Archive for ‘Opinion’

  • Ticked off

    By Alice Rose Like many children of my era, a popular summer activity was catching all manner of bugs, keeping them in canning jars in our bedroom. Despite the smallness of the holes in the lids, our buggy roommates always managed to mysteriously disappear. I suspect that my mother liberated them to their natural habitat, […]

  • Chaos theory from a five year-old

    One of my dearest friends went through a spell of self-inflicted chaos recently. It was the good kind of chaos, the kind sparked by a dream and the need for newness and growth, and where opportunities waited eagerly behind each possibility — the greater of several goods, if you will — but it was never […]

  • Making Young Drivers Safer

    By Bill Diamond It is very late in the session for a new piece of legislation to be introduced, so I was skeptical when I was approached by the Secretary of State with a request to submit an after-deadline bill. After seeing the data, I was convinced that something had to be done this year […]

  • Mystery Bird

    Most of us love a good mystery, and in books and movies if we can’t figure out the solution ourselves the secret is revealed to us at the end. Mysteries in real life, though, are not always resolved so neatly. This morning, I was standing at the kitchen sink rinsing breakfast dishes, when a shadow […]

  • Lessons from the Young on Distracted Driving

    By Bill Diamond Being in the legislature brings a lot of unexpected opportunities. Over the last few weeks, I have been enjoying one of these. In January, I was contacted by Zac Stearn and Matthew Ingalls, two seniors at Hall-Dale High School in Farmingdale, and asked to help them out with their “Capstone” project by […]

  • Keep the Home Fires Burning?

    By Price Hutchins I am always a step behind the innovation curve. I purchased my first precision slide rule the same day my roommate purchased the first calculator I had ever seen. In the 70s, I was all about wood stoves and heating with wood. The very first oil recession had passed. Jimmy Carter wore […]

  • Strengthening the Computer Crimes Unit

    By Bill Diamond My bill, LD 1731, “An Act To Rescue Children Who Are Being Sexually Abused and To Make Improvements to the Sex Offender Registry and the Investigation of Computer Crimes,” has cleared the Criminal Justice Committee, and now moves on to the House and Senate. The committee process is always a little harrowing […]

  • You just don’t have time

    By Peter Lewis The problem with being a dad is that you don’t get any practice or a head start. Three days after my son came squiggling into the world, I realized that a dad is born on the same day as his first child and that I was already behind.  I’ve been trying to […]

  • An Equinox

    By Anna McGreavy It is on a cold February morning when I begin this article. The fire is stoked, and heat radiates off the cast iron woodstove into the living room. In my nest of comforters on the couch, I wait for the warmth to reach me. I alternate between sipping coffee and scribbling poetry […]

  • The Next Steps on the Budget

    By Bill Diamond This week, the governor announced his latest effort to keep the budget in balance. While the last one only looked at the current fiscal year and only at the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), this one looks at the rest of the state government and goes through then end of […]