Opinion
Chutes and Ladders is a game that many of us played as children. Indeed, many of us still play it with our children or our relatives’ children. For those not familiar with the game, you play by getting around the board using a series of upward-moving ladders and downward-moving slides. If you play the game right, you make it to the finish line before your opponents do. Make it through the obstacles first, you win. Pretty simple, right?
As a child, I grew up believing in a beautiful country of opportunity and promise, a nation of unequaled vision that urged its citizens to reach for their dreams and then gave them the resources to achieve nearly anything. I was taught that anyone who’s anyone had to go to college and that, in order to succeed, investing in my future was worth a little bit of debt.
The international scientific community had a unique cause for celebration in March. The European Organization for Nuclear Research—known by its French acronym, CERN—announced in March that the 125-giga electron-volt particle recorded by researchers at Switzerland’s Large Hadron Collider during an experiment last summer was in fact the elusive Higgs boson.
Despite a love for Oreos, burritos and carrot cake, nutrition is something I take pretty seriously. I love to go grocery shopping and ogle the various in-season produce. However enjoyable a jaunt through the produce aisle can be, though, much of the food that we see in stores and regularly consume has been genetically modified.
Portland State recently welcomed British Columbia’s Environment Minister Terry Lake and local business leaders to discuss the idea of a carbon tax in Oregon. Currently, there are four carbon-tax-related bills being considered by the Oregon Legislature, and the economic potential is drawing attention around the state. Some reports indicate that such legislation could generate $1 billion a year for the state of Oregon.
The New York City Police Department has carried out 5 million stop-and-frisks in the last
10 years, according to the Associated Press. The practice allows police to detain, question and pat down anyone who they “reasonably suspect” has committed or is about to commit a crime. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and NYPD Commissioner Raymond Kelly, both major proponents of the practice, claim it’s the reason the city’s crime rates are decreasing, according to an NBC News report.
Portland State has long been planning to renovate one of its most unattractive buildings. The Peter W. Stott Center, an old, leaky, cavernous athletic center built in 1964, is being redesigned to become a flashy multipurpose facility.
Some of the ballot measures that have the most impact on voters’ lives are those conducted during the so-called electoral off-season, by which I mean the special election coming up on May 21.
Last month, in rural Mississippi, doctors announced that a baby had been cured of an HIV infection. Since HIV may be passed from mother to child during pregnancy, birth or breastfeeding, doctors normally check pregnant women for HIV long before delivery. In the case of this baby’s mother, she arrived at the hospital already in labor. She hadn’t seen a doctor and was unaware that she was HIV-positive.
As students, we have the luxury of having access to health care. Because of that privilege, we need to make an effort to be proactive about our health instead of taking the road that continues to drive up costs: defensive health care.
The “Slower Traffic Keep Right” signs we see posted along our freeways may soon be more than just a good idea in Oregon—they might become law. If Oregon Sen. Ginny Burdick has her way, it will be illegal to drive in the left lane of the freeway unless you’re passing someone. Until very recently, I hadn’t given it much thought. Then I drove to California for spring break, and the proposal took on a whole different meaning.