Commentary roundup: What newspapers around the state are saying
Houston Chronicle
Aug. 24 editorial, "Firing isn’t enough for police chief who let Uvalde children die."
They finally fired him. Three months to the day after Uvalde school district police chief Pete Arredondo appeared to stand by, supposedly waiting for keys and equipment he didn’t really need, as children and teachers were killed at close range by a madman with an AR-15 and others slowly bled to death in a classroom down the hall, they fired him.
In a unanimous vote following a closed-door termination hearing, media reports said the Uvalde school district board on Wednesday night terminated Arredondo’s contract effective immediately.
He didn’t attend. He didn’t even acknowledge the validity of the cries of grieving parents who have repeatedly called for his ouster.
Instead, his attorney reportedly released a 17-page statement to the Texas Tribune calling the firing an “illegal and unconstitutional lynching” and “respectfully” requesting his job back, “along with all back pay and benefits and close the complaint as unfounded.”
Respectfully. Anyone with a shred of respect for the 19 children and two loving teachers slaughtered on May 24 under his watch as the supposed “incident commander” during the shooting would either leave quietly or on his knees, begging for forgiveness. Anyone with respect would have taken responsibility for his failures instead of claiming he didn’t know he was in charge even though the active shooter plan that he co-wrote called for him to be in charge.
— Houston Chronicle Editorial Board
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Aug. 19 editorial, "Step 1 for Tarrant’s awful juvenile justice system: How about judges show up for work?"
In Tarrant County, the statistical oddity of having more detainees as overall cases drop, and keeping them longer, may suggest misguided attempts to be “tough” on juvenile crime. But the most maddening part of the audit, performed by longtime county and state juvenile justice official Carey Cockerell at the request of county commissioners, is the sheer incompetence it portrays.
Two associate judges under 323rd District Court Judge Alex Kim postponed or canceled more than six out of every 10 scheduled hearings in a random sampling of schedule days that Cockerell examined. Kim suggested to the county Juvenile Board that a COVID surge was to blame, an argument that the director of Juvenile Services strongly rejected.
Taxpayers have come to expect a certain level of inefficiency in government, but this is beyond the pale. The associate judges, Andy Porter and Cynthia Terry, are appointed, but both are running for elected judicial positions this fall. County Judge Glen Whitley noted a dearth of court activity in February, prime campaigning time for the party primaries.
Voters should consider whether judges willing to contribute to the violation of youths’ constitutional rights and endanger the important work of rehabilitation are truly qualified for the bench.
— Fort Worth Star-Telegram Editorial Board
San Antonio Express-News
Aug. 24 editorial, "Armed IRS agents aren’t coming for you."
No, President Joe Biden isn’t dispatching a shadow army of Internal Revenue Service agents to your homes.
There aren’t 87,000 armed IRS agents preparing to crush or harm small-business owners across the United States.
These are lies perpetuated by politicians such as Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas, Charles Grassley of Iowa, Marco Rubio of Florida and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California. Americans who have been misled should ask themselves why these elected leaders have lied about their government.
What is it — weakness of character, absence of ethics, a disregard for facts? — that would motivate them to tell corrosive lies that fuel distrust, fear, anger and even possibly violence? How would this be in service to their political ambitions or constituents?
The IRS is an unpopular federal agency — unless it is offering an income tax refund.
It doesn’t take much to scapegoat this beleaguered agency, and this was so even in times of comity. In today’s hyperpartisan environment, a moment in which the Big Lie of election fraud perpetuates, the IRS is dry kindling for inflammatory anti-government rhetoric and hysteria. This brings us to the present moment.
— San Antonio Express-News Editorial Board
Dallas Morning News
Aug. 24 editorial, "Health improves when basic needs are met."
A recently released scientific study from the Parkland Center for Clinical Innovation was just published in The New England Journal of Medicine.
It demonstrates that emergency room visits can be steeply reduced when high-risk populations have other needs met, like food, housing, utilities and transportation. The results of this study boil down to this: If people are able to resolve their immediate economic needs — with the right personnel at the right time — they are healthier. That can lead to greater cost efficiencies for society at large.
The federally funded program known as Accountable Health Community began in 2017 with approximately 9,000 Medicaid or Medicare users who have had at least two visits to the emergency room. Through the program, community health workers screened ER visitors, selected participants and referred them to broader community services.
In that five-year period, there was a decrease in emergency room visits by more than 40%, compared to a control group with similar demographic and clinical characteristics, the study found.
— Dallas Morning News Editorial Board
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Austin American-Statesman Commentary Roundup: August 28, 2022
