WAVE 3 Editorials - wave3.com-Louisville News, Weather & Sports

We applaud the newly created Louisville Regional Airlift Development group of business, community, and government leaders aimed at bringing new, nonstop air service to Louisville International Airport. ?

More than 90,000 Kentuckians who are eligible to expunge their felony conviction criminal records have not done so in the past year since Kentucky's new expungement law took effect.

Students preparing to begin classes next month at the University of Louisville won't be confronted with higher tuition bills. It will be the first time in 16 years tuition didn't increase - and that is despite financial challenges facing UofL, including a $48 million shortfall. 

We encourage the Jefferson County School Board to approve the proposed "Males of Color Academy" at their board meeting Tuesday.

Muhammad Ali famously once said, “Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth." As our community joins together to celebrate the ongoing I AM ALI Festival - focused this week on his core principle of giving - the Champ's message of service and giving back still rings true today, perhaps more than ever.  

Our "Freedom of the Press" editorial didn't sit well with you. Facebook lit up with contrarian opinions.

Like many of you, every night I get my children ready for bed. I help them brush their teeth, read them a story and tuck them in. I simply can’t imagine having to fear my children being shot by a stray bullet in our own home. But that unfathomable fear is the reality for too many families in our city and was the reality for 7-year-old Dequante Hobbs, Jr. when he was shot in the head in his kitchen on the evening of May 22. 

Post-season play began this week with Kentucky ranked 7th nationally and Louisville ranked 5th. 

Cheers to Active Heroes on their plans to open a second military family community center next week - this one in New Albany

Tonight,we offer cheers to Linkin' Bridge, the Honorary Grand Marshals for the Republic Bank Pegasus Parade, and to many more in WAVE Country for their accomplishments.

Kentucky's legislature accomplished plenty during their 30-day session. 

Acts of hatred and intolerance must be condemned in Louisville and anywhere else in our country and nation. 

Louisville may be challenged when it comes to healthy air but is the best when it comes to water.

Head scratches become more prominent from now until April 18 when income taxes are due this year. If you have an income of $64,000 or less, there is a free tax prep service available to you that you might not know about or realize the impact it could have for you and your family.

There’s been a lot of talk lately about so-called "fake news." The moniker is new. We used to call it tabloid. 

There are critical issues, like tax reform, that need to be addressed by Kentucky legislators. One thing they don't need to deal with is how long Louisville's mayor should serve.

Our editorial this week received plenty of critical feedback. 

Some say the Southeastern Conference the most challenging in the country, but the numbers argue otherwise.

Moving into the top 20 among all states in various education measurements is a worthy goal for Kentucky this year. 

New Year's resolution time makes all of us think of ways we can be better and our community as well. 

Transparency must be the rule and not the exception at the University of Louisville.

In four years, the KFC Yum! Center arena may default on bond payments. The main culprit is a nearly $34 million shortfall in revenue that was projected from Tax Increment Financing. Weathering a recession and dealing with a two-year closing of the convention center certainly made the financial hole to dig out of worse. 

My younger brother Chris Johnson's smile lit up every room, and his laughter filled the next room over. He was tall, funny, intelligent and athletic. He loved his sweet Melissa, and he loved their 2-year-old son, Parker. Chris hurt his knee, which led to surgery, then Oxycontin. Chris became addicted to painkillers. Over the following decade, we helplessly watched him sink deeper and deeper into the pit of addiction.

The end is near - for the presidential election cycle that has become much too long and for the University of Louisville basketball scandal brought to light last year as the presidential race began to heat up. Despite the doomsday rhetoric, both will conclude with relative quiet. 

We have more superlatives to celebrate this week.

Sadly, 78 Americans die every day from an opioid overdose.

What a difference one year makes and what a difference Title IX makes. 

Rhode Island, New Jersey, and New York all have one thing in common: reducing their prison populations by a quarter or more in the past two decades - while experiencing declining crime rates. That certainly hasn't been the case with all states.

An outside audit of the University of Louisville Foundation is certainly needed.

America's war on drugs in now 45 years old. Clearly, it is time to change tactics.

Muhammad Ali's wife, Lonnie, is encouraging us to celebrate her husband's legacy by donating 75 hours of service over the next year. We applaud her effort and encourage the Louisville region to lead the way in making it happen.

We all want a safe place to live. Now it is time to do something about it.

If you are a subscriber of Dish Network, you may be at risk of losing WAVE 3 News.

As we struggle to deal with the challenges in our country today, it is worth recalling the words of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. more than 50 years ago.

Louisville Collegiate School celebrates a 100th anniversary this year. St. Stephen Church in Louisville celebrates a 90th anniversary this year. Southeast Christian Church prepares to celebrate a 55th anniversary next year. All three of those institutions in our region have positively impacted thousands of people, but there is another anniversary being marked this year is equally impactful.

It will be a bittersweet birthday celebration for America in our region this weekend. That's because two-thirds of America's children are better off than the children in Kentucky and most children in Indiana.

It is estimated that for every billion dollars in regulatory costs, more than 8,000 jobs are lost. That explains in part why in the past eight years more than 180,000 coal mining jobs have been lost nationwide

Wait until your father gets home is a phrase many of us didn't want to hear when we were young. The sad part is for many, there is no father in the home to even worry about offering discipline.

Ali will always be an international presence, and will always be one of us.

The year isn’t even half over and Louisville has 47 homicides, triple the number from the first five months two years ago and double the number last year. 

A potentially game changing summer awaits for 1,200 soon to be kindergarten students in Louisville, thanks to Jefferson County Public Schools, the Archdiocese of Louisville and several other community partners and foundations.

Affordable housing is a major problem right now in Louisville. There is an unmet need of nearly 60,000 affordable housing units in Louisville and more than 200,000 people have an income below what is need to afford rent and utilities.

Vacant and abandoned properties hurt neighborhoods, lower property values, and frustrate folks who want their streets safe. Two of the homes in the Shawnee neighborhood have been vacant for four years. Some of the other 2,500 lots and 5,000 buildings vacant and abandoned in Louisville have been abandoned longer.

The unemployment rate right now in our country for people with a college degree is less than 3%. That is one of the big reasons why an education movement in Louisville to attain 55,000 degrees by 2020 was launched.

The J.B. Speed Art Museum reopens to the public Saturday and admittance is free for a 30-hour celebration of visual art.

Recent editorials have brought plenty of feedback. 

We encourage Metro Council to pass a measure allowing the company to negotiate only one franchise agreement rather than one with each of the 80 small cities in Jefferson County, to expedite the process.

Black History month takes on an intense focus locally this week as two icons are laid to rest.

Transparency took a hit in the Indiana House this week. House representatives passed Bill 1019 that changed the rules about who has access to police body cam and dash cam video.

Community activism is alive and well in Louisville and that only makes a community better.

We certainly should try to eat less and exercise more this year. It would also help to be more patient with others, and that includes on the roadways.

In a guest editorial earlier this week, Scott Whitehouse of the Oldham County Expanded Alcohol Sales Committee urged the voters of Oldham County to expand alcohol sales. Once again, we are being told that in order to provide greater business opportunities and economic development, expanding the availability of alcohol is necessary. This was the same argument made by the Chamber of Commerce in 2004 when voters approved limited sales of alcohol.

A lighter Super Duty truck will be launched here in the back half of next year, and with it the company plans to hire 2,000 employees and invest $1.3 billion in upgrades.

We certainly have much to be thankful for as a community this year.