Hardy bugs are eating up the mess

The disaster in the Gulf has been plenty grim. I don't envy paymaster Kenneth Feinberg who has now taken over BP's $20 billion compensation fund. Feinberg is no stranger to trying to compensate those who have lost much, including the families affected by Sept. 11, 2001, and a somewhat lower-profile project to compensate victims of the shootings at Virginia Tech.

Get this cat a job

Here's good news: After years of reading and reviewing business books, I have finally found one volume that is 100 percent guaranteed to improve your life. It's not about moving your cheese or swimming with sharks. It doesn't teach you how to read your boss's mind or provide the seven steps guaranteed to fog the mind of a hiring manager. In fact, this book has absolutely no redeeming features at all, except it does ...

The return of the red ribbon

There are a lot of health problems in the world today. A flu pandemic swept the world last year, prompting the cancellation of some public events and temporarily closed schools. Whooping cough is making a comeback. And your morning eggs could be peppered with salmonella. Despite the plethora of things to worry about, I fear that one fatal disease is in bad need of an awareness jumpstart. Approximately 56,000 people become ...

Leaving home

For the past two weeks, I've been traveling across the country interviewing law students who have applied for jobs at my law firm. I talk to young people from New York who want to be in California, and to young people from California who want to be in New York. Some days, it seems like the only constant is that (almost) no one wants to be where they're from - and where their family is.

The science of learning

It was the summer after my sixth grade year and I was looking forward to spending three months lounging by the community pool with my friends. But my mom had other plans.

What is a city manager?

Recent media scrutiny of city managers - or, more specifically, their compensation - has reached a fever pitch in California and across the country. The city management and governmental compensation abuses uncovered last month in the small Los Angeles suburb of Bell are deplorable and warrant a full investigation. Such trespasses are rare in a profession known for transparency and populated by ...

Change in the wind for council

In two months and two and a half weeks, the face of the Turlock City Council may drastically change.

Real tax increases, real consequences

Taxpayers don't look at taxes the way the people who spend the tax money do. Take the battle over the extension of the "Bush tax cuts." Americans to Washington: They were tax cuts in 2001 and 2003. If Washington allows all or parts of the "Bush tax cuts" to expire at the end of the year, the result won't be to not cut taxes, as Beltway lingo ...

Why voters should tell Sacramento to bag it

There are two kinds of people in California politics: those who want Sacramento to ban plastic grocery bags and those who just want state pols to pass a budget.The budget is after all - what? - only 39 days late.AB1998 would ban the distribution of single-use plastic bags in 2012. Shoppers ...

For whom the Bell tolls

I would like to offer the City of Bell my gratitude for proving that newspapers are still needed in this day and age.

Grizzled veterans of America's math wars

I am a veteran of the math wars. I was there in 1995 when the shiny new California Learning Assessment System (CLAS) test told graders to award a higher score to a student who incorrectly answered a math problem about planting trees - but wrote an enthusiastic essay - than to a student who got the answer right, but with no essay.<span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New ...

Wanted: Community leaders

Walt Whitman once said, "A great city is that which has the greatest men and women." Fortunately, Turlock has had the support of great men, women and most importantly leaders who have guided and shaped the city from a railroad stop into a city of almost 70,000 citizens.Since its incorporation in 1908, 20 men have held the position of ...

Carlin’s legacy

I wonder if comedian George Carlin knew in 1975 what he was doing.

Keeping it simple

At every level, we humans have a natural drive to understand the world around us. We try to understand people and the economy (with little success), and we try to understand the natural world around us (with more and more success over time).

A new wave of activism

Prior to 2007, protests in Turlock were a rare occurrence.

IRS is turning into thought police

Lie to the federal government and you'd better get you affairs in order. Ask Martha Stewart. But if the government lies to you, oh well. The protected status of government lies is being showcased by the liars in the Internal Revenue Service. It is bad enough they want you to believe targeting specific groups wasn't politically motivated just because some high ranking party official didn't sic the IRS henchmen on ...

Cultural diversity brings us together

I've said it before, and I'm going to say it again. Turlock needs to bring back its cultural festivals. Cultural diversity is one of the Valley's greatest strengths, and it should be celebrated whenever possible. I've lived in Turlock for over 14 years now, and I'm still learning about the many cultural backgrounds of area residents. On Saturday, I joined the Sons of Norway for their annual Syttende Mai (May 17) celebration in ...

Putting an end to years of bureaucratic delays for Keystone XL pipeline

Leadership from the President on the Keystone XL pipeline is long overdue. This week, the House of Representatives will vote on the Northern Route Approval Act. As leaders of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and cosponsors of this important legislation, we were proud to play a vital role in moving this bill forward to end the years of delay and make this job-creating project a reality. It's not fair that Washington is ...

Congress shall make no law...

And I wondered why people don't trust the government.

May is National Bike Month — a perfect time for our community to recognize and celebrate all the ben

The San Joaquin Valley's blessing is its curse. It was once part of a great inland sea stretching 450 miles from the Cascade Mountains north of modern-day Redding to the Tehachapi Mountains just south of Bakersfield. It varies in width from 40 to 60 miles bordered by the mighty Sierra to the east and the Coastal Ranges on the west. The retreating sea left two things immensely valuable to modern civilization especially in the ...

Thank you, Turlock

When I walked into the offices of the Turlock Journal I was expecting a hectic newsroom with people yelling across the office, papers flying, phone cords wrapping around computers as some frantic writer tries to write down notes from a phone interview that took six weeks to get. Much to my surprise, I was greeted with a friendly face, a quaint office and warm smiles from each one of my co workers. Honestly, it ...

Time to get physical

I've always felt that the rapid approaching of summer has a unique power of infusing a new type of energy in people. There's something undeniably exhilarating about the promise of sunshine that inspires a mindset to try something new. It seems rather befitting, then, that May was designated National Physical Fitness and Sports Month by the President's Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition. The council, having been active for over 50 years, brings ...

Venture into the wild at your own risk

Welcome to Turlock

Playing host is nothing new for Turlock. The town welcomes thousands of athletes and fans to its fields and diamonds each year; sees over 200,000 visitors to the Stanislaus County Fairgrounds; and is the site of Christmas and Fourth of July family traditions for thousands of parade attendees. Turlock recently saw new-found fame as San Francisco 49er fans and Colin Kaepernick supporters flocked to the QB's hometown for a truly unique NFC Championship ...

Beware of sugary drink tax: It might end up killing you

How many calories are in 16 ounces of orange juice? Try 220 calories. How about 16 ounces of beer? It has some 200 calories. What about the caloric count of 16 ounces of Red Bull? It comes in at 220 calories. And how many calories are in 16 ounces of my favorite poison, strawberry-banana V8 Fusion? There's a whopping 240 calories. Which brings us to the $2.6 billion question: How many calories are in ...

Affordable Care Act offers small businesses better choices

For years, we had a health insurance market that was broken for small businesses. Because they had less bargaining power, small businesses paid an average of 18 percent more for the same health insurance plan offered to the bigger business down the street, and their premiums could skyrocket if a single employee got sick. But because of the Affordable Care Act, California's small businesses and their employees are getting better choices, starting with ...

The baby-faced bomber

Sometimes a picture speaks volumes. Sometimes it's outright deceptive. The picture of "Bomber No. 2" didn't look a bit like a mass murderer. A sweet-faced college kid, the former lifeguard, the nice young man described by classmates and friends. It couldn't be. There must be some outside organization calling the shots. An international conspiracy, perhaps. Brainwashing. Or maybe it was just a deceptive picture of a cold-blooded murderer. He and his brother ...

Stop me before I buy food

There is no problem too flimsy for California's nanny lawmakers, as witnessed by the many laws that state solons have proposed to keep constituents from getting free plastic bags at the grocery. Those teensy plastic bags are cheap. They're lightweight. They're energy-efficient. People use them a lot, which means that they can end up as litter. That can be ugly. So Sacramento Democrats keep concocting bills to outlaw their idea of blight - not ...

Hitting home

I'm from Boston. Over the years, I lived in two apartments within a stone's throw of Monday's bombings. Over the years, I stood and cheered marathon runners countless times. I know every square inch of the area in all the pictures, which is hardly unusual. It's the center of Boston. My nephew was around the corner when the explosions went off. This week's terror hit home for me. And what to do? ...

Healthcare cost battle: Switching sticks for carrots

Get ready for the real healthcare crisis. A growing number of firms are being nailed with rising health insurance expenses. The consulting firm of Towers Watson projects corporate spending on health care will average $12,136 per employee this year. Firms that for years have tried soft sell approaches to get their workers to take personal responsibility for their health through offers of reduced gym memberships and such are now getting employees' attention with money. ...