The winners and the losers

Loser: We agree that Utah's teachers shouldn't have to pay much out of pocket for classroom supplies, but a proposal by Rep. Kraig Powell, R-Heber City, sounds like a solution that is worse than the problem. Powell would amend the state constitution so that parents can be required to provide those supplies for their children or pay a fee. The part of the constitution he would amend says that all students are entitled to a free education — a concept that made sense to the state's first leaders and ought to make sense today. Given the gaps between low-income parents and those of means, this solution sounds destined to exacerbate inequities. But that doesn't mean teachers shouldn't look for ways to get parents to help with costs.

Winner: One of this week's dominant news stories — the arrest of Faisal Shahzad in the attempted bombing of Times Square — was a victory for law enforcement and for alert bystanders. A lot of things could have gone wrong. Police could have let the airplane Shahzad was on take off after officials failed to identify him before boarding. But they didn't. Was it a close call? Yep. But in the end, another brazen attack on U.S. soil was foiled, and that's what counts.

Loser: Young adults, white ones in particular, are getting stomach cancer more than in the past. That was the startling news from researchers at the National Cancer Institute this week. There may be problems with the sample size, and stomach cancer still is rare in all young adults, but lower stomach cancer has been linked to diets that contain a lot of salt and that are devoid of fresh fruits. Frankly, anyone familiar with the average young person's diet in America these days shouldn't be surprised to see a lot of health problems develop.

Loser: Tylenol, of all drug makers, should understand the importance of quality control. The company was the target of deliberate tampering in 1982 that led to the deaths of seven people. So we were surprised to see the manufacturer on the list of drugs recalled this week because of quality control problems. Motrin, Zyrtec and Benadryl formulated for children also were on the list. A federal spokesman said the recall came because of an "abundance of caution." We hope that means things aren't so bad after all.