President Lyndon B. Johnson saw education as a critical way out of poverty. On April 11, 1965, he signed into law an often unrecognized but core component of his War on Poverty: the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA. Not only was this legislation intended to give poor children educational access but also to ensure that they would receive a quality education.

While many Americans are aware of LBJ’s War on Poverty, most probably do not know that he started out as a teacher at the Welhausen School in Cotulla, Texas – a Mexican-American school where he would become the principal. Long before he was a politician, he learned how important educational opportunity was for low-income and minority families. Toward the end of his presidency, he stated unequivocally his commitment to the value of education for all: “We believe, that is, you and I, that education is not an expense. We believe it is an investment.” (October 16, 1968).

http://commonwonders.com/world/never-again-to-us/

Cancer took the life of film critic Roger Ebert in 2013, 14 years after it claimed former TV co-host Gene Siskel.

Unlike Siskel, however, Ebert did not sneak off into the great beyond. Even after thyroid cancer necessitated the removal of Ebert’s lower jaw—taking away his ability to eat, drink or speak—he remained a public figure with help from a prosthetic chin and a computerized voice.

Director Steve James (Hoop Dreams) recaps Ebert’s storied career in Life Itself, a documentary named after the critic’s 2011 memoir. Because James began his documentary only five months before Ebert’s death, it also serves as a record of his harrowing final days.

It may be due to the unexpectedly short time James had with Ebert that Life Itself comes off as a bit messy. Though it follows a generally chronological outline, some segments seem to be stuck here and there for no particular reason.

MRSA, or Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, is a bacterial infection that is resistant to most antibiotics, contagious and potentially deadly. Commonly found in hospitals and afflicting health care workers, it leads to large pusfilled masses on the skin which must be incised and drained. A specific, special antibiotic regime must be followed to cure the infection and prevent blood poisoning. As of the time of this writing, July 24, 2014, according to sources at least one inmate in the Franklin County Jail has this infection, is not being treated as per the orders of doctors at Grant Hospital, and is in the general population with a fist-sized hole in her chest oozing black pus. Pictures smuggled from the jail show the wound without gauze or a bandage on her emaciated body. The pictures are included in this story.