BU Engineers Week and Broome Jail: Weekly look at guest columns, op-eds in the Press & Sun
Here are this week's local guest viewpoints, op-eds and letters submitted by readers to the Press & Sun-Bulletin / pressconnects.com.
Engineers Week celebrates amazing tech at BU and around the world
Distinguished Professor Krishnaswami “Hari” Srihari, the dean of the Thomas J. Watson College of Engineering and Applied Science at Binghamton University, once again highlights what's ahead for Engineers Week from Feb. 18-24. He writes, "This year’s theme for Engineers Week is “Welcome to the Future,” which emphasizes the idea that we live in an age of technological marvels that engineering has shaped for us. The internet, smartphones, artificial intelligence, cancer-fighting vaccines, renewable energy − Watson College students, faculty, staff and alumni have been at the forefront of all these changes."
➤ Read more: Engineers Week celebrates amazing tech at BU and around the world
Community partnerships help prevent domestic tragedies and save lives
Broome County Sheriff Fred Akshar writes about the department's new partnership with the Crime Victims Assistance Center and the Family Violence Prevention Council. He writes, "We will likely never be able to eliminate from our society all the crime and harm individuals inflict upon one another, but every day, we are using every tool and partnership we can to identify and prevent potential tragedies from befalling our families before they take place."
➤ Read more: Community partnerships help prevent domestic tragedies and save lives
New Sheriff, new jail? Don’t believe the hype
Rozann Greco of Endicott and Bill Martin of Johnson City say that while Sheriff Fred Akshar has brought long overdue changes to the Broome County Jail, there are still glaring issues at the facility and the leaders should not be so quick to pat each other on the back. They write, "Progress? Only in the sense of modernizing mass incarceration in response to a decade of protest by community organizations, and further centralizing county health care and finances in the jail for which there is little if any oversight."
➤ Read more: New Sheriff, new jail? Don’t believe the hype
Letters to the Editor: Vet care, Molinaro, gun laws and more
Here are the topics our readers wrote to us about this week:
When did we stop honoring honesty, integrity in our leaders?
HPACT helps veterans with medical care, housing support, more
Molinaro talks a 'good game,' but his voting record says otherwise
Put the money toward mental health, not gun laws
➤ Read more: Letters to the Editor
Stories people were reading this week on pressconnects.com
Business closing: Downtown Binghamton's Water Street Brewing Co. closes after 12 years
Remember Kmart? Store was once ubiquitous across Southern Tier. What has become of former stores today?
Big sale: Tioga Downs Casino Resort sold: Here are the specifics
Fracking: NY lawmakers aim to close loophole in ban: What to know
More columns from the USA TODAY Network
Health care: New York's Grieving Families Act must pass pass. New Yorkers are depending on it.
More health care The solution to New York’s healthcare staffing crisis? New arrivals.
Energy: Kathy Hochul’s proposed community solar reforms would dim NY's electrification progress
Journalism: This is why you must call on Congress to save local news
Write to us
The Press & Sun-Bulletin / pressconnects.com will consider publishing guest columns up to 500 words on local topics and we also accept letters to the editor up to 200 words on various topics. Local topics will be given top consideration, especially for guest columns. Please send us your submissions to bgm-letters@pressconnects.com or upload them here. Include your name, address, email and phone number. We edit for brevity, accuracy, clarity and grammar. We reject anonymous letters, poetry, internet pass-alongs and form letters. Writers are limited to one letter within 30 days. We cannot acknowledge unpublished letters.
This article originally appeared on Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin: Press & Sun weekly roundup of guest columns: BU and Broome Jail
