American soldiers have turned their guns on their comrades before. Yet Thursday's horrific shooting rampage at Fort Hood, Texas -- a burst of furious bloodletting apparently inflicted by a single deranged soldier -- is the worst in memory. The shooter, identified by the Army as Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, a 39-year-old Army psychiatrist, took 12 lives and wounded 31 others, some critically. An intensive, multi-agency investigation led by the Army was immediately begun to determine any possible motives of the gunman, but in the interim Americans are left to wonder in sadness just why this tragedy occurred and how it possibly could have been averted.

The official opening of the Majestic 12 theater on Friday reaffirms the vitality of downtown development and confirms the community as a leader in the construction of sustainable buildings. The 12-screen moviehouse, located conveniently at Third and Broad streets, replaces the nearby Bijou, which had served patrons for more than a decade.

There are a variety of ways to measure a school system's success. One common device is a report card that provides benchmarks of academic achievement and long-term progress of a district's students. That's the same gauge used by parents to determine how a child is progressing in school. By that standard, careful perusal of the state's just released annual Report Card for Hamilton County Schools is cause for concern about the progress being made by students here.

Republicans have good reason to rejoice in their victories in the gubernatorial races in Virginia and New Jersey. But however predictable, it's an unsupported stretch for them to hold out those gains as symbolic of a national discontent with the Obama administration. In fact, both races -- and the congressional race in New York, as well -- turned largely on state and personal issues and strong feelings about the individual candidates.

If the prospects in Afghanistan were bleak before next Saturday's scheduled presidential run-off election, they are absolutely stark now that the election is off the table.

The seemingly intractable Israeli-Palestinian conflict is based, for the most part, on the closely intertwined issues of geography and government -- or, in a nutshell, who owns the land and how it should be governed.

Part of the genius of our Constitution is its division of powers between federal and state governments.

Just when Democrats in Congress appear to have an opportunity to pass a substantive public health insurance option as a key pillar of health care reform, the party's weak-kneed faction is backing away -- and pushing for a diluted version that would greatly undermine the potential achievement. We hope the timid faction will put aside their fears. Americans too often are jettisoned or jilted by private insurers when they become seriously ill. The nation needs a fairer insurance system to curb the rampant claim denials and medical bankruptcies that now beleaguer Americans who unwittingly believe that they have comprehensive health insurance.

Public discussion about widespread brain injuries has generally related to the plight of soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, where hidden roadside bombs frequently leave survivors with crippling head injuries. But there’s another rising conversation about brain injuries, one related to the head-pounding hits that professional football players regularly take in their game’s weekly blocking and tackling.

Classical sculpture has often been used to embellish the grand bridges, parks and plazas of great metropolitan cities in America and abroad. It is a bit out of the ordinary, however, in mid-sized Southern cities. The unveiling Thursday of two beautiful classical sculptures at the south end of the refurbished Market Street Bridge may change that. These lovely bronze works -- and two more to be created for the north end of the bridge -- will not only enhance appreciation of the visual arts in Chattanooga. They will surely provide inspiration, as well, for other aspiring cities to follow suit.

Halloween once had a somewhat rascally reputation. Years ago, it had a dedicated following among treat-seeking youngsters, of course, but the holiday was somewhat tarnished by the tricks perpetrated on the public by a small number of malefactors. Today, though, Halloween is widely accepted and marked by far more mirth than mayhem. It's big business, too. Holiday sales this year are expected to reach about $5 billion.

Burdened by an illegitimate August presidential election, the prospect of a similar result in the Nov. 7 run-off election, rampant corruption, a soaring heroin trade, and the bloodiest fighting in eight years of war, the outlook in Afghanistan is bleak.

Given the latest terrorist bombings and shattered nerves in Iraq in the run-up to January elections, it's not hard to find depressing symbolic symmetry in Iraq's tarnished security and the United State's massive -- and massively flawed -- new embassy in Baghdad. The advertised substance and quality of both are more illusion than reality, never mind what either government would want their constituents to believe.

The Great Smoky Mountains National Park, already the nation's most visited, should be busier still in the coming year. A continuing rise in the number of visitors will contribute significantly to park traffic. So will a phalanx of workers engaged in a massive project to repair and update more than 50 miles of roads, a campground, and a heavily utilized trailhead parking area. The additional visitors are gratifying confirmation of the park's continuing appeal. The repairs should make a visit to the park safer and more pleasurable.

Health insurance companies are happy to claim that their profit margins are not as high as those of some other companies that sell consumer products.