The world is an inviting and exciting roller-coaster ride for our children—the world is a hazardous and unsafe place for our children. Life is a two-sided coin for our children. Disney World, Cedar Point, Sea World. Columbine, Sandy Hook, Parkland. America. It is the best of times—it is the worst of times. What is the […]

Many of us are not aware of the ways simple tools can be life-saving until we are met with moments of desperation. A situation like this happened to a constituent of mine, whose spouse passed away from a cardiac arrest because there was no AED (automated external defibrillator) in the pharmacy he was shopping at, […]

“I know it’s fixin’ to be spring,” said Dud. “Things budding out on your trees and stuff, Dud?” added Steve. “Nope. Potato chip bags. Found two of them the other day.” We looked … inquisitive? And it was enough to get Dud back into action. “Two of them. One was stuck on that big ol’ […]

In the 2020 election campaign, healthcare looms as a major issue. Many Republicans want to repeal the Affordable Care Act and slash Medicare.  Eliminating Obama’s signature policy and reducing Medicare are centerpieces of their effort to end Democratic “big government.”  They like the traditional system based mainly on insurance provided by employers. Many conservatives believe […]

My family’s school vacation was utterly unremarkable. There were no trips to any fascinating or glamorous destinations, unless one considers Trader Joe’s exotic. A couple of snowstorms required some moderate shoveling, but most of the time the young Youngs busied themselves with a variety of electronic pursuits, while their father prepared meals, scrubbed sinks and […]

If you follow professional sports, and especially if you are a football or hockey fan, you undoubtedly are aware of the rash of concussions that have rendered players unfit to play. Now there’s a rash of lawsuits being filed against the National Football League, the latest of which includes a group of 106 retired football players, all […]

The World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report for 2019 indicates that most experts point to environmental problems as being the most serious threats to global stability—just as they found in the previous two years. That report follows on one in October 2018 by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). It said with “high confidence” that at the current […]

Every June, my brother-in-law Dave, who lives near the river, is in a fishing contest sponsored by a local bar. Dave and his partner, Tim, compete against other teams to see who can catch the most flathead catfish in 15 days. This, I quickly learned, is the WWE of fishing. No mercy is shown. The […]

Back in the eighth grade, when the world was young, I used to keep an annotated list ranking my feelings about girls I fancied. Imitative of Top 40 radio, the list got updated regularly. Favorites rose or fell depending upon who’d smiled at me in the hallway or let me walk her home from school. […]