The Star's editorial board is examining the correctness of the Senate's voting this week that denied House representation for U.S. residents in Washington, D.C.:
The 600,000 residents of the district have long had a non-voting House member, but this bipartisan bill was the best chance ever to give them full representation. Yet the White House and the Senate’s GOP leadership were against it from the start.
The Star also is taking a look at the scuffle between ALFA and the AEA over how property tax assessments should be conducted:
For years, Alabama did it the way ALFA perfers — every four years. Then Gov. Bob Riley took a look at the law and concluded that assessments should be every year, but he added that he did not like the law and told the Legislature to change it. That’s when the elephants began fighting. Only now it seems that a third elephant, the federal government, is about to enter the fray.
As a bonus, we're opining about the state's bond issue for school construction passed earlier this year:
This is a wise move; we hope it can be done. The need is great. The economy is good. Revenue is sufficient to support the obligation we will incur. If the experts give their OK, then let’s do it.
The sooner the better.
On the op-ed page, yours truly is talking about Sue -- yes, the dinosaur -- and the state of tourism in Calhoun County:
Nothing’s free, money’s tight, and no one’s beating down our doors willing to pay for another museum or a historic district. It’s easier to reassemble a fossilized T. rex skeleton than to develop tourism in a county sans a beach or major urban center. And we have no beach or major urban center.
What we do have is a dinosaur named Sue.
Might as well enjoy her while we can.
