Letters: Investments in science are investments in innovation and our economy

Submit your letter to the editor via this form Read more Letters to the Editor Investing in science is investing in innovation My science journey began here in San Mateo County inspired by the beauty of our regional parks our local educators and STEM opportunities In contemporary times with aid from the National Science Foundation I assessment how oyster genetics influence environmental resilience This research aids conservation and supports a million aquaculture industry But this work is at pitfall The presidential budget proposes cutting from NSF and from the National Institutes of Wellbeing A Forbes analysis identified cuts will effect in a billion annual net loss Opportunities for young scientists are also vanishing Internships have been canceled and federal fellowships like the Graduate Research Fellowship have dropped to half their previous levels Colleagues have lost job offers learning and years of work due to canceled grants Science drives innovation and economic enhancement but it necessities your help Please contact your representatives and advocate for continued commitment in science Camille Rumberger Hillsborough Homebuyers deserve to have more choices Re State bill pausing local building codes forfeits surroundings progress Page A July The authors claim that local requirements for electrification benefit the context but provide no evidence that this is true Our cities do not exist in a hermetically sealed conditions The change in local carbon emissions relative to carbon emissions worldwide is unmeasurably small Local requirements to limit emissions solely represent moral posturing The authors claim that thousands of Palo Alto and San Jose residents enjoy lower potential costs and healthier air quality thanks to their all-electric homes Air within houses may be better when electric appliances replace gas ones and if reduced costs accrue from electrification the greater part homeowners without regulatory mandates would choose it when shopping for new appliances If all-electric residences cost less why would buyers not choose them on their own There certainly may be benefits to individuals who choose electric appliances over gas but people should have the freedom to decide what works best for them Richard Mamelok Palo Alto Immigration crackdown threatens nation s soul Donald Trump s anti-immigrant agenda is creating fear and chaos across America Talented students are rejecting U S universities choosing countries that offer a warmer welcome Immigrants already here are terrified afraid to go to work school or even seek clinical care This fear has real economic costs Farms are losing essential workers businesses are struggling and the market is faltering Entire communities are suffering as a upshot of policies rooted in cruelty not common sense While working families face this problem Trump s billionaire allies continue to profit a reverse Robin Hood scheme where the rich grow richer and the rest are left behind America was built by immigrants We should be welcoming talent and labor that fuels our business sector not driving it away with fear If this agenda continues the biggest loss won t be immigration it will be the soul of the nation itself Jag Singh Los Altos Senate gives in to fear by passing tax bill Re Spending tax cut bill passes Page A July The Senate s passage of Donald Trump s Big Beautiful Bill symbolizes our country s transformation from traditional faith in our political leaders into an administration of fear GOP members of Congress surely knew that accumulating national debt and loss of critical cabinet services are contrary to the interests of their constituents and our country at large but they voted for the bill anyway out of fear fear that they would be primaried out if they voted otherwise Unless we act and vote otherwise we are slowly but surely becoming a country united in fear as We the People are primaried out David Cain Los Altos To solve gas dilemma allow more imports Seems like our legislators in Sacramento usually can t find procedures to solve certain of the state s simplest problems several of which they created Related Articles Letters Take a moment on July to give thanks for our republic Letters California should be building housing smarter not faster Letters Services not expansion will best help unhoused people Letters Donald Trump s Big Beautiful Bill attacks our greater part vulnerable Letters Colleges runaway spending makes tuition unaffordable Obviously California is not comprehensively ready to get off fossil fuels And until that time comes we need to stop penalizing and antagonizing the sparse remaining refineries we have before we are in a fuel situation Thanks to our state elected reps it s no wonder we are up to per gallon higher than the national average When in a gas and diesel predicament we need to remove the obstacles of importing fuel from out-of-state refineries until the predicament calms down Simple enough Bruce Krutel El Granada