Highlights, lowlights from the week’s news
HIT >> And there it is — Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine has received official approval from the Food and Drug Administration.
We should all applaud the fact that the vaccine was created and approved in such an incredibly short amount of time. And, regardless of what some want you to believe — it’s almost always effective, certainly a safer alternative in most cases to not getting the shot. That’s the best news of all.
It’s sad, then, that many still refuse to believe in it — even those who had been saying
“I’ll wait until final FDA approval.” As noted in our cartoon today, there are those who keep moving the goalposts.
Maybe some cold, hard facts will help: At Enloe Medical Center as of Friday, there were 56 people hospitalized with COVID-19. Of those 56, 48 were unvaccinated. And since just over 40 percent of Butte County residents have been vaccinated so far, those numbers should stand as striking proof that the vaccine, while not perfect, definitely tilts things in the favor of those who take it.
By the way, there are six COVID patients in the ICU in Enloe, and three on a ventilator. None of those people were vaccinated.
Get the shot.
MISS >> We’ve seen some long, crazy meetings in our day. A recent one by the board of the CORE Butte Charter School may have taken the cake.
The board of trustees had originally decided to take a relaxed approach to mask enforcement of its students when school started. And the result? A flurry of students unmasked sitting inside classrooms while the delta variant continues to spread throughout Butte County. It was reckless and CORE Butte’s executive director Mary Cox knew it, which is why after the first day of school, she made an executive decision to require masks in the classroom.
What followed was a contingency of angry parents calling for Cox’s resignation. It was outright ridiculous, and so was the 8-hour — you read that right, 8 hours — board meeting earlier this week. One of the board members even vilified a staff member by name and threw them under the bus.
The board’s neglect to consider the safety of staff and students while also putting the school’s charter at risk was wrong. And shame on the parents who were so quick to turn their backs on someone who has always advocated for the folks at CORE Butte.
HIT >> In a time when many educational institutions are under attack for doing everything except, well, educating, it’s always great to see some good news from a school that involves community support.
On Aug. 19, the Butte College Foundation hosted a Scholarship Awards Ceremony, sponsored by Tri-Counties Bank and held at the Chico Elks Club. The event awarded 130 students with 257 scholarships from community donors and endowments totaling nearly $200,000 for the academic year 2021-22.
Additionally, the foundation distributes 450 scholarships throughout the year from public, private and nonprofit organizations providing another $350,000 to students.
You don’t have to be an Aaron Rodgers fan to know that Butte College — like Chico State — sends a great number of its students on to big things in life. These scholarships will no doubt help many of tomorrow’s leaders take that next step on their journeys of success.
MISS >> News on Friday that a California parole panel voted in favor of releasing Sirhan Sirhan from prison left us wondering — Is there any crime bad enough to keep a criminal locked up behind bars forever these days?
Apparently, not even assassinating a leading candidate for president of the United States — a candidate whose brother had been assassinated less than five years earlier.
Sirhan shot and killed Sen. Robert F. Kennedy in the early morning hours of June 5, 1968, shortly after Kennedy had spoken to supporters after winning the Democratic primary in California. Sirhan was originally sentenced to death in the gas chamber, but that was reduced to life in prison when the California Supreme Court invalidated all existing death sentences.
He’s been in prison ever since, but will likely be a free man in a few months unless Gov. Gavin Newsom decides otherwise.
Two of Kennedy’s sons apparently agreed with the parole decision, and we respect that. However, we can’t help but wonder if the term “life in prison” really means anything anymore.