The unemployment rates for African-Americans and Latinos jumped the last month of 2009, with both hitting 27-year highs. At the same time, white unemployment fell for the second month in a row. The numbers reinforced a just-released report that finds African-Americans and Latinos continue to experience economic hardships…and do so disproportionately. The report looked at foreclosures and unemployment all across the country, and in particular in communities of color.

The credit crisis of 2007 set in motion the recession now faced worldwide…a recession that is the worst in 25 years. And according to one commentator on global financial issues, “The credit crunch wasn’t caused so much by a confederacy of dunces as by a silent conspiracy of the well rewarded.” Part of the problem is that the average person doesn’t know, doesn’t understand, and simply doesn’t have access to the information needed to make sense of much of what happens in the financial world.

Since its very inception, organized labor has faced an uphill battle in trying to secure workers’ rights. It has been a battle not only against outside forces, but also against forces within the unions themselves. Despite the long and often bitter effort to get higher wages and better benefits for workers, the labor movement now almost seems irrelevant at times.

Higher education in the United States is at a crossroads, as just about every sector of society confronts budget cuts. And while the cuts are often onerous, cuts to higher education may be doing damage that not only will take decades to repair, but also have an impact in ways that had not been considered. In looking at the importance of a college degree, we must examine the value to the individual, to our society and to our place in the world economic structure.

The vast majority of kids in this country attend public schools. Schools that are increasingly stressed because of ever-decreasing state and federal revenue, by the No Child Left Behind mandates, and by dissatisfied parents. Despite the pressures and the problems, two educators say there are ways to not only cope, but do so in a way that provides kids an adequate education and a promising future.

Over 76-million Americans suffer from chronic pain. And out of all those millions, more than half are not receiving adequate treatment. The Pain and Policy Studies group puts together a regular report that ranks state policies that either encourage or detract from pain care. In its most recent report, the state of Kansas is one of five states that received an “A” for balanced pain policy. Experts say most people have no idea just how widespread and debilitating chronic pain can be.

Despite the gains we think we have made, segregation still has a firm foothold in the United States. In fact, society is every bit as segregated now as it was in the 1970s. And while today’s segregation is different in both intent and function from what was seen in the past, it still divides us. Much of this division is seen in the growth of socioeconomically exclusive communities where many whites have gone to escape what they see as the hazards of diversity.

Often, the U.S. history taught in school is not true, or at best, skewed to present events in a better light. Teaching history in that way is a disservice in a couple of ways. Not only is the truth obscured, but the often intriguing facts about the past never come to light.  And that means any chance to learn lessons from history are lost.

The nation’s infrastructure is in abysmal shape. The American Society of Civil Engineers grades our national infrastructure, and for the second time we get a grade of D. In fact, the Society estimates that some two-point-two trillion dollars must be invested over the next five years to bring that infrastructure up to good condition.

Efforts are being instituted all across the country to discuss the various aspects of climate change. Those efforts cover a spectrum of research and opinion, and in Kansas, one group is working to bring their ideas to the mix. The Land Institute in Salina is getting involved in not only the question of climate change, but also energy, energy efficiency and renewable energy.