Good Week, Bad Week

Good week
Let the chickens roam free, they said. Let the pigs wander, they called. Let the eggs be cage-free, they cried. And they were not alone. Citizens for Farm Animal Protection said they have turned in 130,000 signatures to the state to get their measure on the 2016 ballot. That’s double the number necessary, and the group said they did it without any paid signature gatherers. According to a coalition of animal rights groups, their measure would “phase out extreme confinement and lifelong immobilization of animals on factory farms as well as the sale of products produce under those conditions.” Stretch those wings, little birdie. Stretch those wings. We’ll see next year if it flies.

Bad week
Heather Campion’s departure as chief executive of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation follows months of turmoil at the venerable institution. More than a third of the people whose positions were funded by the foundation have either resigned or been fired since Campion started her two-year tenure there. The library’s longtime director, Thomas Putnam, a federal employee, also resigned. In September, foundation officials commissioned an outside review of Campion and the library’s management. The report was not made public, but after it was done, Campion wrote a letter to the board announcing her resignation. Her departure leaves the library and its legacy in flux. Will there ever be peace and prosperity in Camelot — er, Columbia Point?