Editorial

We live in the digital era. Anything is available within seconds right at the tips of your fingers. It is a blessing. It is a curse.

One of the most important things to understand while you are in college is that Chadron is not the only place in the world. There are things that go on outside campus, outside Nebraska, and outside the country.

Welcome to Chadron State College, whether you are returning or just starting. It’s that time of year again. Classes are starting, football season is creeping up and freshmen are thrown into the college life.

Journalists in today’s world are thought of as having a hidden agenda, of stretching the truth, and of attacking certain people. Journalism is claimed as “fake news.”
Merriam-Webster’s dictionary defines journalism as “the collection and editing of news for presentation through the media, the public press, an academic study concerned with the collection and editing of news or the management of a news medium; and writing designed for publication in a newspaper or magazine, writing characterized by a direct presentation of facts or description of events without an attempt at interpretation.”
Journalists are often thought of as threats, as enemies, typically by individuals who claim journalists are out to get them.

Last week, United Airlines made headlines across the country, but for all the wrong reasons, when video footage showed a man being forcibly dragged off a plane while unconscious and bleeding from the mouth.

Nebraska state lawmakers are heavily considering passing a bill that would allow medical marijuana in the state. Although that may come as a shock to many of the residents, it actually shouldn’t. The bill was introduced by Democratic Sen. Anna Wishart and the full support of 10 co-sponsors and 60 percent of state residents agree that medical marijuana should be legal.
Last year, Nebraska Legislature almost passed the same medical marijuana bill, but it faltered at the last moment and many thought it would become a distant memory. The bill is said to offer a safe and legal way for suffering Nebraskan patients to access medical marijuana, which in the last few years has been found to help treat and ease serious illnesses.

On March 16, President Donald Trump’s first budget proposal was released, revealing a $1.15 trillion budget. It calls for deep spending cuts, just like he claimed he was going to do when he was running for office. Like with many budget proposals, there are both winners and losers. While the military receives a budget boost of $54 billion, 12 departments take a hit. And surprisingly the agricultural department is among the losers with a projected cut of 21 percent.

One of the founding principles that America was built on was the pursuit of happiness. Now, according to the 2017 World Happiness Report, America is not as happy as it once was.

Recently, President Donald Trump and his administration rescinded an executive order put in place by former President Barack Obama and his administration in May 2016, which protected transgender students in their schools. The executive order made it possible for transgender students in public institutions to choose which bathrooms and facilities correspond with their gender identities.

Nebraska’s 150th statehood anniversary is approaching; many people however have forgotten many key factors about Nebraska’s entry into statehood. Nebraska was admitted into statehood on March 1, 1867, about two years after the Civil War, making Nebraska the 37th state.