Highlights, lowlights from the week’s news
HIT >> Who says kids these days only play video games? Not anyone involved with the Sacramento Valley Scholastic Chess League. Earlier this week, around 200 students from grade school through high school gathered at Neal Dow Elementary for the start of their competitive season.
Most came from Chico Unified School District campuses, but others came from Corning, Orland, Palermo, Yuba City and Marysville. Attendance more than doubled from the usual figure of 80 participants, a sign of growing interest.
Chess tests a player’s focus, patience and strategic thinking. We’re encouraged to see so many young people pull up a chair and match wits with their peers in a respectful environment. What a great opportunity for kids to shine! MISS >> The prospect of a government shutdown looms larger after House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, thwarted on a procedural vote to fund the military, sent legislators home for a long weekend. That will leave Congress just a handful of days to resolve the impasse before the Oct. 1 deadline.
“It’s frustrating in the sense that I don’t understand why anybody votes against bringing the idea and having the debate,” McCarthy said — but also answered his own question by blasting hardline members of his party for wanting to “burn the place down.”
Apart from the myopic thinkers who believe shutting down the government saves money and halts functions they don’t agree with (such as investigations), most everyone understands the devastating impacts on families as well as the economy as a whole. The timing is never good, but now it’s especially bad.
Consider this convergence of events: House sales dropped 7% last month; the Fed indicated it may hike interest rates in the next month or two; oil is over $90 a barrel, affecting the price of goods; and Oct. 1, the same day as the potential shutdown, student loan payments resume after a threeyear pause.
This brinksmanship holds Americans’ pocketbooks hostage. We hope the political posturing stops before inflicting significant damage.
HIT >> COVID-19 numbers are up again. As of the latest release of data, Butte County is averaging 5.4 new cases a day and a positivity rate of 20.7%. Those figures may not seem daunting, but with most testing done at home, Public Health says the actual rates are higher. Comparing apples with apples, only one person a day contracted COVID in mid-June, when the positivity rate was 1.1%.
A new booster is on the way. While there’s a vocal sliver of residents who don’t see that as good news, we hope even they are pleased that the federal government is restarting distribution of free COVID tests directly to people’s homes.
The program begins again Monday. Via the online portal at covid.gov/tests, Americans can order rapid-antigen tests that will go out by mail starting Oct. 2. This is a boon to seniors and low-income families, who might not be able to afford fresh kits (the tests expire).
MISS >> To quote Ronald Reagan’s famous debate line, “There you go again.” We’re not sure he’d use it against a fellow Republican, but then again, he might given the circumstances.
North state Congressman Doug LaMalfa uncorked another gaffe in Washington this week while questioning Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg about electric vehicles during a televised committee hearing. LaMalfa drilled down on carbon dioxide goals; after Buttigieg capped his response by saying, “Climate change is real and we have to do something about it,” LaMalfa retorted, “This one’s called autumn, sir.”
Buttigieg — so befuddled by the comment that LaMalfa had to repeat it — pointed out the difference between climate and seasons.
The remark harkened to LaMalfa’s appearance on CNN in December 2020, following the Supreme Court’s dismissal of a lawsuit (which he’d signed onto) challenging the presidential election. Asked if he had any proof of fraud in the election, LaMalfa replied, “You know, I don’t have proof that men landed on the moon in 1969 because I wasn’t there.”
Like that ad-lib, LaMalfa’s “autumn” quip went viral. Those might be the two quotes he’s best known for — neither a good reflection on him or his constituents.