Chattanooga homeowners and businesses may be piqued by the city's sharply higher storm-water control fees, but city officials have no option if they are to bring water quality standards for our streams, aquifers and river up to the mandated state and federal EPA standards.

The momentous struggle to bring health care reform to fruition always promised to hinge on several do-or-die moments. The first of those may come tomorrow, when Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid attempts to corral 60 votes to bring the proposed Senate version of a reform bill to the floor for full debate.

Though immigration reform was a major plank in the Barack Obama campaign platform, the topic has remained, by necessity, in the background as the new administration grappled with the more pressing issues of the economy, health care reform and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. No more. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said last week that Mr. Obama will make comprehensive immigration reform a priority in the new year. The willingness to take on another difficult issue is commendable.

The nation's top pharmaceutical companies have crowed a lot lately about their agreement with the Obama administration to issue selective price rebates worth $8 billion a year over the next 10 years to help the administration trim drug costs under the proposed health care reform legislation. More quietly, however, the pharmaceutical industry has rapidly increased drug prices by around 9 percent over the past year through September, producing higher earnings more than three times the value of their ballyhooed give-back. What a deal -- for the drug companies.

This fall has been the best of times in years for the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga football team. The team's record stands at a respectable 6-4 and it is assured of its first winning season since 2005 whatever the outcome of Saturday's game with Alabama, the second-ranked team in the nation. Given the team's 1-11 record in 2008, the turnaround has earned the team a bit of national media attention.

The right-wing myth that President Obama is a socialist -- and, worse, an out-of-control socialist whose actions threatens to bring America to her knees -- is as nutty as the false rhetoric that the Limbaugh, Beck and Hannity-style talking heads use to spread their destructive propaganda.

A task force report says that most women don't need mammograms in their 40s and that women 50-to-74 should have the screening exam every other year rather than annually. The same panel says that breast self-exams are not useful at any age.

It's difficult to determine if a Palestinian announcement to go before the United Nations Security Council to seek international support for an independent state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip is a bona fide effort to gain sovereignty, or a ploy to gain advantage in the on-and-off peace negotiations with Israel.

Purchase of the commanding and lovely 92-acre section of Stringer's Ridge that frames North Chattanooga and the north rim of downtown came as the result of a rare opportunity to save the forested Civil War landmark from development.

Parents of teens often are more concerned about their children's involvement with drinking, drugs and sex than they are driving, but there is considerable evidence extant indicating that vehicular accidents are the greatest threat to youngsters' safety. Driver's education courses, once a staple of the public school curriculum, are an effective way to impart the knowledge and skills to reduce that risk, but such classes have not been available here for years. That will change today.

Even in a populace acutely aware of the H1N1 flu, the numbers released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention late last week had to come as a shock. About 4,000 individuals, including about 540 children, are believed to have died from the so-called swine flu, according to the report released by the CDC. The figures are considerably higher than previous death estimates, but they reflect, thankfully, a new analysis of data rather than a worsening of the disease.

President Barack Obama said during his campaign that he would work to improve diplomatic relations with Cuba when in office. He's kept that promise. He's initiated efforts to relax or amend some of the strict regulations that govern interaction between the nations and their residents. Still, progress remains slow. There's hope, however, that a new form of diplomacy, can increase the pace.

NASA scientists could hardly contain their excitement Friday when they announced that there is water, perhaps a considerable amount of it, on the moon. It's presence had long been expected, but confirmation comes from a careful study of data from a satellite that was intentionally slammed into a crater there last month. The scientific implications are impressive.

Barack Obama, already the most traveled first-year president ever, embarked Thursday on an eight-day trip to Asia to strengthen United States ties to nations there and to reaffirm the broad U.S. role in Asian-Pacific affairs. It is a timely journey. The president already has visited Europe and Africa, and he can't afford to give the impression that he is ignoring a part of the world with ever-increasing economic and diplomatic power.

The first naval clash in seven years between North and South Korea is a reminder -- as if another one is needed -- of the extreme volatility in the Far East. The short skirmish on Tuesday quickly heightened tensions between the two Koreas, but it is not clear if the confrontation immediately will alter the delicate diplomatic balance in the Far East. Initial indications from the international community seem to suggest the latter is unlikely.