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Daily Archives: Feb. 10, 2007
Vaccine vote could save lives
Feb. 10, 20071:02 a.m.
Surely public officials should move heaven and earth to bring the cancer-preventing HPV vaccine Gardasil to as many people as possible, right? That’s the fervent hope of state Rep. Delia Garcia, D-Wichita, and the cervical cancer survivors who testified at a House hearing in Topeka in favor of a bill to mandate that sixth-grade girls in Kansas public schools have the three-shot vaccinations. Last week Texas became the first state to adopt such a mandate, and more states are debating the issue. Some bizarrely argue that the vaccinations would promote promiscuity; questions about Gardasil’s $360 cost and long-term safety and efficacy seem more valid. As our editorial Friday argued, though — this is “a vaccine that prevents cancer. It will be difficult for Kansas lawmakers to deny that potent fact, at least for long.”
Posted by Rhonda Holman
Clouds gathering for coal-fired plants. . .
Feb. 10, 20071:01 a.m.
My column Friday noted this glaring disconnect: On the same day a grim new scientific report came out on global warming, Kansas lawmakers pretty much washed their hands of responsibility for the new Holcomb coal-fired power plant, which would emit millions of tons of greenhouse gases in the next 50 or 60 years.
What, me worry?
Despite Kansas lawmakers’ unwillingness to consider a moratorium, the political and economic landscape is changing for coal-fired plants in ways that should give lawmakers pause.
Congress, confronting climate change, is likely to pass tough new carbon controls in the next few years, and this, combined with soaring construction costs, will make the economics of coal-fired plants more problematic.
Kansas leaders haven’t done their due diligence on the true costs of coal-fired plants and the possible alternatives.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
Maybe legislators need to fear dripping sewage
Feb. 10, 20071:00 a.m.
State lawmakers cranky over both the universities’ $663 million repair list and the governor’s proposed turnpike toll-hike solution might feel differently if they, like some poor University of Kansas student last week, had raw sewage drip on them from the ceiling, a Salina Journal editorial rightly noted: But “lawmakers don’t have to worry because they spent tens of millions fixing up their digs in Topeka. No worry about a maintenance backlog in the Capitol.”
Posted by Rhonda Holman
