NOAA database

Axing the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) database (“US retires database tracking climate change-fueled weather damage,” May 8) allows Donald Trump to ignore the escalation in costly global-warming induced weather events — if it can’t be seen, it doesn’t exist.

This “kill-the-messenger” approach seems to be Trump’s standard mode for solving complex problems. For example, when COVID rates were high in 2020 he said that we should stop testing so “we’d have very few cases, if any.”

Ignoring the data may have convinced some that COVID was not a major concern, but it didn’t change the facts. By May of 2023, the U.S. led all nations in the number of COVID-19 cases (106,678,609) and deaths (1,161,161), according to statista.com.

Similarly, suppressing global climate change information does not change the fact that recent years have been the hottest on record. We need to insist that our congressional representatives restore funding for NOAA data collection.

John Devendorf Milford

Tania Fernandes Anderson

Kudos to the Boston Herald for its full coverage of the saga of District 7 Boston City Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson. Anderson should have resigned back in April when she was first arrested and charged. She should have resigned after pleading guilty in court on May 5. However, now she vows to stay in office until after the budget hearings in late June.

The Boston City Council’s integrity and reputation has been put on trial by the actions of the District 7 councilor. The fact she holds on to her seat tells one everything they have to know. Does she still believe she can truly represent her constituents or be their voice?

If she won’t leave until she sees fit, she should be removed from all the committees she sits on.

If ever there was a time to create a Code of Ethics on the City Council, now is that time. It is so sad to see how helpless the City Council is looking at the moment. They tell her it is time to go and the mayor says basically the same thing. Where too are her District 7 voters? Why aren’t they demanding she take a hike? Remember government is only as good as we the people demand it to be or as bad as we allow it to be. Where are all the candidates lining up to be the next councilor to represent the people of District 7? Their voices need to be heard, too.

Political courage is a hard commodity to find these days. Why are our elected officials so timid to speak out? When all is said and done Tania Fernandes Anderson will go down in Boston City Council history as someone who seemingly found a way to make the Council look even more meaningless than most of us already thought it to be.

Sal Giarratani East Boston