Editorials

A life-and-death issue for the nation’s workers: Sun editorial: Congress should focus on human cost, not the false arguments in worker safety debate; By the Labor Department’s count, on average, 15 people are killed each day on the job and about 11,000 suffer occupational illnesses or injuries.

Adding insult to injury: Wednesday, December 3, 2008; Sun editorial: Poor worker safety costs injured workers, taxpayers and the economy billions each year; One of the standard objections to workplace safety regulations is money. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, for example, calls the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s rules “a significant burden” for small businesses and it intimates that any more regulation would end with thousands of companies shutting their doors.

Leveraging the Big Three: Wednesday, December 3, 2008; Sun editorial: No bailout unless the automakers agree to start making cleaner vehicles; Flying separately to congressional hearings in their plush corporate jets got the heads of the Big Three auto companies nowhere two weeks ago in their efforts to secure billions from the taxpayers to bail out their companies.

Worker safety eroded during the Bush years: Tuesday, December 2, 2008; Sun editorial: Bush administration has stripped workers of basic protections and slowed OSHA; After President George W. Bush took office, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration quickly felt the effects of the administration’s anti-government bent. In its first two years, the Bush administration pulled 22 items off the agency’s regulatory agenda, its working list of proposed safety and health rules.

Public at risk: Monday, December 1, 2008; SUN EDITORIAL: Weighed down by bureaucracy and politics, OSHA can’t get the job done; In 1998, a decade before the crane collapses in New York City would kill nine people, an Occupational Safety and Health Administration advisory committee wanted to review the agency’s safety regulations governing cranes.

Get Pentagon on the carpet: Monday, December 1, 2008; SUN EDITORIAL: It should be forced to explain why it narrowed meaning of ‘combat injury’; Many veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan are discovering that the Pentagon has rewritten the definition of a combat injury — a change that is taking away from the value of their benefits.

OSHA: An agency that is ripe for an overhaul: Sunday, November 30, 2008; SUN EDITORIAL: Lawmakers should get past politics and take occupational health and safety seriously; Congress held emotionally charged hearings this year in the wake of the rash of construction deaths on the Las Vegas Strip and the series of crane failures in New York City.

Hey, look over there: Saturday, November 29, 2008; SUN EDITORIAL: Krolicki, who says he is facing an indictment, tries to divert attention from his own woes; Lt. Gov. Brian Krolicki says that the state attorney general’s office has informed him he will be indicted on felony charges of breaking laws concerning the handling of public funds when he oversaw the state’s college savings plan as state treasurer.

Letter to Gov. Gibbons: Saturday, November 29, 2008; SUN EDITORIAL: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid urges the governor to rethink coal plants; The way coal-fired power plants are approved has changed almost overnight, a fact that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is underscoring in his campaign for cleaner energy production in Nevada.

Computer attack: Saturday, November 29, 2008; SUN EDITORIAL: Why the military should be better prepared to fend off enemies in cyberspace; Military computers were attacked recently, and Pentagon officials say the attacks may have originated in Russia.

A painful shortfall: Friday, November 28, 2008; SUN EDITORIAL: Governor, lawmakers ultimately need to address real issues with an eye to the future; Gov. Jim Gibbons and legislative leaders came to a tentative agreement Tuesday on how to address an estimated $340 million budget shortfall this fiscal year, which ends June 30. The central piece of the plan is taking out a loan of $150 million from a local government investment fund.

Transform the FDA: Friday, November 28, 2008; SUN EDITORIAL: Experts agree that the agency desperately needs new leadership and resources; Four years ago skeptical eyes were turned toward the Food and Drug Administration after the arthritis drug Vioxx was voluntarily recalled by its manufacturer, Merck & Co. Tests by Merck showed that people taking the drug were far more susceptible to having heart attacks than the general population.

Other shoe is dropping: Friday, November 28, 2008; SUN EDITORIAL: Commercial properties going into foreclosure, and more are likely to follow; The nation’s economy sank again this week after the Commerce Department reported that sales of new homes fell in October to the lowest point in 18 years.

Reasons to be thankful: Thursday, November 27, 2008; Sun Editorial: Despite the country’s troubles, America has always shown perseverance and resilience; It might be a struggle to find things to be thankful for this morning. The news about the economy has gotten progressively worse.

Veterans’ new enemy: Thursday, November 27, 2008; Sun Editorial: In returning to civilian life, many veterans fight losing battle against economy; A story of despair that stands out as the nation’s economy worsens involves the veteran who returns from war and endures even more grinding hardship.

Calendar

(12:01 a.m. to 11:59 p.m. Frankie's Tiki Room)

Locally owned and independent for more than 50 years.

Subscribe to The Sun’s RSS feeds. Learn more.