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Editorial voices from across the country

4 min read
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Editorial voices from newspapers around the United States:

News stories about the misuse of public trust by someone at a county school district have happened far too often in West Virginia over the years.

Most recently, the allegations come from Logan County, where former superintendent Phyllis Doty is accused of using education funds to help pay for her son’s wedding.

Surely, the investigation will continue and any misuse of public funds will be prosecuted according to the law.

But the allegations are another reminder that, for years in the Mountain State, some county school systems have seemed to serve as a spoils system and jobs provider for entrenched officials and their families rather than an organization that effectively educates the county’s children.

With consistently high per pupil spending on education yet low education attainment results in West Virginia, perhaps it is time to rethink the county school system model.

Yes, there are many good schools in West Virginia now with excellent administrators, teachers and staff, and many kids who seek it can get a quality education.

Yet there is still much room for improvement across our state’s public education system. State policymakers should study the success of states with independent school districts and give serious consideration to reforms that would allow for such systems in West Virginia.

We applaud new federal regulations for electronic cigarettes. The rules, which went into effect earlier this month, now require the Food and Drug Administration to approve all e-cigarette products, though manufacturers will be able to keep selling their wares for up to two years while they submit a new production application, plus an additional year while the FDA reviews it.

The ruling reflects concerns by anti-tobacco groups; they were increasingly worried about these products becoming a “gateway” to tobacco use – and they were afraid that their popularity was growing among young people. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, e-cigarette use among high school students rose from 1.5 percent in 2011 to 16 percent in 2015. Federal health officials estimate about 3 million middle and high school students use e-cigarettes.

The long-term consequences of vaping vs. smoking are unclear in this young cohort; however, the survey found that 80 percent of those who tried e-cigarettes were still smoking them six months later.

As of now, “long-term” may have to wait until the young people turn 18. Under the new regulations, vape shops cannot give free samples to customers or sell to people younger than 18. Merchants will be required to ask for identification from customers who appear to be under the age of 27. And vending machine sales of e-cigarettes are prohibited unless the machines are in adult-only facilities.

Perhaps, by the time these kids become adults, these devices won’t seem as attractive.

Donald Trump’s carelessness with language and the media’s hysteria and hype have totally overshadowed his speech in Detroit recently on national economic policy.

That’s not only a blow to his campaign but tragic for the nation, because, as with so many other vital issues – how to deal with Russia and how to deal with the Islamic State are two obvious examples – we are not having a debate in this country. And there are some vital matters that we need to debate.

Trump may have an advantage on issues because he actually allows himself to think once in a while, and think outside the norms of conventional and accepted wisdom: Do we really want to go to war to save Estonia or Latvia from Russia, for example? Should we be obligated to NATO allies who do not pay their NATO dues?

Hillary Clinton cannot easily break with the orthodoxies because she is a product of them, and of the very elites, power structures, highly orchestrated political theater, and Washington folkways Trump has committed himself to diluting, if not destroying.

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