Thumbs up, down from the Yuma Sun

• Thumbs up to the Arizona Diamondbacks for securing a postseason spot! The wild card game is Wednesday — go Diamondbacks!

• Thumbs up to Yuma’s preschools for achieving the highest ratings in the state of Arizona! Early childhood education builds a strong foundation for our children’s future — and thus, the future of our community and our nation. Congrats!

• Thumbs up to Arizona Secretary of State Michele Reagan, who paid a visit to Yuma this week to present a ceremonial check for over $26,000, which was used by the Yuma County Library District to purchase assistive equipment to make technology more accessible for those with physical or mental developmental disabilities.

• Thumbs up to the Yuma Art Center for increasing patronage of the facility over the last two years.

• Thumbs up to the staff members at Rural/Metro who were honored during a recent pinning ceremony. Some were promoted or received new rank assignments, while others were recognized for being new to Rural/Metro. Congrats!

• Thumbs down to the news that Arizona was among the 21 states targeted by Russian hackers. While the state has not found any evidence of stolen or manipulated data, it’s still disconcerting to think that our system was targeted in any way, shape or form during our democratic election process.

• Thumbs down to Arizona’s new A-F accountability measures. The state Board of Education says the goal is simplicity, but the formulas used to calculate the scores are complex. And since when does an A fall into the 86-100 percent range, and a B in the 74-85 percent range? If students had that kind of grading scale, many more would be excelling. The letter grades should be simple to derive and understand, and match the scale of accountability for students.

Thumbs Up and Thumbs Down is compiled by the Yuma Sun editorial board, based on recent events, happenings and activities around Yuma County and the nation, and will appear on Fridays in the Yuma Sun.

DO YOU AGREE WITH THIS OR NOT?

I thought the purpose of the bike lane between Avenue B and the hospital is for the bike riders. Would someone please explain to me why nearly every morning (between 5 and 6 a.m.) the bike riders are riding two abreast in the auto lane, slowing traffic, and completely disregarding the bike lane?