2 News Stories You Might Have Missed And Why They're Important

1. $5 million on "active learning furniture" - EPISD announced that it was going to spend a stupid amount of money on furniture because "Gone are the days of having students sit on rows of stiff desks in front of a chalkboard." What a load of baloney. Those rows of stiff desks produced the men and women who put a man on the moon. Kids in rows of stiff desks have come up with vaccines that eradicated polio. Rows of stiff desks show kids that they are in school, it's time to buckle down and work. Soft, fluffy furniture is something that belongs in their game room at home. EPISD is taxing the hell out of us and spending $5 million on fluffy, colorful furniture that is a slap in the face of taxpayers who are writing the property tax checks for this nonsense. EPISD should concentrate on teaching our kids, not sitting around on ottomans that look like they belong in a hipster coffee bar.

2. Canutillo fireworks fire - A brush fire that was sparked by fireworks in Canutillo had a number of fire departments scrambling earlier this week. In the El Paso/Las Cruces area, you can buy and use fireworks in El Paso County but not in the city limits. These are the fireworks you can buy and use and the places you can pop them in Las Cruces. This is the kind of brush fire that could start in Montana Vista, and with the number of people who go out there on the Fourth of July it would be mayhem. The Canutillo Fire is proof positive that fireworks need to be banned throughout El Paso and Las Cruces. We live in a desert and it shouldn't matter if we reach the drought index that would prevent the sale and use of fireworks or not, fireworks should be banned throughout El Paso and Las Cruces. Professional fireworks displays are fantastic. People crowding into Montana Vista, trashing the joint, and driving residents in the area crazy is not. It's time for a fireworks ban.