Think about what actually touches your week. The state legislators you elect decide how much aid flows to your school district, which shapes your property tax bill. They write the laws on housing, transportation and public safety. Your town officials decide whether that pothole gets fixed, how your parks are maintained and what gets built on the empty lot down the street. Judges on your ballot will rule on cases involving your neighbors, and maybe one day, you. These races are often decided by a few hundred votes, sometimes fewer. In a local contest, your single ballot carries real weight.
Can we agree that a flagrant display of indecency should end any candidate’s quest for office, especially the presidency? The president must model moral leadership, compassion, forgiveness and inspiration. How have we spiraled so far away from those American ideals of American excellence?
Recently I’ve come to believe that the strongest influence on developing human beings is the times in which they live. Try as I might, summoning all the empathy I possess, I simply can’t know what it was like to endure the London Blitz during World War II. Or the Dust Bowl in America, or the Holocaust, all of which changed the way people lived and thought.
Up until a few months ago, A.I. was in the news but not dominating it. In July, Geoffrey Hinton, who’s been called “the godfather of A.I.,” warned lawmakers that humanity could lose control of it within a year if proper safeguards were not established. Dario Amodei, the CEO of Anthropic, has been arguing that robust ethical and technical guardrails are needed to prevent misuse or loss of control.
Before becoming a photo of a scowling politician, paper has a complicated history. Somewhere there were trees — or recycled fibers that began as trees. There was harvesting, transportation, pulping, washing, processing and papermaking. There was lots of water. There was energy. There were chemicals involved in processing, bleaching and coating. There were huge vats of ink. There was printing and cutting and bundling.
Learn who's on the ballot in Oceanside and Island Park for the 2026 Elections.
For 7-year-old Gus Grillo, a day filled with pumpkin decorating, music and laughter offered something his family has fought hard to preserve throughout his cancer treatment: the chance to simply be a kid.
Jeanine Badalamenti’s commitment to Oceanside is about more than volunteering at community events or supporting local programs. It is about making sure families have the resources they need, children have opportunities they might otherwise miss and residents have a place where they feel welcome.
The Oceanside Community Warriors brought a day of family fun, local entertainment and community spirit to Oceanside on Oct. 17 for the organization’s fourth annual Fall Festival.
