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The Valley Citizen

Pursuing truth toward justice

The Valley Citizen

Pursuing truth toward justice
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Education

To Educators Everywhere: Teach Global Warming

November 22, 2019 By Keith Law 6 Comments

Global warming graph

Keith Law, longtime Professor of Philosophy at Merced College, warns educators in an open letter about the consequences of scientific illiteracy among today’s college students. I am writing to share a concern regarding students’ lack of basic science education in general, and more particularly their lack of understanding of the pending global warming disaster that will occur in their lifetime. I have had a brief discussion on my campus (Merced […]

Filed Under: Education

The “Soft Bigotry of Low Expectations” in California’s Higher Education

June 30, 2019 By Keith Law 4 Comments

Merced College Professor of Philosophy Keith Law has a long history of questioning conventional wisdom and popular opinion. Below, he takes on recent trends in higher education. Ed. “The key to my success is a very simple and time-honored tradition, hard work for teacher and student alike.”  Jaime Escalante Readers of this editorial may recall the story of Jaime Escalante (1930 – 2010) from the 1988 film, Stand and Deliver. In the […]

Filed Under: Education Tagged With: Keith Law

How Governor Brown and California’s Democratic Leadership are Destroying our Community Colleges

February 24, 2018 By Keith Law 3 Comments

Merced College Professor of Philosophy Keith Law has always taken seriously the philosopher’s duty to ask difficult questions and question conventional wisdom. Below, he offers a critique of recent proposals for change in California’s Community College system. According to the California Community College Chancellor’s website, ours is the largest system of higher education in the nation, with 2.1 million students attending 114 colleges. Since opening the first community college in […]

Filed Under: Education, Featured

Merced College’s Keith Law Sounds Off on “15 to Finish”

October 19, 2017 By Keith Law 2 Comments

For almost thirty years, Merced College’s Keith Law has been a persistent gadfly, contrarian, and thorn in the side of anyone advancing a proposal that hasn’t been subjected to rigorous academic scrutiny. Law teaches philosophy, and has always been willing to model himself after Socrates and other great philosophers who took their discipline and reasoning into the real world, concerned more with truth and justice than popular approval. Below, in […]

Filed Under: Education, Featured, History

Higher One: Busted Again?

November 16, 2013 By Eric Caine Leave a Comment

On November 6,  Inside Higher Education reported that Higher One, the provider of debit cards on hundreds of college campuses, including Modesto Junior College and Merced College, is in trouble again. As we reported here, Higher One paid $11 million last year as part of deal with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation to provide restitution to students who were wrongfully charged for overdraft fees. Now Higher One is in trouble […]

Filed Under: Education, Featured, History Tagged With: Higher One, Higher One Merced College, Higher One Modesto Junior College

Higher One: Setting the Record Straight?

September 18, 2013 By Eric Caine 1 Comment

After The Valley Citizen  published two articles about local colleges outsourcing financial aid disbursements to Higher One, we received a letter from Higher One’s Lauren Perry saying that Higher One wished to “set the record straight so students know the truth.” The Valley Citizen is pleased to publish the letter in its entirety. Incidentally, a recent report from Bloomberg claims Higher One is for sale. Does that mean Higher One […]

Filed Under: Education, Featured, History Tagged With: Higher One, Higher One fees, Higher One Merced College, Higher One Modesto Junior College

Higher One: Just Another Corporate Tentacle in Higher Education

September 14, 2013 By Eric Caine 1 Comment

When Fresno State student Jeremiah Henry received his Higher One card back in 2012, he tried to activate it immediately. He then got embroiled in a bureaucratic nightmare that lasted days. It was while trying to activate the Higher One card that Henry began wondering how Fresno State had come to the decision to outsource financial aid to a company that was at that time involved in a class action […]

Filed Under: Education, Featured, History Tagged With: Higher One fees, Higher One Merced College, Higher One MJC, Higher One Modesto Junior College

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Off The Wire

?Monster Fracks? Are Getting Far Bigger. And Far Thirstier.
“Monster Fracks” Are Getting Far Bigger. And Far Thirstier.
A Times analysis shows that increasingly complex oil and gas wells now require astonishing volumes of water to fracture the bedrock and release fossil fuels, threatening America’s fragile aquifers.
www.nytimes.com
Newsom urges SCOTUS to consider encampment ruling that has 'paralyzed' California cities
Newsom urges SCOTUS to consider encampment ruling that has ‘paralyzed’ California cities
The Democratic governor’s intervention lays down a mark in a legal dispute with potentially profound implications for one of California’s most pressing issues.
www.politico.com
Clarence Thomas Secretly Participated in Koch Network Donor Events
Clarence Thomas Secretly Participated in Koch Network Donor Events
Thomas has attended at least two Koch donor summits, putting him in the extraordinary position of having helped a political network that has brought multiple cases before the Supreme Court.
www.propublica.org
How hungry is California? Millions struggle to eat well in an abundant state
How hungry is California? Millions struggle to eat well in an abundant state
How bad is hunger in California? A lot depends on your access to food aid, which expanded during the COVID-19 pandemic but now is being reduced.
calmatters.org
Sacramento DA sues city over homeless encampments
Sacramento DA sues city over homeless encampments
Sacramento County had nearly 9,300 homeless people in 2022, based on data from the annual Point in Time count. That was up 67% from 2019. Roughly three-quarters of the county’s homeless population….
www.mercurynews.com
At Last, a Real Possibility to Avoid Catastrophic Climate Change
At Last, a Real Possibility to Avoid Catastrophic Climate Change
After decades of minimal action, Congress passed the largest and most comprehensive piece of climate legislation in U.S. history. Will we make the most of this opportunity?
www.audubon.org
How the fentanyl crisis' fourth wave has hit every corner of the US
How the fentanyl crisis’ fourth wave has hit every corner of the US
The epidemic’s staggering scale and infiltration of communities is laid bare in a new study.
www.bbc.com
Can licensed tent villages ease California's homelessness epidemic? This nonprofit thinks so
Can licensed tent villages ease California’s homelessness epidemic? This nonprofit thinks so
Taking people off the street and into tents is a new twist on homeless shelter being explored by the San Francisco-based Urban Alchemy in two tent villages operating in Los Angeles and Culver City.
www.latimes.com
Mississippi has problems, but it's handling homelessness better than L.A.
Mississippi has problems, but it’s handling homelessness better than L.A.
The public tends to blame homelessness on poverty, drug use, crime or even warm weather. But other cities don’t have L.A. levels of street homelessness because they have more available housing.
www.latimes.com
Neo-Nazis March Through Florida Park
Neo-Nazis March Through Florida Park
The demonstrators raised “Heil Hitler” salutes and waved flags with swastikas.
www.thedailybeast.com
Families have high hopes for Gavin Newsom's CARE Courts. Providers want to lower expectations
Families have high hopes for Gavin Newsom’s CARE Courts. Providers want to lower expectations
Gov. Gavin Newsom?s experiment to push Californians with mental illness off the streets and into treatment, CARE Court, starts soon.
calmatters.org
Pope says 'backward' U.S. conservatives have replaced faith with ideology
Pope says ‘backward’ U.S. conservatives have replaced faith with ideology
Pope Francis has blasted the “backwardness” of some conservatives in the U.S. Catholic Church. He says they have replaced faith with ideology and that a correct understanding of Catholic doctrine allows for change over time.
apnews.com

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The Valley Citizen
PO Box 156
Downtown Bear Postal
1509 K Street
Modesto, CA 95354

Email us at:
thevalleycitizen@sbcglobal.net

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The Valley Citizen
PO Box 156
Downtown Bear Postal
1509 K Street
Modesto, CA 95354

Email us at:
thevalleycitizen@sbcglobal.net

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Dedicated to the memory of John Michael Flint. Contact us at thevalleycitizen@sbcglobal.net

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