{"slug": "letters-column-doesnt-support-its-overreaching-headline", "title": "Letters: Column doesn’t support its overreaching headline", "summary": "A reader criticizes a Mercury News headline for overreaching, arguing the article only cites one government official proposing a law to sue public records seekers, not the entire government. The letter calls for more balanced reporting.", "body_md": "**Getting your**\n\n[Trinity Audio](//trinityaudio.ai)player ready...**Submit your letter to the editor via this form. Read more Letters to the Editor.**\n\n#### Column doesn’t support overreaching headline\n\nRe: “[Seeking public records could trigger lawsuit](https://www.mercurynews.com/2026/06/16/borenstein-california-government-wants-power-to-sue-you-for-seeking-public-records-trump-weaponization/)” (Page A6, June 18).\n\nThe headline writer for the web article went a bit overboard: “Your government wants power to sue you for seeking public records.”\n\nThe article mentions exactly one person in government who is proposing this and accuses the whole government of wanting it.\n\nYes, it is a terrible idea. Yes, there are undoubtedly other people in government who support the idea, though that is entirely unsupported by the article. The article would have been more valuable if other supporters of the proposal had been named.\n\n**Niall MacDonagh**\n\n*Antioch*\n\n#### Officials should restore foreign aid budget\n\nNext week, I will take part in the [Alliance for American Leadership](https://a4al.org/)’s Soft Power Summer Hill Day, where I’ll urge Congress to recommit to international assistance.\n\nSkeptics characterize foreign aid as irresponsible “charity” from the United States to other countries. This view diminishes the role strategic foreign aid plays in protecting American interests.\n\nThe United States spends less than 1% of its budget on foreign aid, a small investment with a big impact on protecting American businesses and containing deadly diseases. Ebola is spreading rapidly, having already claimed 223 lives abroad. Every day the virus proliferates is a day of increased risk to American lives. An American doctor has already been infected.\n\nBy employing foreign assistance, we can protect American businesses and consumers. Assemblymember Liz Ortega, state Sen. Aisha Wahab and U.S. Sens. Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff should urge the OMB to expend appropriated foreign aid funds to contain global health crises before they cause further harm.\n\n**Nikole Ahne Morales**\n\n*Hayward*\n\n#### Officials aren’t doing basic work of fire safety\n\nRe: “[Few exits add to fire dangers](https://www.mercurynews.com/2026/06/08/is-your-community-wildfire-death-trap-study-deaths-number-escape-routes/)” (Page A1, June 8).\n\nWildfire evacuation challenges are a stark reminder of how much work remains to prepare communities for the wildfires we know are inevitable. Unfortunately, in this regard, we are still not investing our taxpayer dollars where it matters most.\n\nOur state continues to pour time and money into remote fuels‑reduction projects, work that does little to protect people during the wind‑driven fires that destroy homes. Meanwhile, initiatives for evacuation planning, home‑hardening, defensible space, early alert systems and safe refuge areas, the basics of community safety, remain underfunded.\n\nIf we devoted even a fraction of the political attention and budget spent on backcountry thinning to helping communities prepare, we would save far more lives and property. California deserves wildfire strategies grounded in what actually works: strengthening the places where people live.\n\n**Jennifer Normoyle**\n\n*Hillsborough*\n\n#### Israel’s path to peace doesn’t lie in bombing\n\nIsrael’s continued attacks on Gaza, Lebanon and Iran, despite repeated ceasefire calls, expose the failure of unconditional military support.\n\nA growing number of Americans want arms shipments halted. The path to peace is diplomacy, accountability, humanitarian relief and an immediate ceasefire.\n\n**Jag Singh**\n\n*Los Altos*", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/letters-column-doesnt-support-its-overreaching-headline", "canonical_source": "https://www.mercurynews.com/2026/06/19/letters-article-doesnt-support-headline/", "published_at": "2026-06-19 23:30:19+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-06-19 23:39:31.129923+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["ai-policy"], "entities": ["Mercury News", "Niall MacDonagh"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/letters-column-doesnt-support-its-overreaching-headline", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/letters-column-doesnt-support-its-overreaching-headline.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/letters-column-doesnt-support-its-overreaching-headline.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/letters-column-doesnt-support-its-overreaching-headline.jsonld"}}