Opinion

Throughout a 42-year teaching career, Eric Magi has touched countless lives in Spokane while creating a culture of trust and learning.

Recently a new, full-page feature has been appearing in The Spokesman-Review. The feature is “Further Review” by Charles Apple. And it’s terrific.

As constituents of Washington state, we are writing to ask for your promotion and publicity of implementing a Mental Health Awareness week in K-12 schools in the month of May as proposed by The National Alliance on Mental Health (NAMI). The goal of this week would be focusing on specific aspects of mental health education to enhance social-emotional learning inside and outside of school.

On April 20, Lady Justice smiled upon us and justice was done when the jury in the George Floyd trials came back with guilty verdicts. April 20 is now a day that is chronicled in our American history books. Over a period from May 25, 2020, thru April 20, 2021, and 330 days later, it is estimated that the police brutality of George Floyd riots cost between $1 billion and $2 billion. As for the death of Mr. Floyd and the countless injuries, property damage, overtime, nondocumented anxiety and the cost to our democracy, there are some things you can’t assign a value. There is no return on investment when you consider that this all started over a supposedly $20 counterfeit bill.

Washington State University says it is requiring a COVID-19 vaccine for the upcoming year and the title of the article says it will allow "some exemptions." In allowing personal exemptions, the university is threatening the health of its local community, the state, and the country. Anyone who does not want to receive a vaccine could use a "personal exemption." There is no COVID vaccine requirement with that option.

Thirty years ago, when I was still a music critic, I received a letter from a lady who informed me in no uncertain terms that I didn’t know what I was talking about.

Why do we waste money on elections. Voters said no to fluoride in our water system many times but that won't stop the City Counsel. We voted and said we want the new stadium at Joe Albi, now it seems that will not happen.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a huge impact on how we approach education on a global scale.

There is a lot of controversy surrounding the changing of North Central High School’s mascot. There is a bigger issue at hand. The people that were here before the Europeans are not actually “Indian.” Columbus landed his ship in the Bahamas. He saw people with brown-toned skin so he assumed he was in India. Subsequently, he referred to the locals as Indians.

The voters decided to give our money to Spokane Public Schools to replace the Joe Albi stadium at Joe Albi stadium. That was very clear.

Imagine reporting a loved one missing to local authorities and not being offered any help. Being told by detectives your niece fits the profile of a stressed-out, partying young mother, and there is no need to worry. This reality is common for Native American families impacted by a criminal justice system that has valued other women’s lives over Native American women throughout history. Native families are often left to form their search parties, relying only on their tribal communities for help.

Despite the recent "breakthrough" COVID infections -- which were expected, as we have seen with most vaccines -- we need to remember vaccines clearly prevent serious illness and mortality.