Front Pages from All America 6/21

Every day, I comb through the front pages of just about every daily paper in America (provided via?The Freedom Forum) and will highlight 10 front page items that have national significance, with my quick commentary

Waterloo Courier (Iowa)

THE FRONT PAGE STORY: Farmers Welcome Weekend Rain on Drought Stricken Land

WHY IT MATTERS: Much of the nation's farmlands have been dealing with a severe drought for an extended period. Most Americans are still unaware of this.

THE TAKEAWAY: The nation's inflation problems are still most acutely felt at the grocery store. You know what Federal Reserve rate hikes are doing to improve food supply and lower prices? NOTHING. Until we recognize that interest rates are only one small part of the inflation-fighting agenda, we'll remain vulnerable to supply chain issues caused by drought, disease, and dummies. Here's an idea better than raising rates: why not provide incentives for American farmers to install Israeli-made drip irrigation systems so droughts have little or no effect in the future?

The Lawrence Journal World (Kansas)

THE FRONT PAGE STORY: As KU Discusses Pay, it's still Unclear Whether Faculty Union will Form

WHY IT MATTERS: Almost every university is jacking up tuition prices this year. Naturally, some of the chronically underpaid non-tenured faculty at these schools will want raises.

THE TAKEAWAY: Another day, another story proving educating students is far from the top priority for America's colleges. More and more of their students are actually taught by very low-paid adjunct professors and teaching assistants while the tenured professors are paid better and get amazing benefits to do research and God knows what else. The tenure model has long been abused and no longer serves a widely beneficial purpose. The non-tenured staff can try gimmicks like unionization, etc. But their best chance to make a decent living and get a piece of the pie is to let the public know how these schools are really spending their money.

The Gleaner (Kentucky)

THE FRONT PAGE STORY: Marijuana Dispensary Marks Grand Opening

WHY IT MATTERS: More and more states are believing the promise of legalized medical and/or recreational marijuana as "an answer."

THE TAKEAWAY: If only businesses that actually provide a good product or service got as much free publicity as every marijuana dispensary seems to get on broadcast TV or in the papers. I mean this dispensary is all the way in Illinois and it's the front page lead story in a Kentucky paper! Again, other than a few areas there is no evidence legalized marijuana raises tax revenues or reduces crime. But more than that it really appears that many states are pushing greater access to marijuana for a more nefarious, or at least cynical, reason. That is our politicians and bureaucrats think a large segment of the population is mostly useless and if they become more regular users of pot to ease their pain or just keep them from storming the gates, so be it. In Rome they used to call it "Bread and Circuses." In America, we call it "legal weed."

New Haven Register (Connecticut)

THE FRONT PAGE STORY: Cannabis Retailer Plans New Home in New Haven

WHY IT MATTERS: Did you doubt me when I wrote above that America's newspapers just can't get enough of putting every little legal pot business story on the front page? Well, now you can stop doubting.

THE TAKEAWAY: Rural America is one thing, but the cynicism politicians have for so many Americans is even more obvious when they green light flooding struggling cities like New Haven with drugs, legal or not. Why not take this empty retail space and encourage New Haven staple Yale University to use it as free tutoring center for kids in the New Haven public school system? See which project returns more on the city's investment.

The Times Herald (Michigan)

THE FRONT PAGE STORY: Downtown Parking Solutions Prove Elusive

WHY IT MATTERS: American towns continue to mostly get the question of parking wrong.

THE TAKEAWAY: Parking lots are virtually the worst use to which you can put a piece of urban land. The experts at my favorite planning site StrongTowns.org have published dozens of articles on the high costs of our cities' addiction to free parking. I urge that every city eliminate its parking minimums, and start pricing parking at a fair market rate, so that parking can be adequately weighed against other, potentially more productive uses of land. Our oversupply of free parking is financially ruinous—it results in cities that have been eaten alive by parking lots at the expense of value-generating land. It cannot be sustained. Port Huron, Michigan should contract StrongTowns to look into the problem and make suggestions. Then the city can send out plenty of existing StrongTowns videos explaining how they'll be able to not only park easily in Port Huron, but enjoy it much more.

Duluth News Tribune (Minnesota)

THE FRONT PAGE STORY: Safety Committee Examines Closure of Homeless Encampment

WHY IT MATTERS: Cities and towns all over the country are dealing with a growing number of tent cities and other kinds of homeless encampments in their downtown areas and even suburban settings.

THE TAKEAWAY: Too much of the political posturing and "reporting" on this rising homeless crisis foolishly focuses on housing supply and real estate costs, (both are problems in America to be sure, especially now, but they are not the reasons for rising homelessness). They do this out of ignorance (media's excuse), and also to divert attention from the real solutions to the problem (politicians' doing). Homelessness in America now will only be reduced by creating more anti-addiction treatment programs and more mental health care hospitals and beds... full stop. Will that cost money? Yes. But when you see the economic devastation that rising vagrancy and drug addiction has caused even in our richest cities, paying for these services seems like it will be worth it.

Minneapolis Star Tribune (Minnesota)

THE FRONT PAGE STORY: AM Radio a Rural Lifeline

WHY IT MATTERS: A number of car companies are strongly considering not providing basic AM radios in their vehicles from now on. That has stirred a fight to save AM radio that has strong bipartisan support in Congress.

THE TAKEAWAY: Articles like the one above make the case for AM radio as a vital information source, especially in rural areas. That may be true, and it also may be hard to replace if eliminated. But AM radio in America is really right wing talk radio. That's where the money comes from to keep those stations alive. So it's interesting that so many Democrats in Congress and left-leaning media outlets are joining the fight for the platform. The reason why is simple: lobbying. Cash donations often trump partisan leanings in Washington, or to be more clear: financial considerations are usually the real issue even when they're dressed up as partisan fights.

The Pantagraph (Illinois)

THE FRONT PAGE STORY: Bubble Tea Business Booming

WHY IT MATTERS: Bubble tea places are indeed growing in popularity and numbers across America. The fact that one exists and is doing well even in the semi-rural area of Bloomington, IL is pretty telling.

THE TAKEAWAY: The bubble tea boom is mostly fueled by teens and college students looking for new hangouts. Don't ignore this trend, as that same demographic was a huge reason for the explosion of Starbucks and other coffee places in America in the early and mid-90s. Bubble tea probably won't have that kind of massive success, but it will do well as long as much as any business that can get away with basically selling sugary drinks and products while being thought of "exotic" or even healthy.

The Star Press (Indiana)

THE FRONT PAGE STORY: MPD to Hire Social Worker, New Officer

WHY IT MATTERS: This is how Muncie, Indiana will use its share ($518,000) of a federal program to address the national mental health crisis.

THE TAKEAWAY: A common complaint that police officers justifiably make is that they mostly deal with people facing mental health problems and they are not psychologists or social workers. So, using federal money to give any police department more personnel trained to deal with this problem seems wise. A number of cities are pairing cops with social workers on the beat in hopes of seeing better results. Americans should watch these developments closely.

The Herald-Tribune (Florida)

THE FRONT PAGE STORY: Scientists: We "Didn't Find any Flesh-Eating Bacteria"

WHY IT MATTERS: We've seen stories for months about the massive seaweed plume that was headed for, and then washed up over miles of Florida's beaches. The media bias in favor of gloom and doom has been evident throughout the life of this story, but it reached a fever pitch when we heard reports that the plume was carrying flesh-eating bacteria.

THE TAKEAWAY: Good for the Herald-Tribune (based in Sarasota, FL) for giving the Florida Atlantic University study showing no flesh-eating bacteria the same banner front page treatment as the doom-saying, scary headlines we saw elsewhere in week's past. Hopefully, the FAU experts are right.