Today's New York Times: 37. 5/3/17

A10

BATTLE LINES OUTSIDE THE DOOR OF THE LAST ABORTION CLINIC IN KENTUCKY

"Kentucky, which had 17 abortion providers in 1978, is today among seven states with just one."

Kentucky
North Dakota
South Dakota
Missouri
Mississippi
Wyoming
West Virginia

"Backed by the American Civil Liberties Union, the clinic has sued the state; a trial is set for September."

"One 37-year-old woman tearfully confessed that she had had an affair with a co-worker, who was married: 'I'm his boss, and this is strictly forbidden; we could both lose our jobs.'"

Do we really need government at any level interfering with a woman's right to make such heartbreakingly difficult decisions about her own body?

A BETTER-TASTING BIRD

"In 1935, the average broiler chicken reached the slaughter-ready weight of 2.86 pounds in 98 days. Today they weigh an average of 6.18 pounds at the time of slaughter, when they are about 47 days old."

"We have to figure out how can we make this happen so we're not ending up with a chicken nobody can afford ..."

Birds of Different Feathers

These chickens might be too big to fit into Hoover's proverbial pot:

THE ASHRAM RECORDINGS OF A COLTRANE

"When the musician Alice Coltrane changed her name to Turiyasangitananda, she announced it to her children by having them practice spelling it out with fridge magnets."

"Ms. Coltrane released seven albums on the Impulse! label in the late 1960s and early '70s ..."

I remember buying one out of sheer curiosity. Her harp playing was nice, but I quickly became bored. These Ashram recordings sound a lot more interesting.

WHITE ON THE PITCH, BLUE IN THE STANDS

"King Edward II of England banned a forerunner of modern soccer in a 1314 decree, which warned that 'there is great noise in the city caused by hustling over large balls from which many evils may arise.'"

"'If we lose,' he advised me and his brother, 'you can't say a word until we're on the Northern line' ... He had learned that making any comments after a loss was sort of like joking about a bomb at the airport."

"GREAT COMET" SHINES BRIGHT

I sure hope they don't leave anything out!

A21

REPORT BY URBAN LEAGUE SHOWS ENDURING RACE GAPS

"In parts of the Great Lakes region, including Chicago, Cleveland, Minneapolis and Toledo, Ohio, a report found that white households on average earned more than twice as much as black households."

The article doesn't even give Obama an A+ in this troubling reality:

Mr. Obama has been praised "for expanding health care and increasing financial aid for colleges, but his tenure was also marked by increased rates of gun violence in many cities and several instances of unrest after police officers killed black men."

Of course, if Obama had had a congressional partner, gun violence could have been addressed.

But Trump is so much worse.

"Shari Runner, president and chief executive of the Chicago Urban League said she saw such talk by Mr. Trump ('send in the Feds!') as a barrier to improving the Chicago Police Department and addressing some of the city's other longstanding problems.

'It's a talking point ... and I think there's very little knowledge or insight into what's happening in Chicago.'"

SAUDI PRINCE REJECTS TALKS WITH IRAN

"Roughly a quarter of the global population of 7.5 billion is Muslim, the vast majority Sunni."

"The prince said that dialogue with Iran was impossible because of its belief in the Imam Mahdi, the so-called hidden imam, who many Shiites believe is a descendant of the Prophet Muhammad who will return to save the world from destruction."

"Their stance is that the awaited Mahdi will come, and they need to create a fertile environment for the arrival of the awaited Mahdi, and they need to take over the Islamic world ... [W]here are the common points that we might be able to reach an understanding on with this regime?"