juniors and seniors who gained real-life experience in the workfield. Thumbs down: To Utah’s Republican delegation in Congress. All four are stubbornly resistant to the idea of tax increases — even among the wealthy — to help trim the budget debt. We need a mix of spending cuts and tax hikes to effectively reduce the deficit. Thumbs up: To NBA Commissioner David Stern, who fined the Dallas Mavericks $250,000 after the team benched its stars for a game against Orlando, which defeated the Mavericks. The NBA is big business, and fans and TV networks pay a huge amount of money to enjoy world-class sports. Without a valid reason, favored players we pay to see shouldn’t be benched. Thumbs down: To Utah’s HIV rate. Our state has seen an increase in the number of younger adults who have the HIV virus. This is a potential trend that needs to be watched. Better education in the schools, as well as more adults getting tested, should be encouraged.
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