Hits and Misses
This is stating the obvious, but Jerome Bettis has had a very successful life. The former Pittsburgh Steelers running back has a Super Bowl ring and has maintained a busy post-NFL career as a television commentator and restaurant owner. So he doesn’t need to go back to the University of Notre Dame, which he left almost 30 years ago when he was drafted by the Los Angeles Rams. But Bettis revealed last month that, on on the eve of his 50th birthday, he has re-enrolled at the university to complete a business degree. Bettis explained on NBC-TV’s “The Today Show” last week that he promised his mother he would complete the degree and will be the first in his family to graduate from college. He also said, “I have two children. For them to see dad finish a commitment that he set out some 27 years ago, for me to complete that, I think it says a lot to them.” It says a lot to the rest of us, too.
It was more than just a little ironic that the bridge that collapsed on Forbes Avenue in Pittsburgh last Friday happened on the same day that President Biden came to the city to talk about the need to upgrade the country’s infrastructure. The span had long been rated as being in poor condition, and there are many others in the region and around the state that are almost certainly in similarly dire straits. It was last inspected in September, raising questions about the criteria that are used to allow bridges to stay open. The $1 trillion infrastructure bill Biden signed into law in November contains $40 billion for replacing, repairing and rehabilitating the nation’s bridges. It’s a start when it comes to fixing the country’s crumbling infrastructure, but one can’t help but wonder if the $40 billion for bridges is actually enough.
Undoubtedly due to the pandemic, enrollment in Pennsylvania’s cyber charter schools mushroomed in the 2020-21 school year, exploding from 38,000 the year before to 61,000. But the way cyber charter schools are funded in the commonwealth places a pronounced burden on public school districts and is unfair to taxpayers. Districts have to hand over the per-pupil costs to cyber charters when one of their students enrolls in a cyber charter school, even though the costs are estimated to be 25% to 30% lower than operating a brick-and-mortar school. Plus, districts have little say in how cyber charters operate. The Philadelphia Inquirer recently outlined the findings of a new report by the PA Charter Performance Center on the state’s cyber charter schools, and the report points out that other states fund charters directly or set statewide tuition rates. The report also suggests that a district not be on the hook if a student enrolls in a cyber charter school if the district has a comparable or superior cyber charter program. As cyber charter enrollment increases, the need for reforms grows more urgent.
The decision by the McGinn County School Board in Athens, Tenn., to ban the graphic novel “Maus” from its middle school curriculum has stirred up international headlines and made Tennessee a subject a widespread derision. It’s just one of the most recent incidents of book banning that should disturb any American who values free expression. However, some people have decided to fight back. An owner of a comic book store in Knoxville, Tenn., is offering free copies of the Holocaust-themed “Maus” to any student, and the owner of a comic book outlet in California is offering to send copies of the book to students in McGinn County at no cost. The owner of the store will even cover the shipping. Plus, “Maus,” which won a Pulitzer Prize after it was first published in 1986, has rocketed back to the top of bestseller lists. It turned out the Tennessee school board’s wrong-headed decision to ban “Maus” has led it to be read even more widely.