Normally when people bury their head in the sand for so long, they suffocate

Shorter Hering: I can't be bothered to actually figure out what's going on with the financial system, so I'll just call for a return to the 1950s (and thereby conveniently avoid mentioning the political party responsible for this debacle).

My only consolation is that there are people writing for a national audience who actually pen stupider things. Not many, but they exist. Call it a silver lining.

[LCSD] Budget Committee Meeting

Jennifer Moody has a very, very smoothly written story in the DH (how does she get them out so fast?) about Tuesday's budget committee meeting. Moody does a good job laying out the cuts and the reasoning behind them; the one thing I wish was in the story was any reaction from, well, anyone - board members, district officials, Kim Fandiño, etc. The comments from Jennifer Walter and Lonnie Harris are good, each for their own reasons, but, hey, apparently I'm all about hearing from the usual folks.

Then again, when the story is up an hour or two after the meeting ends, well, there's not much of a chance to get responses from others.

I wonder what kind of editing process Moody uses when she does these same-night stories...

[Higher Education] Oregon Increases Student Aid Money

This is a good thing:

For the first time, Oregon has so much grant money available for college students that it has mounted a TV, radio and Internet ad campaign to give it all away.

"Don't just dream about college . . . GO!" the ads say.

To help students get there, the state will hand out $72 million next fall -- twice as much money as students at Oregon's public and private colleges received this year.

And it's not all going to low-income students: Many middle-income families also qualify for the first time.

The income limit for a family of four will rise from $33,600 to $70,000, and the maximum award will go up from $1,752 to $3,200 a year for a public university. About 33,000 Oregon students are expected to qualify next school year. That's 6,000 more students than this year.

I have this feeling this is the direct result of the Democratic takeover of the State Legislature... now if they could just stop the corporatization of the Oregon University System I would be impressed.