Tough times

The latest Front Porch podcast, which was recorded before the latest shootings in Baton Rouge, looks at race, Black Lives Matter, police-community relations and more.

Meanwhile, this Washington Post item by Jared Bernstein talks about what racial injustice in the US looks like.

And now, from way out on right field, this is another example of what uncivil discourse looks like these days: a Republican member of the WV House of Delegates calls for Hillary Clinton to be "tried for treason, murder, and crimes against the US Constitution... then hung on the Mall in Washington, DC.”

That's yet another reason for my campaign to update the state motto from "Mountaineers are always free" to "You can't make this **** up."

A view from up close

We produced two flood-related Front Porch podcasts this week. The first was posted here yesterday and covered WV's neglected flood plans. The latest features a talk with state senator Chris Walters, who has been working hard every day in Clendenin to help families devastated by the flood. He also has some practical suggestions for people willing to get their hands dirty.

In other news, I was sad to learn of yet more police shootings of African Americans. Here's a look by the numbers of just how bad things are here compared with other places.

Finally, here are some less depressing numbers from Pew. It looks like in the states the crime rate has declined even as imprisonment rates have done the same.