Today, invisibility is failing. Powerful forces are restoring attention to stories long suppressed. Films, books, magazines, classrooms and museums finally are giving those histories their due. In Washington, D.C., the National Museum of African American History and Culture stands as a splendid example.
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Linda Stamato
Stamato Commentary: As libraries struggle elsewhere, Morristown’s continues to grow
My favorite statistic is this one: The library signed up 10,000 new library cards since 2020. There are now 23,120 cardholders — and securing a card is often one of the first things new residents do.
Circulation growth continues for both printed books and electronic ones, and overall use of the physical space keeps pace with that growth.
Stamato Commentary: N.J. GOP foes of Obamacare are pushing to save it? What’s up with that?
Healthcare-related challenges, on several fronts, are putting families in crisis. And, the Republican-dominated Congress, well, it’s having little, if anything to say but, for those who face re-election, saying what may be needed to stay seated.
Stamato Commentary: Smart Governing in a Divided StateSmart Governing in a Divided State
Process matters. And the results produced are more likely to attract the support and the investment that are needed to carry the best ideas forward when those who are asked, or volunteer to participate, trust the process. The governor has her work cut out for her. And so do we.
Stamato Commentary: Who cares? A murderer roams free, courtesy of Trump’s deportation policy
The Trump administration is exporting people from America not because they committed a crime, although, admittedly, some have, but because he needs “the numbers” — so ICE aims, even, now, at courthouses, to grab those that are in the process of following the legal route to acceptance, a process that can take years, adding to their vulnerability, because the nation has too few immigration judges.
Stamato Commentary: Remembering Bill Moyers, an uncommon man guided by Common Sense
Moyers, who died last month at age 91, was a PBS icon, author, adviser to President Lyndon Johnson, deputy director of the Peace Corps, newspaper publisher, and an ordained minister who firmly believed in the separation of church and state.
Stamato Commentary: Preparing for a New Age: Artificial Intelligence, the American Workforce and the G.I. Bill
“Modern manufacturing requires high technology, requiring different skills from those needed in the 20th century. We can innovate in pharmaceuticals, clean-energy technology, robotics and semiconductors, but those innovations will require “infrastructure” to support its development, education and workforce training, and, frankly, cooperative alliances with global partners.”
Stamato Commentary: Rocking the boat for democracy: Public media, under siege
Of course, the Trump administration is determined to end public support not only for PBS, but for NPR as well. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting receives and distributes over $500 million in taxpayer money to public TV and radio stations annually. Eliminating millions of dollars in federal funding to the two public media organizations amounts to a significant threat.
Stamato Commentary: Local News, and New Jersey’s Vanishing Act
We need local news, free and independent. And so long as government support is not connected directly to any newspaper, digital or print, there is every reason for government to support it.
Stamato Commentary: In the Crosshairs: The Nation’s Civil Service
By Linda Stamato While President Trump’s efforts to force out tens of thousands of civilian federal workers and to dismantle entire agencies have hit legal challenges, and generating some resistance from agency heads, those efforts remain front and center on the Trump...