Opinion

A Nelson County man asked me about charter schools, wondering why public charter schools don’t have to follow the same rules as traditional public schools; and if charter schools are better (which he doubts), why don’t the traditional schools change the way they’re doing business to imitate charter schools?
The answers lie in centralized control and mandatory attendance. Let’s take a look at how Kentucky sets things up.

For the past four years or so, this upcoming Sunday has been one of my favorite days of the year. Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock or have sworn off sports for the past few weeks, you probably know this Sunday is none other than Super Bowl Sunday.
Before I even understood the game of football, I celebrated the “big game” with three F’s — friends, fun and food, of course.
I recently stumbled upon an article from SBNation.com writer Brian Floyd that included some mind-boggling statistics, even for this hard-core fan.

It is our constitutional duty every 10 years to realign our voting districts according to population after each census. This act fulfills the requirement of one man, one vote. In this, the third week of session, that is exactly what the Senate and House did with House Bill 1.
According to tradition, the Senate draws its lines while the House of Representatives decides on theirs. My district changed with the additions of a portion of Boone and Jefferson Counties, and all of Carroll, Gallatin and Henry counties. I will continue to represent Shelby and Spencer counties.

In the second week of session, the General Assembly began to debate several significant issues in designated committees. Drug abuse, weaknesses in child-protective services, and the state’s debt level were all topics of discussion. The committee process is intended to inform the legislators of the pros and cons of each bill. Lively debate accompanied each piece of legislation.
 

Normally, we don’t run things on this page without telling you who wrote them. Whether it’s from one of our staff members or from one of you, we usually put a name to it.
But this week we are presented with a special situation.
A loving mother came into our office and showed us what you are about to read below. It describes what a young man and his family went through during a time when his brother was on drugs. At the time it was written, the young man was an elementary student. Now, he is grown, but his mother thinks the words still need to be shared.

Following a national census, which takes place every 10 years in America, your General Assembly must redraw the lines that define legislative, senatorial and U.S. Congressional districts. We are doing that now, during this session.

Lines are drawn based on revised population data, the goal being to end up with 100 state house districts, 38 state senate districts, and six U.S. congressional districts of roughly equivalent populations.

Sticking to New Year’s resolutions has never been something I’m particularly good at — but then again, who is?
I made four resolutions at the end of 2009, all of which I intended to fulfill in 2010. At the end of the year in 2010, I outed my epic failures in a column for readers of The Anderson News and carried forward those resolutions into 2011.
So, as not to slight my “new” readership in Spencer County, I decided to do the same.
Here were my resolutions for 2011:

LEGISLATIVE UPDATE

Editor’s note: Eight-year-old Virginia O’Hanlon wrote a letter to the editor of New York’s Sun, and the quick response was printed as an unsigned editorial Sept. 21, 1897. The work of veteran newsman Francis Pharcellus Church has since become history’s most reprinted newspaper editorial, appearing in part or whole in dozens of languages in books, movies, and other editorials, and on posters and stamps. It appears here courtesy of newseum.org.

“Dear editor: I am 8 years old.