Adam Briggle: City better positioned than industry fearmongers claim

On Oct. 19, this paper urged Denton’s residents to vote “no” on the fracking ban, because “we can come up with a better plan” and write “reasonable regulations.”

Elizabeth Ames Jones: Proposition could make us our own worst enemy

Denton County voters will be going to the polls to decide if they want to stand up to protect private property rights or if they want to restrict peoples’ right to benefit from their ownership of assets they rightfully own.

Thomas Sowell: Irresponsible ‘educators’ common in America

Goddard College’s recent decision to have its students addressed from prison by a convicted cop killer is just one of many unbelievably irresponsible self-indulgences by “educators” in our schools and colleges.

Froma Harrop: Laws on death with dignity can offer help

The story of Brittany Maynard has revived the debate over Oregon’s Death with Dignity Act. The law lets terminally ill patients end their lives with the aid of a doctor.

Walter E. Williams: Minimum wage no exception to the rule

So as to give some perspective, I’m going to ask readers for their guesses about human behavior before explaining my embarrassment by some of my fellow economists.

Jonah Goldberg: Clinton Democrats making a comeback

Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes is running for U.S. Senate in the great state of Kentucky. She is a woman of conviction, of substance, of principle. “I’m not an empty dress,” she insists, “I’m not a rubber stamp, and I am not a cheerleader! I am a Clinton Democrat.”

Froma Harrop: Driving losing appeal

Young Americans are just not into driving the way their elders are or did at their age. They are less likely to own cars or use cars. The drives they do are shorter. Meanwhile, the bus is looking good to them.

Steve Chapman: U.S. inflates terrorism, Ebola fears

Americans are living under a dire threat that could quickly escalate into a national emergency. No, not Ebola or the Islamic State but the hugely overhyped fear of them. The public resembles one of those cartoon elephants perched on a chair in trembling terror of a mouse.

Clarence Page: Collard trend hits home

Collard greens are “the new kale”? So say some chic eaters, even as some concerned cultural guardians fear a new socio-economic menace: “food gentrification.”

Guest column: Vote for major capital improvements to city

On Nov. 4, Denton residents will have the opportunity to vote for four city of Denton bond propositions that will make major capital improvements to our city.

Kathleen Parker: A touch of panic might be helpful

WASHINGTON — Now, now, let’s not panic. Yes, we have a second Ebola patient infected after treating the Liberian man who apparently concealed his exposure to this often-fatal disease, but this is no reason to panic.

Leonard Pitts: Americans have right to protest injustices

A federal judge recently told us what we already knew. Namely, that police in Ferguson, Missouri, violated the rights of protesters demonstrating against the shooting death of Michael Brown.

Thomas Sowell: Preserving a free U.S. top election priority

Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill once said, “All politics is local.” That may have been true in Tip O’Neill’s day, but some elections are decisively on national issues — and the congressional elections this year are overwhelmingly national, just as the elections of 1860 were dominated by one national issue, namely slavery.

Susan Estrich: Doctor, patients offer hope, courage

I’ve had stomachaches for as long as I can remember. As a kid, I called it an “uncomfortable feeling.” As an adult, it was sometimes downright painful. But they came and went, and I chalked it up to stress and overwork and my long family history of stomachaches.

Walter E. Williams: FDA errors leave many invisible victims

The Food and Drug Administration can make two types of errors. It can approve a drug that has dangerous unanticipated side effects, or it can reject or delay approval of a drug that is safe and effective.

Linda Chavez: America’s word means less under Obama

It should come as no surprise that Turkey so far refuses to put boots on the ground to fight the ISIS takeover of Kobane, a beseiged Kurdish town across Turkey’s border with Syria.

Froma Harrop: Politics leave millions vulnerable to diseases

With the first diagnosed case of the deadly Ebola virus in the United States located in Dallas, Texans are understandably alarmed. The patient just died. Gov. Rick Perry has established a task force to address the Ebola threat.

Trudy Rubin: U.S., allies must save Kobani

The Syrian Kurdish leader’s voice on the telephone sounded desperate recently. He told me the Islamic State is on the verge of defeating Syrian Kurds, who have been fighting fiercely for weeks to defend the town of Kobani near the Turkish border.

Leonard Pitts: One can almost feel sorry for Groubert

Let us give Sean Groubert every benefit of the doubt. Let us assume he is a good person. Let us assume he is kind to children, well liked by neighbors. And by all means, let’s assume he has a black friend. For good measure, let’s assume he has two.

Bill Douglass: Merchants, consumers get short end of stick

I have been getting on a plane here in Texas and flying to Washington for a decade to talk to legislators or testify before Congress. And what I tell them is that one corner of our economy looks more like the old Soviet Union than the free market that created the biggest economy on earth.

Jonah Goldberg: President’s choice costs him dearly

Barack Obama had a choice between liberalism and the Democratic Party. He chose the latter and it cost him dearly.

Clarence Page: Obama’s guardians put flaws on display

Let’s hope Secret Service mistakes don’t spark even more attackers — or maybe I’m being paranoid.

Linda Chavez: N. Korea threatens America’s security

It’s easy to ignore, rarely making headlines or causing the average American lost sleep, but North Korea deserves our attention. This week, the U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University released a report showing satellite images of construction of what appears to be an intercontinental ballistic missile launch site.

Thomas Sowell: Outbreak of Ebola a wake-up call for all

The Ebola outbreak in West Africa is both a danger in itself and a wake-up call for Americans — about President Obama, about the institutions of this country and, most important, about ourselves.

Walter E. Williams: Teachers indoctrinate students in America

Students at several Jefferson County, Colorado, high schools walked out to protest the school board’s recently proposed curriculum review committee that seeks to promote patriotism, respect for authority, free enterprise, plus the positive aspects of U.S. history.

Mary Sanchez: Cultural problems at Secret Service run deep

Julia Pierson’s head has been delivered on the proverbial platter. She resigned as head of the Secret Service recently, voicing the platitudes that generally come with such things, avowing that stepping down is “in the best interests of the agency.”

Steve Chapman: America’s latest war will not be without cost

Young people may find it hard to believe, but going to war used to be a big deal. When the United States started bombing Iraq in January 1991, Americans somberly watched President George H.W. Bush address the nation, followed by live video of Baghdad being bombed. The Bush address drew the biggest audience TV had ever had.

Doyle McManus: Parties play small ball

The looming midterm elections, which will decide whether the U.S. Senate is run by Democrats or Republicans, has been called “the Seinfeld election,” because so much of the campaign seems to be about nothing.

Trudy Rubin: Hong Kong fights back

Once again, as we have seen so frequently and so recently in many countries, massive crowds of young people are demonstrating for democracy against a repressive government. This time the civic protests are ongoing in downtown Hong Kong.

Kathleen Parker: Right, left disrespectful of women

WASHINGTON — It has long been accepted by the conventionally wise that the Republican Party is waging a “war on women.”

Froma Harrop: Democrats should be nicer to the South

MOBILE, Ala. — It’s been noticed by just about everyone except what we call the “liberal establishment” that of the eight Senate seats now up for grabs, four are in the South — Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana and North Carolina.

Jonah Goldberg: President’s messages on war mixed up

It’s funny how President Obama is always talking about “I’’ and “me” whenever it makes him look good, but suddenly it’s “they” and “we” when mistakes are made.

Bob Bland / Guest Column

As the city of Denton inches toward a final decision on constructing a convention center/hotel complex on University of North Texas land near Apogee Stadium, several concerns linger about the proposed project. Here are the basics of the proposal.

Steve Chapman: Capitalism can work to help clean environment

For some of the people in New York demanding action on global warming recently, the menace is not just carbon dioxide. The real Tyrannosaurus Rex is the American economic system.

Susan Estrich: ‘Willie Horton-style ad’ still cheap political trick

The spectacular failure of incumbent Alaska Sen. Mark Begich to use a “Willie Horton-style ad” (it’s being called that) would almost be amusing for this veteran of the real Willie Horton ad were it not so pitiful on so many levels.

Thomas Sowell: Random thoughts come to forefront

What a nonjudgmental society amounts to is that common decency is optional — which means that decency is likely to become less common.

Clarence Page: Holder’s legacy mixed

Departing Attorney General Eric Holder deserves cheers for his stance on civil rights, in my view, but bemused jeers for his assaults on civil liberties.

Walter E. Williams: West needs to develop backbone to defend itself

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), sometimes called ISIS or IS, is a Sunni extremist group that follows al-Qaida’s anti-West ideology and sees a holy war against the West as a religious duty.

Dr. Jolanta Cichon: Breast cancer screenings essential to reduce risk

In the U.S., one in eight women will be diagnosed with invasive breast cancer during her lifetime. Over the past decade, news and information about breast cancer has helped increase awareness about the disease tremendously.

Linda Chavez: Extremists seek to dominate the world

What a difference a year makes. In September 2013, President Barack Obama bragged to the United Nations General Assembly in New York, “The world is more stable than it was five years ago.” Recently, the president again addressed the U.N. delegates, but claims that the world is somehow more stable thanks to his leadership were, understandably, missing.

Mary Sanchez: NFL should consult black women on abuse policy

If you think the NFL’s domestic violence problem has been talked to death, there’s one interested party that begs to differ.

Jonah Goldberg: Women actually doing well in America

The White House recently announced its “It’s On Us” initiative aimed at combating sexual assaults on college campuses.

Leonard Pitts: Emma Watson looking for a few good men

AU.N. initiative called HeForShe hopes to encourage male involvement in the fight for women’s rights. Men should join the cause.

Thomas Sowell: Going to war not always optional

Some pundits are saying that President Obama has been floundering in his response to the ISIS crisis because public opinion polls show most Americans don’t want another war.

Trudy Rubin: Fight against ISIS is not conventional

Republicans were berating Secretary of State John Kerry recently for calling the fight against ISIS a “counter-terrorism operation” rather than a “war.”

Froma Harrop: End life on own terms

The low point of the Obamacare debate — and there was much probing of the floor — had to be the “death panel” charge. It was the creepiest in a volley of lies aimed at killing health care reform.

Doyle McManus: Old echoes in America’s new Middle East policy

Here’s the nightmare scenario that kept Obama administration officials awake at night this summer as they watched the black-masked guerrillas of Islamic State sweep across Iraq: First, the insurgents could...

Steve Chapman: Ironman endurance test puzzles and inspires

MADISON, Wisconsin — A glorious September day is breaking over scenic Lake Monona, but nearly 2,500 people are about to have perhaps the most miserable experience of their lives.

Kathleen Parker: Cry, you’re on hidden camera

WASHINGTON — Without prior knowledge or intent, I recently was inducted into a club I had no interest in joining, especially in light of the $200 initiation fee.

Clarence Page: Obama a reluctant hawk

As he offered to the nation his prescription for the most recent Middle East crisis, President Barack Obama reminded me of Michael Corleone in The Godfather: Part III. ‘‘Just when I thought I was out,” sighed the young mob boss about his efforts to leave the family business, “they pull me back in.”