Prosecutors in the recent Michigan school shooting by a 15-year-old student that left four dead also have filed manslaughter charges against the shooter’s parents, whose gun he used. This should become standard practice for school shooting cases when the young shooters are only armed because of their parents’ carelessness.

Not even the most strident defender of abortion rights would call the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision a model of elegant jurisprudence. But as six conservatives on the Supreme Court itch to strike it down — on the grounds that women’s bodily autonomy during pregnancy, at least until a fetus is thought to be viable outside the womb, is not rooted in any language of the Constitution — an inconvenient truth shouts back: They have no better dividing line to offer than viability.

Pretty much anyone who has had the privilege of standing next to one of the biggest, oldest giant sequoia trees understands the rush of awe. Here is a tree so burly, cars could — and once did — drive through a tunnel carved out of the massive trunk. (Thankfully, we don’t do that anymore.)

Compared to almost any other public health or environmental problem, the presence of toxic lead in drinking water is an easy one to fix. Congress is giving the country a chance to do so.

Some centrist Democrats in Congress are pushing for a suspension of the gasoline tax, on the federal and state levels, and it’s not hard to see why: Many of them face tough odds for re-election next year, and rising fuel costs affect every one of their constituents. From both a political and economic standpoint, the plan has some appeal.

There are 1.6 million Californians today who were alive when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor 80 years ago, pushing America into World War II.

President Joe Biden got it right: The new coronavirus variant omicron is “a cause for concern, not a cause for panic.” The travel restrictions the U.S. and 70 other nations imposed will buy scientists time to further understand what risks omicron poses at this extended stage of the pandemic. For now, it’s time to double down on what already works: Vaccinations, booster shots and wearing masks in crowded indoor settings.

CNN finally admitted Tuesday night that anchor Chris Cuomo went too far. He crossed, blurred and stepped over the line of trusted network anchor when he used his position to help protect his big brother, Andrew Cuomo, the former governor of New York, fight off sexual harassment allegations that eventually led to his resignation in August.

Anthony Fauci, President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser and the longtime head of the National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases, keeps saying that his critics are “really criticizing science because I represent science.” Maybe he even believes it. But it might be time for science to find another spokesman.

Unsurprisingly, the Kyle Rittenhouse verdict has exposed some fierce divisions among Americans. On one matter, though, there ought to be renewed consensus: It doesn’t help to have guns displayed at political rallies and protests.

Finally.

When parents warn their children about drug exposure, they tell them tales of the danger of peer pressure from teenagers in murky basements or from the dark corners of the bleachers during a high school football game. Coming-of-age movies portray swimming pools full of teens drinking alcohol and smoking marijuana while the protagonist dodges bad influences like a spy weaving through radioactive laser beams. The reality for many American teenagers, however, doesn’t align with popular narratives. First-time drug use often begins somewhere far more fluorescent: the dentist’s chair.

The problem with using the nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserves to drive down fuel prices is it’s a temporary solution that, absent a cohesive long-term energy strategy, won’t change the cost trajectory.

The brutal killing of Ahmaud Arbery echoed a hundred lynchings, beatings and fatal shootings of unarmed Black men before him at the hands of white men. So you can forgive the Black man in the Georgia courtroom who let out a cry of triumph on Wednesday when the first verdict of guilty in a long string of guilty verdicts was read out against Travis McMichael, followed by similar guilty findings against his father and his neighbor.

If you’re worried about the direction of the nation, the state of the economy or the sharp rise of price inflation, you’re not alone.