What they're saying …

Here are excerpts from recent editorials in Missouri newspapers:

March 23

St. Louis Post-Dispatch, on high school graduation rates:

A recent study by the Manhattan Institute says that high school graduation rates in Missouri ... aren't improving, and that about one-third of the students who do graduate don't have the course credits to apply to a four-year college. ...

In Missouri, the high school graduation rate held steady at 76 percent ... with only 30 percent of public school students in the class of 2002 earning enough credits to attend a four-year college. The study said Missouri had the nation's 19th highest graduation rate for the class of 2002. ...

This study comes as Missouri school officials are rethinking how to make sure all graduates are prepared to succeed in college and at work. Last year, a task force commissioned by the Missouri Board of Education began reviewing the old graduation policy, which says that simply completing a specific number of units of credit isn't adequate.

That philosophy began to change partly in response to a national movement among governors and business leaders. They raised concerns that students weren't prepared, and needed to take remedial courses or training once they enter college or the work force. ... Missouri's High School Task Force is leaning toward requiring students to take more English, science, math and social studies to get a diploma and upping the required number of credits to 24 from 22.

That's a good idea. ... Special attention needs to be paid to the minority graduation rate. In Missouri, the graduation rate is 78 percent for white students, 56 percent for blacks and 52 percent for Hispanics -- right in line with the national average. ...

Too many kids still drop out, and too many aren't ready for the challenges of college and careers. ...

March 25

St. Joseph News-Press, on Amtrak:

The Bush administration is ready to pull the federal feeding tube on Amtrak. It's about time.

Washington created the national rail service in 1970 in hopes of keeping passenger rail service as a viable alternative to the more popular air and auto travel. Amtrak never lived up to even the most modest expectations of advocates.

And so after $30 billion in annual subsidies and as many as 29 last chances, the Bush administration will unveil its Passenger Rail Investment Reform Act for Congress. ...

Secretary of Transportation Norman Y. Mineta ... focused his (recent) remarks on efforts to rescue the Northeast Corridor. It is considered the most lucrative market for Amtrak.

But Missourians should be excited about the part of the plan that would award federal matching grants directly to states to run a passenger service. It would mean Amtrak would have to compete with private companies to run routes.

Indeed, Herzog Transit Services has attempted to compete against Amtrak in Missouri only to find out that Amtrak enjoyed what Herzog officials later called a "de facto monopoly."

Still, Amtrak lowered its subsidy requirement, from $8.9 million to $6.4 million, after it learned of Herzog's interest in the St. Louis-Kansas City route, according to congressional testimony in 2003.

It is time to pull the funding plug on Amtrak.

March 29

Springfield News-Leader, on the Schiavo case:

One of the unsettling outcomes of the passions engendered by the Terri Schiavo case have been the death threats against George Greer, the judge who allowed Schiavo's feeding tube to be removed.

It is an odd twist of logic: To save a brain-damaged woman's life, a zealot would take a judge's life.

But these fanatics are not the only ones targeting judges. Conservative politicians and commentators have made a calculated decision to use the Schiavo case in their efforts to subvert an independent judiciary. ...

This is ridiculous, because the courts are the only ones who have stuck to their job description in this case.

The courts have not sought to extend their authority beyond its legal bounds, as Florida Gov. Jeb Bush did. The courts did not plan a congressional hearing in Schiavo's hospice room. The courts did not call members back from vacation for a midnight vote to extend their authority into family matters, as Congress did.

Greer -- a conservative Christian and Republican -- and all the state and federal judges who have reviewed his decisions did what they are supposed to do: They made decisions based on facts and the law.

Florida law, like the law in all states, gives spouses responsibility for each other. If you don't like that law, don't criticize the judge for following it. Change the law.

The law allows families to remove feeding tubes if certain circumstances are in place. Greer ruled that those circumstances existed, and then followed the law. ...

The courts exist to ensure passion does not overcome the rule of law.

This ensures courts will not be popular. They stand in the way of a majority uninterested in the law or the Constitution. This makes courts easy targets for those who play to the crowd.

If we treasure liberty, we should ... not compound ... grief by allowing opportunists to diminish the value of an independent judiciary.

March 28

The (Independence) Examiner, on the Missouri River:

The West remains dry, and the Missouri River gets lower and lower.

A dozen years ago the river vividly reminded us that mankind has ideas about the way things -- such as river levels -- ought to be, but sometimes nature simply says no. Now, with the West in yet another year of drought, the Missouri and other rivers are very low.

Officials say that could mean a suspension of navigation.

It could close power plants, they say. Officials in upstream states say we in the downstream states have made things worse by insisting on water flows high enough for the few remaining barges instead of saving water in the six upstream reservoirs -- water that could come in handy right now. They have a point.

Humanity has the arrogant idea that the Missouri can be bent to our will, tamed in a narrow channel and with controllable water levels. But it either snows or it doesn't. And when states such as Montana don't get snow, the river falls.

The political games to protect a minor industry at the expense of the greater good just make things a little worse.