Stories about Fort Worth 76104 ZIP code expose real needs

The Historic Southside, Hillside, Morningside neighborhoods in the 76104 ZIP code have the lowest life expectancy in Texas, according to a UT Southwestern study. Residents, on average, don’t live to see their 67th birthday. Yffy Yossifor yyossifor@star-telegram.com

Meet the people who are affected

The articles in the series “Life and Death in 76104” by Nichole Manna were outstanding examples of investigative journalism. (Sept. 28, 1A, “Some in Fort Worth travel an hour to find healthy food,” Sept. 27, 1A, “Death comes early in this Fort Worth ZIP code”) Seeing the names and faces of people gives life to statistics about poverty in the city.

It is tragic that there is no health clinic or pharmacy in the area. It is tragic that there is no place to buy healthy food. It is tragic that the transportation system is so difficult to navigate.

Will this investigative journalism spur the city’s leaders to do something? I hope so.

- Marsha Abeson, Fort Worth

Are Trump’s taxes news?

I don’t know whether the story about President Donald Trump’s taxes is true or not. I recall in 2012 when Sen. Harry Reid alleged that Mitt Romney had paid no taxes. After the election, Reid’s response was, “Romney didn’t win, did he?”

If the report is true, did Trump break any laws? Frequent radio commercials tell us real estate is a good tax investment. Interest paid, depreciation and cost of improvements are all deductions. These can add up to more than income. It is all legal.

Is this legitimate news?

- Dan Moore, Fort Worth

We need the best numbers

There is nothing more important to the well-being of Tarrant County residents than accurate and timely information about the spread of COVID-19 in our community. Because of erratic reporting of testing data from labs, to publish only deaths and daily confirmed cases — some from weeks ago, with current ones missing — is misleading.

So headlines announce that cases are down, but hospitalizations are rising. Hospitalizations are the most reliable indicator of how well we are containing the virus.

- Beth Llewellyn McLaughlin, Fort Worth

There are some words for it

The presidential debate between President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden can be summed up as verbal pugilism at its vitriolic best.

- Delores Cantrell, Fort Worth

I could do better than Chris Wallace

Chris Wallace bombed as the presidential debate moderator. Has he ever taken a debate class? Or did he just emulate chaotic talk shows?

To give a participant two minutes to speak uninterrupted, there is a clear solution: Control the microphones. To comment on a participant’s answers shows bias. Control your own microphone if not your tongue.

Pay me $200 and expenses to monitor the next debate, and I will give Wallace a demonstration.

- Myretta Bell, Bedford

Make the debate a real contest

That was no debate. It was a name-calling, chest-bumping schoolyard brawl. There was no winner, only losers.

If they want to stage a real debate, follow University Interscholastic League formal debate rules. Two teams, each at a table, with one speaker at a time approaching a lectern. Camera on that speaker only. Strict time periods for each speaker, with the camera and microphone cut off when that the time ends.

Debate and challenge ideas, not personalities. Remain civil and respectful. We could all learn much from a true debate like that, but all I learned Tuesday night was who the bigger bully is.

- Pat Wertheim, Arlington