SEATTLE NEWS ARCHIVES & FEATURES

Time to proclaim: ‘Family first!’

Jun 20, 2019, 1:47 PM

The collapse of the family stands at the heart of America’s most pressing, painful problems – addiction and suicide, economic inequality, educational under-performance, and even homelessness.

Recent statistics show that majorities of millennials who produce children, do so outside of marriage. A University of Michigan study indicates than an amazing 20 percent of young adults report no contact – none! – with their birth fathers. In response to the crisis, the left emphasizes redistribution of wealth or more generous welfare programs –ignoring the fact that even wealthy families suffer from break-down or break-up.

Problems beyond politics

On the right, we stress the need for religious revival to strengthen family life, despite the prevalence of divorce and out-of-wedlock birth even among the fervently faithful. We need fresh efforts to change values and culture from leaders in government, media, business, religion and education, mobilized under a two-word slogan: “Family First!”

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi walks from the podium after speaking to the media during the...

Associated Press

Where things stand after Iran’s new pitch for a deal to open the Strait of Hormuz

It’s been a busy week for Iranian diplomacy that may have come to nothing. Iran’s president and foreign minister visited New York for the U.N. gathering of world leaders and proposed a deal with the Trump administration that would end the fighting and open the Strait of Hormuz in seven days. That’s if the U.S. […]

4 minutes ago

FILE - Piles of coal sit near a chemical plant in Datong, China, March 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Ng Han G...

Associated Press

China has kept its promise to stop funding overseas coal, but loopholes are helping coal expand

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Addressing the U.N. General Assembly in 2021, Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged to stop funding overseas coal power plants in an effort to help curb climate change. Five years later, as the assembly meets this week, the world’s climate commitments are dangerously offtrack, and the phase down of coal is inching […]

5 hours ago

FILE - The OpenAI logo is displayed on a cell phone in front of an image generated by ChatGPT's Dal...

Associated Press

OpenAI says its models engaged with US government websites in new model misbehavior disclosure

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — OpenAI disclosed Friday that its artificial intelligence agents had interacted with several U.S. government websites in unexpected ways, discovered as part of an ongoing review into the company’s models’ unanticipated behavior. The AI giant’s models accessed publicly available information on two websites operated by the Securities and Exchange Commission as well […]

5 hours ago

ritzville i-90 closed visibility...

Jason Sutich

I-90 in Ritzville reopens after dust storm caused multiple collisions

I-90 in Ritzville has reopened after both directions were blocked Friday due to multiple collisions.

7 hours ago

Ballard hit-and-run...

KIRO Newsradio staff

20-year-old sentenced to more than 3 years for deadly 2025 Ballard hit-and-run

The man accused in the hit-and-run death of a pedestrian in Ballard last year has been sentenced to more than three years in prison.

8 hours ago

2 box truck fire SODO...

Julia Dallas

Suspects accidentally light themselves on fire while allegedly trying to steal fuel from box trucks in SODO

Two suspects accidentally set themselves on fire while they appeared to be trying to steal fuel from box trucks in the SODO neighborhood.

9 hours ago

Time to proclaim: ‘Family first!’