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High court to settle score on W.Va. sports law

CHARLESTON, W.Va.—Let’s pick up where we left off last week. The Supreme Court is considering a challenge—under the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause—to Idaho’s Fairness in Women’s Sports Act. The law requires that public schools and higher-education institutions designate each sponsored sport as ● for males, men, or boys, ● for females, women, or girls, or ● as co-ed or mixed. Such laws are about sex, not gender. After all, a person’s sex goes to whether the person is male or female. Males are he. Females are she. By contrast, gender is a ...

Rounding Third: Mother’s Day has competition for attention

Today is Mother’s Day. As I write this, on May 10, I’ve learned it’s also National Shrimp Day. Wh-a-a-a-t? Today is Mother’s Day. Period. How can it be anything else? Turns out it’s the date that determines these festive days. Every second Sunday in May is Mother’s Day. But every May 10 is National Shrimp Day. It also happens to be National Idaho Day, National Washington Day, National Cherry Cobbler Day, National Rescue Dog Day, and last, but not least, National Clean Up Your Room Day. Whoa… that has to be hooked to Mother’s Day somehow. Who decides these things? And ...

We’re still too overheated on climate change

In the years that I have been writing this column I have found that if your attitude towards climate change being caused by human actions seems less than wholehearted, unquestioning support you will be harshly criticized by those who think mankind is the whole problem. Our skepticism becomes seen as unforgivable ignorance because the “truth” about climate change is in plain view. I’m not sure that it is. Advocates of human generated climate change argue that skeptics are anti-science, rejecting overwhelming scientific evidence which 97% to 99% of scientists supposedly agree on. ...

It’s a lot less wild while in captivity

Imagine hundreds of people watching your every move and wanting you to get up and do something entertaining. The constant noise of screaming, crying, chattering. Wanting to just hide from it all but there is no place to go. You’re stuck behind the glass. Being a caged animal means your life is limited. Would you want to live like that? My love for animals is something I've had since birth. They remind me of the simplest joys in life. All of my worries are far behind me when I am with animals. One of my favorite places to visit when I was younger was the zoo. Walking by the glass, ...

Oil is not found everywhere

The United States, by our action in starting a war with Iran, sparked a blockade at the Strait of Hormuz. We followed by starting our own naval blockade and since then oil prices have jumped to $100 per barrel. Many are asking: “Why?” Why did we start this war, but, also, why is the price of oil now so high? Why does the Middle East control the price of oil? The simple answer is that over 50% of the proven reserves for oil in the world are there, and Mid-East oil today accounts for over 25% of total annual world oil production. It would be nice if mother nature had deposited oil ...

Officials did not lead on lake issue

We are disappointed, actually appalled, that our County Legislature and Executive did not have the courage to represent its constituents against the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s (NYSDEC) ill-conceived and rushed new wetlands regulations. They took no action as those terribly flawed regulations were imposed on all of us. Fortunately, through no effort of the County, those regulations have now been annulled by a State Supreme Court decision. It was left to two local non-profits, the Chautauqua Lake Property Owners Association (CLPOA) and the Chautauqua ...