Today's Opinions

The April 21 story reporting a lawsuit filed by Zeynep Unal against Los Alamos Public Schools and Kathryn Vandenkieboom, principal at Aspen Elementary, was incredibly disheartening.

The article, particularly the wording in the lawsuit, portrayed Kathryn much differently than the child and family advocate we know. We would like readers to know that Kathryn.

Five years ago, when it was announced that Kathryn would lead Aspen as our principal, cheers of joy rang out. We were thrilled to be working with a woman fresh from the classroom and one we all respected to make decisions, ultimately leading Aspen in a positive direction for the children and families in attendance. We have not been disappointed. 

The first striking quality of Kathryn is her diplomatic approach to leadership. 

It’s been quite a week. The United States Senate’s vote on gun reform, the Boston marathon bombing and the intense manhunt that followed, continued deterioration of negotiations with North Korea, increasing violence in Russia’s North Caucasus region, the Syrian civil war, protests in Bahrain and riots in Venezuela following Maduro’s election victory over Henrique Capriles.
Sometimes, you just want to turn off the television and listen to some nice relaxing music. You know, like Green Day or The Ramones?
It does get exhausting to keep up with the insanity. What ever happened to the simple life? And so I found myself perusing more peripheral news stories, looking for something that would give me some hope for this world.
I’m not sure I found any, but I’ll give it a shot. Let’s start with the weather.
The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain. But in Maryland, it’s taxpayers who are getting soaked.
The governor of Maryland has levied a “storm management fee” on land owners to help offset the $14.8 billion cost of reducing nitrogen and phosphorus pollution in the Chesapeake Bay due to storm-water runoff from impervious surfaces (roofs, driveways, sidewalks, etc.). Yeah, a rain tax. So much for not fooling with Mother Nature, eh?

Although the odds of having your identity stolen remain quite low, anyone who’s ever had their bank or credit card account compromised knows what a pain it can be to unravel the mess. Sometimes enterprising hackers just need your Social Security number, address and date of birth to start opening new accounts in your name.
Many victims don’t realize anything’s wrong until they apply for a new account and find their credit has been trashed or they start getting calls from collection agencies regarding unfamiliar accounts. More and more people have begun blocking access to information in their credit reports, even if there hasn’t yet been any fraudulent activity, by instituting a “security freeze.”
A credit security freeze is where you instruct the three major credit bureaus to disallow new creditors from viewing your credit report and score. Because most businesses won’t lend without first checking your report, a freeze can deter identity thieves.
Before going to the trouble and expense of doing a credit freeze, however, learn how the process works and be aware of several possible inconveniences: