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State should put end
to secret land deals
Re: “Land deals near Travis Air Force Base require scrutiny” (Page A6, Aug. 8).
How is it possible to buy land anonymously in California, especially land surrounding a major military base?
California should not permit overseas investors nor Limited Liability Corporations (LLCs) registered in New Jersey (which permits hiding the identity of buyers) from buying property in California. This is a major threat to national security. It is too easy for foreign governments and overseas speculators to buy up property in California.
Our Legislature must pass laws to prevent this.
Susan Price
San Jose
Thank Gov. Newsom
for doing difficult job
Re: “Newsom intervened on banned books, so why not school closures?” (Page A9, Aug. 6).
I found it ironic that Dan Walters’ column complaining about Gov. Gavin Newson yet again over the school closures was put next to an article about the problems of long COVID. While we now know that schools could have opened sooner and were probably not going to kill children, the unions pushed back because a lot was unknown about COVID. It was a scary time to be in a crowded classroom, especially for upper grades where 35 new kids came into a room every 57 minutes.
Yes, we know that learning loss happened, but we hope people are lifelong learners and that students can continue to learn and make up for their missed time in school.
As for Newsom acting faster when state laws are broken, we all hope that the state will act when laws are not being followed. We should be happy that he was doing his difficult job.
Julie Ludwig
Sunnyvale
U.S. should boost
ALS research funding
My brother has amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or ALS. I have lost a friend to ALS. I have deep concerns regarding a devastating lack of funding for ALS research in the federal budget. ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, is a rare and devastating neurodegenerative disease that affects thousands of Americans. ALS can impact anyone, but it impacts those who serve in the military at a higher rate. In fact, the Veterans Administration has declared ALS a service-connected disease.
ALS causes motor neurons to degenerate until they eventually die. There is no cure for ALS. People lose the ability to speak, eat, move and breathe. Life expectancy can be less than five years after diagnosis.
Funding for ALS dramatically lags behind other diseases.
Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Alex Padilla, and Rep. Jimmy Panetta, increase federal ALS research funding in the 2024 budget at NIH, the Department of Defense and other relevant agencies.
Judy Rickard
San Jose
Source: www.mercurynews.com