Breaking News

Local Commentaries

When the ‘cure’ starts to becomes torture

The men and women who put their lives on the line shouldn’t have them placed on hold by a Veterans Administration that kept hundreds in isolation long after the rest of our state emerged from COVID lockdown. Yet that’s exactly what happened at the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Wilkes-Barre, where elderly and ailing vets have been treated more like prisoners of war than heroes worthy of the freedoms they guarded. It shouldn’t be this way. In fact, official guidance from The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which regulates nursing facilities, states, ...

A favorite snack

The other day some friends and I went out to lunch. As we ate, we talked about some favorite snacks. It was unanimous — the favorite snack was toast. Some liked it with jelly. Some liked it with cinnamon and sugar. Some liked it plain. I guess the reason toast came up was because I was enjoying breakfast foods for lunch. That day I had French toast. The day we visited, there was a new menu. It took us a while to make our decision as to what to eat. Actually, it took us a while to find what we were looking for. My entree had not been on the menu for a while. I know it was ...

Tennis or sleep? It’s a difficult choice

In July, it was Wimbledon. Now, the U.S. Open, live from New York City. It’s as if the gods of televised tennis are purposely trying to destroy my sleep. The men’s match Friday night began at 10:45 p.m. As the clock slid past 1:30 a.m., I finally had to hit the remote’s “record” button, desperate for sleep. I later read that Carlos Alcaraz, the 19-year-old Spanish phenom, finally cleaned his opponent’s clock at 2:50 a.m. I keep telling myself, “It’s just a game, go to bed.” But it isn’t. I’m devoted, and I don’t want to miss any of it. I’m beginning to ...

A Methodist matter of faith

After reading Josh Cotton’s piece on the meeting at First United Methodist Church (Sept. 3), I feel that I must comment. The article notes that the “issue at the heart of the divide is human sexuality.” I beg to differ. As the son of a Methodist clergy and a retired Methodist ...

Disaffiliation possibility appears discouraging

I read with interest a front-page story in the Times Observer (Sept. 3) covering the recent information meeting at First United Methodist Church, a meeting led by the United Methodist officials to provide information regarding the process of “disaffiliating” from the denomination. As the article stated, the “presenting” issue is how the United Methodist Church addresses “homosexuality,” or more broadly, the LGBTQ community. I was quite discouraged to see that the Church Council of First United Methodist Church voted almost unanimously to explore disaffiliation. First United ...

Christians can learn from fantasy football

Editor’s note: This two-part series will explore Christian themes seen through Fantasy Football. The fantasy football draft is quite the experience. I have seen fantasy football owners with NFL magazines that are highlighted with notes next to their laptops that probably have a few internet pages open of statistical information. I once had a friend at the draft call another person for their opinion on what player he ought to select. One of my favorite parts of the draft is when a fantasy owner makes a selection and everyone else says, “good pick, that’s a real good pick!” ...