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Burke: The phantom teacher shortage in public schools

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:20:56 GMT

Pop quiz time. “Teacher shortages have gotten worse.” True or false?False. And yet, that sentence was part of a recent Washington Post headline. And it’s far from uncommon.In fact, public schools have been on a hiring spree for decades. It began with President Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society and has continued to the present day, aided partly by a temporary federal COVID bonus payment of $190 billion.In some school districts — mainly in the south and rural areas — and in some subjects (math, special education, foreign languages, chief among them), schools have trouble filling positions. But this problem is not acute. Nationwide, there were 5% more teachers in America’s public schools during the 2020-21 school year than during the 2017-18 school year.Taking a longer view, in 1965, when Johnson launched his War on Poverty — a third of which, he said, “would be fought in the classrooms of America” — there were 1.7 million public school teachers for about 42 million students, equating to ...

Editorial: Antisemitism thriving, spreading on TikTok

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:20:56 GMT

We’ve seen contagions induced by social media before. But the sudden popularity of TikTok videos in which confused young people muse on the merits of Osama bin Laden’s “Letter to America” reveal the depths of this particular app’s ability to corrupt young minds.Yes, that would be the deranged and paranoid thoughts of the terrorist mastermind of the murderous Sept. 11 attacks. On TikTok, you can find folks wondering aloud if he might just have had a point. The stupidity and ignorance of history boggles the mind.Voices on the left, such as National Public Radio, have tried to argue that the TikTok problem is overblown and white supremacists are the real problem when it comes to rising antisemitism.And, indeed, there is a growing amount of that poison on the far-right fringes.But the left also has to recognize that antisemitism has re-emerged in troubling ways within its core communities, taking parents, ill-prepared college campuses and even some media organizations by surprise.Denyin...

McManus: Biden & Xi agree on the easy steps

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:20:56 GMT

In a world beset by wars in Gaza and Ukraine, it’s good news when two superpowers step back from frictions that increased the danger of another war in Asia.That’s what happened last week when President Joe Biden met with China’s Xi Jinping at a country estate west of Silicon Valley.The two presidents met after a year of frosty noncommunication, touched off by China’s suspected espionage balloon that wandered across U.S. airspace last winter, by aggressive Chinese military actions in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea, and by U.S. restrictions on advanced technology.The presidents agreed to bury a few of their differences for the simple reason that neither needs another crisis right now.Beijing’s stock has been falling literally and figuratively. Its economy, once the world’s powerhouse, has slowed to a low-for-China growth rate of 5%. Foreign investors are pulling money out of the country, a reversal of a decades-long trend.On the diplomati...

Dear Abby: Immature sister makes lousy roommate

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:20:56 GMT

Dear Abby: I’m 20, and I recently moved into an apartment with my 19-year-old sister. I thought it would be a great idea because we’d get to see each other more often and we’d be more comfortable living together than with strangers. Recently, however, she has gotten a new boyfriend she brings over all the time.I don’t like people. Having him in my home makes me feel threatened for some reason I can’t figure out, especially since he hasn’t done anything. I acknowledge that fact, and I try not to be nasty to him because of it. The problem is, he comes over during the day, and my sister also has him sneak out of his parents’ house at 2 a.m. so he can sleep here with her.This happens almost every night, and I’m usually awake and hear them. I have told my sister I don’t like it and asked her not to do those things when I’m home, but she won’t listen. She gets upset and defensive and tries to take the blame off of herself b...

4 killed in Thanksgiving SR-94 crash identified

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:20:56 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- The four people killed in a crash on Thanksgiving Day on State Route 94 in Mount Hope have been identified, local medical officials said.Jonathan Torres, 26, Linet Manasyan, 33, Nelly Tamara Espinoza, 20, Ivan Aniceto Torres, 35, were announced as the deceased, the San Diego County Medical Examiner's Office said on its website.The collision occurred Thursday morning around 2:30 a.m. eastbound near Home Avenue, according to California Highway Patrol.Authorities say Jonathan Torres was driving a black BMW M3 at a high rate of speed when for unknown reasons he lost control of the vehicle and it overturned multiple times, causing the driver and three passengers to be ejected. Over $3.5 million worth of fentanyl found in vehicle on I-15 All four victims suffered major injuries and were pronounced dead at the scene.The right front passenger, a 22-year-old woman from San Marcos, was wearing her seatbelt and sustained minor injuries, CHP said. She was transported to a local h...

Tackling climate change and alleviating hunger: States recycle and donate food headed to landfills

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:20:56 GMT

ELMSFORD, N.Y. (AP) — When Sean Rafferty got his start in the grocery business, anything that wasn’t sold got tossed out.But on a recent day, Rafferty, the store manager for ShopRite of Elmsford-Greenburgh in New York, was preparing boxes of bread, donuts, fresh produce and dairy products to be picked up by a food bank. It’s part of a statewide program requiring larger businesses to donate edible food and, if they can, recycle remaining food scraps.“Years ago, everything went in the garbage … to the landfills, the compactors or wherever it was,” said Rafferty, who has 40 years in the industry. “Now, over the years, so many programs have developed where we’re able to donate all this food … where we’re helping people with food insecurities.”New York is among a growing number of states targeting food waste over concerns it is taking up diminishing landfill space and contributing to global warming as meat, vegetables and dairy release the greenhouse gas methane a...

Donald Trump will look to upstage Clemson grad Nikki Haley at her alma mater’s football rivalry game

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:20:56 GMT

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Donald Trump is using a college football rivalry weekend to bask among his supporters in a state and region that are key to his presidential fortunes, while potentially upstaging his Republican opponent Nikki Haley on her home turf.The former president and current front-runner for the 2024 Republican nomination will be on hand Saturday as the University of South Carolina Gamecocks host the Tigers of Clemson University, Haley’s alma mater, in the annual Palmetto Bowl. Trump’s campaign has not detailed his itinerary. But if his visit is similar to his trip to Ames, Iowa for the Iowa State-Iowa game, he will visit pregame parties, perhaps stop by a fraternity house and then join 80,000-plus fans for the nationally televised matchup.“We do it bigtime in the South,” said Brandon Beach, a Georgia state senator and top Trump supporter who traveled with him in September for the game in Ames. “President Trump knows he can connect with people, and they are go...

Should the school year be extended to make up for learning loss?

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:20:56 GMT

(NEXSTAR) — The COVID-19 pandemic had a lasting impact on education in the United States bringing discussions of extending the traditional school year to the forefront. When schools shut down and went remote, students fell behind. The learning those students lost, as a result, will need to be made up to avoid a ripple effect down the line.Tom Kane, Faculty Director of the Center of Education Policy Research at Harvard University, helped develop the Education Recovery Scorecard, which tracks the amount of learning loss from reporting districts in the United States. According to the scorecard, the average student lost the equivalent of a half-year in subjects like math."It's important to point out that it's not that students forgot knowledge that they had gained, it's that they didn't do the learning that they normally would have been doing. Especially during the 2021 school year," Kane said. "So when I say half-a-year's worth of loss, I'm referring to the typical gains students make ...

Texas high school football regional semifinal playoff scores for Friday, Nov. 24

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:20:56 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Lake Travis rolled to a berth in the 6A Division I Region IV final with a 34-7 with over San Antonio Brennan on Friday.The Cavaliers could face district rival Westlake in the regional final if the Chaparrals can beat Laredo United on Saturday.REPORT YOUR SCORE: We'd love to post your team's score on our website, but we need your help to do it. Email the score of your game to [email protected] and we'll get it on our websiteLiberty Hill and Wimberley also notched wins to advance in the playoffs. The Panthers took out Corpus Christi Flour Bluff 49-28 in 5A Division II play and Wimberley turned back Ingleside 63-14 in 4A Division II action.The remaining regional semifinal games will take place Saturday. Scores with teams in the KXAN viewing areaA&M Consolidated 44, Cedar Park 20Blanco 34, Goliad 0Lake Travis 34, SA Northside Brennan 7Liberty Hill 49, CC Flour Bluff 28Poth 26, Lexington 7Regents 34, Houston Second Baptist 7Veritas 77, Hill Country 56Wimberley 63, Ingle...

Nuggets coach Michael Malone vows to make changes to bench rotation: “You’ve gotta bring something to the party”

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:20:56 GMT

HOUSTON — After business hours on Black Friday, Denver Nuggets bench minutes went on sale.The holiday season is here. The second-unit carousel has officially started spinning again. Nuggets coach Michael Malone made that clear to his locker room after a 105-86 loss to the Rockets completed a 1-4 road trip Friday night.“I just told them,” Malone said. “Minutes, I’m gonna start playing different people. You just can’t go out there because you think you’re gonna play, and go out there and do nothing. You’ve gotta bring something to the party.”This was a theme last season as well. The Nuggets struggled to find continuity on their bench throughout the regular season. They were able to shorten the rotation to eight players during their run to the NBA title. But it’s arguably even more important this regular season that they avoid over-working the starters who pushed through expanded minutes in those 20 playoff games then got a sh...