EDITORIAL ROUNDUP

Jan. 29 Johnson City Press (Tenn.) Games with HIV funding

By rejecting federal aid for HIV prevention, our leaders in Tennessee are once again cutting off the state’s nose to spite our face.

In the latest round of destructive political gamesmanship in Nashville, the state’s Department of Health and Human Services announced earlier this month that the state would reject $2 million in grant funding from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention intended to pay for testing, prevention and treatment of HIV. …

Gov. Bill Lee said the state would continue to support HIV prevention, but said the focus would shift to first responders, victims of human trafficking and mothers and children. The current federal prevention programs prioritize men in same-sex relationships and transgender people, particularly those in communities of color, because they are at the greatest risk of HIV.

The politics of the situation are evident here.

In a state dominated at every governmental level by social conservatives, our petty leaders are setting the screws even

tighter into any specter of progressivism lingering in the air in Nashville.

This unnecessary posturing would be humorous if it wasn’t, like so many of the initiatives coming from the capital city these days, going to put Tennesseans’ lives and quality of life on the line.

Our own Sen. Rusty Crowe is chair of the Senate Health and Welfare Committee. He could and should use the position to take the Department of Health to task on this disgraceful decision, but we’re not holding our breath.

Jan. 30 Yankton Press & Dakotan (S.D.) Openness needed

The curious case of South Dakota State Sen. Julie Frye-mueller has been made all the more intriguing because, frankly, we aren’t permitted to know what exactly was going on until a few days later.

For four days, we were left in the dark as to why the District 30 Rapid City Republican was suddenly suspended and stripped of her legislative powers last week in a rare rebuke of an elected lawmaker.

According to The Associated Press (AP),

the action occurred after what was described as “an exchange” she had with a legislative aide allegedly regarding childhood vaccinations and breastfeeding. …

Finally, on Monday, more details came out after Frye-mueller filed a lawsuit against Senate Pro Tempore Lee Schoenbeck (R-watertown), claiming that he allegedly violated her First Amendment rights when the Senate voted to suspend her.

With that, the statement filed by the aide on the situation became public. It alleged that, while the senator and the aide were initially discussing a draft bill, Frye-mueller asked the female aide about her baby. The senator then asked about vaccinations, claiming that, according to the document, “vaccinating babies is wrong,” adding that “’you are taking away God’s gift of immunity to your son.’” She also allegedly claimed the baby could develop Down syndrome and said “(the baby) will die from those vaccines.” Frye-mueller also allegedly made some remarks about breastfeeding that the aide felt were inappropriate.

So, now we know, at least to a better extent, what happened.

But it should not have taken so long.