Short Stack: Food for thought, quick and over easy
An ounce of prevention
As the health care debate lurches forward, one example worth emulating is a program at Duke University that provides house calls -- and saves money in the process.
The program targets older adults, saving them the challenge of visits to doctors' offices more times than they can afford to or are physically able to make.
Called Just for Us, the program has given doctors greater insights into patients' lifestyles and living conditions. After a year of operation, reports The News & Observer of Raleigh, it saved 49 percent in Medicaid spending for hospital admissions, ambulance rides and emergency room visits.
Sounds like one health care plan we can all agree on.
Someone could get hurt
Speaking of health care, recent town hall meetings have generated an unhealthy level of aggression.
Opponents of health care reform have gone to meetings sponsored by Democratic representatives and hijacked the events by heckling, chanting and shouting. Closer to home, Rep. Brad Miller's office is reporting that he received a telephoned death threat because of his support for reform.
Health care reform has generated plenty of legitimate arguments, and debate should be robust. But mobs and death threats have absolutely no place in this important conversation.
Whom do you believe?
Long before he filed to run for City Council, Jorge Cornell, a leader in the North Carolina Almighty Latin King and Queen Nation, has complained that Greensboro police have unfairly harassed him and other Latin Kings.
A video on his campaign Web site shows Cornell getting arrested when he stepped between police and gang members.
If you're inclined to support Cornell, the video seems to support his harassment claims. But if you're more apt to side with police, the video shows Cornell disobeying a direct order from an officer.
One popular theory is that Cornell staged his performance, something he denied last week. Cornell also contended that officers approached him -- but the video clip contradicts that.
Whatever happened, it's an odd chapter in an atypical candidacy.
Eyes in the sky
Finally following the advice we've been trying to give them for years, the Greensboro Police Department will install surveillance cameras at key downtown intersections to help keep an eye on the center city.
Some have complained that such cameras can be intrusive and even could be abused to invade people's privacy. But as downtown grows and patrol officers continue to be stretched thin, this should be more of a comfort than a threat.
A new wrinkle: Officers will be able to monitor these cameras from their cruisers.
They're no substitute for the cop on the beat, but the long arm of the law could use some matching eyes.
Not gang-related?
Police appear reluctant to say the troubling shooting death of a 16-year-old at a public housing complex was gang-related. Their caution is understandable because they sometimes have seemed too quick in the past to link violent crimes to gangs. But the death of Breyon Shon Deese certainly has the earmarks of gang activity:
* Threats related to territory by a certain group, according to Deese's mother, Kesha McNeil.
* Police's belief that the shooting was related to an ongoing dispute between two groups of teenagers.
* The presence of gang unit officers at the scene.
* The postponement of a "night-out" event at the complex for fear of further violence.
If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck ...
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