Kansas City Star

Though Al Gore’s plan for America to generate 100 percent of our electricity from renewable sources within the next 10 years is a nice thought, it’s not a realistic goal.

Al Gore played his usual role of unpaid Democratic Party visionary by arguing that we can ease the climate crisis, the economic crisis and the crisis of dependence on foreign energy all at once.

From the Las Vegas Sun A two-room modular building in Moapa Valley that has been used as a College of Southern Nevada campus for 15 years now stands for something else. It has become an unwitting symbol of Gov. Jim Gibbons’ reckless disregard for the future of Nevada.

From The Sydney Morning Herald (Australia) It is a slow but pragmatic start. Emissions trading has not yet begun and, on the surface, it seems the Rudd Government is already giving ground. It maps out an escape route from the hard decisions on climate change in its green paper on a carbon pollution reduction scheme. So much for the tough talk in the lead-up to the election, and the apparently firm resolve of Labor’s first months in office, you might think.

In the last few weeks there have been two opinion columns in The Kansas City Star by syndicated writer Kathleen Parker finding fault with programs serving victims of domestic violence.

Jonathan Raban, a columnist for The Guardian, argues that the presidential campaign has allowed Americans to turn away from Iraq, terrorism and the fallout from 9/11. But will the “vacation” described by Raban cause the United States to elect a president based on domestic issues and then discover the effects of 9/11, al-Qaida’s continuing presence, and Iran’s growing threat will control domestic issues?

The year was 2007. Hope, incandescent in its infancy, shared its warming glow. Britney Spears was heading for rehab, tainted pet food was killing cats, but in Washington the songbirds of spring sang their sweet, sweet songs of rebirth, even in the dead cold of January, to herald the return of truth and justice to our nation’s capital.

Talk about great theater with huge consequences. A battle is under way at City Hall over who should provide security at Kansas City International Airport.

Northeast Johnson County voters have the opportunity to help ensure a responsible state Board of Education by casting ballots in the Aug. 5 primary.

Primaries for sheriff in the area’s two largest counties will be held Aug. 5. The incumbent is the best choice in the Johnson County Republican election, while an experienced administrator deserves the nod in the Democratic race for an open post in Jackson County.

Sen. Barack Obama, speaking to the National Council of La Raza in San Diego, promised amnesty for the more than 12 million illegal immigrants. Here’s a bit of what Obama had to say: “Yes, they broke the law. We should require them to pay a fine, learn English, and go to the back of the line for citizenship . . . . But we cannot — and should not — deport 12 million people.”

The International Criminal Court’s indictment last week of Sudanese strongman Omar al-Bashir was long overdue.

A successful effort to revive Kansas City’s downtown and neighborhoods must first address more than a century of laws and practices designed to keep people fearful and separated.

A successful effort to revive Kansas City’s downtown and neighborhoods must first address more than a century of laws and practices designed to keep people fearful and separated.

America’s twin crises of sky-rocketing energy costs and catastrophic climate change effects shouldn’t be a convenient excuse to push nuclear power as a viable replacement for coal, oil and natural gas power-generating plants.

“I think I’m jinxed for life,” my son quipped once. That comment, made in jest, struck at my heart. From outward appearances, Ryan looks like a typical kid. But he has Asperger’s Syndrome, an autism-spectrum disorder.

From the Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch An emerging clothesline insurgency of sorts could precipitate a showdown between two powerful forces: the long-established suburban American love of uniformity and the newfound fashionableness of living simpler and greener.

The high price of oil, natural gas and coal should be a wake-up call that the era of boundless use of cheap fossil fuels is over — and that nuclear power will need to play a larger role in supplying electricity to homes and industry.

From the Toronto Sun The City Council will vote to take the next step toward taking down the Gardiner Expressway between Jarvis Street and the Don Valley Parkway — conducting an $11 million environmental assessment.

Johnson County has legitimate public safety needs. But an antiquated state law has hamstrung county officials, resulting in a flawed plan to pay for a larger jail, new juvenile services complex and crime lab.