Dear Editor, The Senate Health Care Bill, which was drafted by Senate Republicans (including our own Republican Senator, Pat Toomey) in secret and finally made public yesterday (Thursday, 6/22) — and which the Republicans are trying to vote upon and enact as quickly as possible (perhaps ...
It would be difficult these days to find a member of Congress not concerned about acrimony in politics spurring a few crazies to commit violent acts. Even Montana Rep.-elect Greg Gianforte, convicted of assaulting a reporter, is calling for more civility. But some of the very people whose ...
U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says lawmakers in his chamber of Congress are primed to vote on a new national health care law next week. Details of the Senate bill are sketchy, but it clearly will have to be a better version than that approved by the House of ...
I am disturbed by the decision to close the pediatric unit at Warren General Hospital. Both of my children were born at WGH and my eldest daughter was hospitalized in the pediatric unit on December 28, 2015 at 1.5 years old for croup. She woke from her morning nap, unable to draw a full ...
On Thursday, June 22, I opened Facebook on my phone as I gave my eight-month-old daughter her bottle. Little did I know that the first thing I would see would upset me enough to keep me up for much of the night. I tossed and turned, drafting angry letters in my head, knowing full well I had ...
Dear Editor, Word from Dick Martin of the Pennsylvania Forest Coalition is that John Childe’s lawsuit was successful. Dick once wrote an editorial that appeared in the Times Observer several years ago. When Pennsylvania’s state legislators diverted $478 million from the Department of ...
It’s 0-0. We lose. There was a thought-provoking letter to the editor a while back challenging a recent editorial. The writer asked how the Democrats could be accused of being obstructionists when the Republicans have majorities in both houses and could pass any legislation they wanted to. ...
When you grow up in an apartment, gardening isn’t on the top of your hobby list. It never even occurred to me to buy a plant of any kind let alone dig in the dirt – until we bought our first house. As new parents, we had moved out of our last apartment in January and I never looked ...
Public television is in funding trouble! In my opinion, public TV accomplishes its mission — “to ensure universal access to high-quality, non-commercial programming that educates, informs, enlightens and enriches.” CPB focuses on the needs of under-served audiences many in rural ...
“You’re killin’ me, Smalls.” Before it became a product in a sponsored Facebook ad that people overwhelmingly tag me in, I was saying this to my girls. For Ham Porter, it was an utterance born of annoyance. It’s not his best line in the movie. I mean, it’s certainly no “count ...
Recently I spotted a teddy bear at a second-hand facility that I felt was quite old. That got me to thinking about teddy bears. Back in the late 1940s or early 1950s I had an old 78 record called "Teddy Bear's Picnic. I played it on an old Victrola that you had to crank to get the turntable ...
It was wonderful to read the article in the Saturday edition about Danny Reynolds and his success at the Chautauqua County Humane Society in Jamestown. I met Danny when he worked at a local shelter where I learned firsthand of his compassionate, hard working nature. To see him thriving in a ...
If you saw any video from the Congressional Baseball Game last week, you may have been gratified by the let-bygones-be-bygones spirit of the participants. Democrats and Republicans who sometimes describe each other in less than flattering terms went out of their way to emphasize collegiality ...
They hung their heads and with great emotion they voted: Impeach. President Clinton did have relations with that woman Mizz Lewinski. And he lied about it to boot. Our Judeo-Christian values were at risk. A constitutional crisis of the greatest magnitude. To the rescue came these noble ...
President Donald Trump’s style is, well, different. In many ways he seems determined to redefine the presidency. In doing so he may give his successors new tools to deal with both domestic and foreign policy. Let us hope he recognizes the value of some of the old, well-worn tools, ...
Americans’ admiration and gratitude for the bravery, dedication and toughness of the armed forces in combat zones is expressed so often and so fervently that those who serve ought to take it for granted. But we forget, sometimes, about the hundreds of thousands of men and women in the ...
No doubt Cuban leaders counted on the United States not to look back after former President Barack Obama reversed longstanding policies toward the communist island in December 2014. But there is a new president in town, and he is right to insist Cuba keep its end of the bargain. For ...
Speculation that President Donald Trump plans to remove the special investigator looking into Russia’s meddling with the presidential election has been rampant. Trump surely understands that would be a political disaster. With Democrats virtually salivating at the possibility they can ...
“We don’t lick the car,” is apparently something I say now. Some guy heard me saying it to my kid as he was walking into the Walmart (that’s right, I am over thirty now, so I add unnecessary definite articles to proper nouns), and started laughing. I’m so glad, sir, that this ...
I recently wrote a column that balanced my shock at turning 60 against the shocking realization that some people don’t get to turn 60. In that column, I referred to my 80 year old friend, Jim Morrison. Now Jim is many things: he’s a giant. He’s affable. He’s quite an historian. ...