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How one boy overcame loneliness and brought a neighborhood together

Columns

Many people across the nation were touched by the heartwarming story of Roman Butzlaff, a 4-year-old boy in Concord, North Carolina, who befriended several of his elderly neighbors and became their adopted grandson. When the CBS Evening News aired its July 10 “On the Road” feature on Roman, I was amazed at his genuine desire to connect with individuals decades older. I’m sure others found this odd at first, as Roman was spending his mornings saying “hey” to everyone walking by his home instead of being immersed in a video game. Many children his age would have ignored the ...

Dear Annie: Not looking to cause a stir

Columns

Dear Annie: I have a family problem for which I would appreciate your opinion. My wife and I are Americans living in a small village in Italy, in an area popular with tourists. Recently, I contacted my sister and her husband from the States and expressed our interest in having them visit us and stay at our house, since we haven’t seen them for many years. We’re all retired, they easily have the means to make the trip, and our house has plenty of room for visitors. Her reply caught me unprepared. She said that they were expected by their church to do a mission outside the U.S. and, ...

The American presidency and perpetual war

Columns

One of the defining failures of modern American government has been the steady erosion of Congress’s constitutional authority over war. The Constitution grants Congress — not the president — the power to declare war. Congress decides to go to war. The president wages it. Over the past several decades, presidents of both major parties have increasingly treated military intervention as an executive prerogative rather than a congressional requirement. The last six presidents have not reflected distinct foreign policy doctrines but a uniparty continuum of executive overreach. While ...

Support the employees at Mt. Nittany Health

Letters to the editor

Susan Trainor, CRNP College Township As someone who has worked for Mount Nittany Health and its predecessor organizations for more than 30 years, I support the Mount Nittany Health employees represented by SEIU in their effort to earn wages that reflect the value of their work. During my career, I have seen extraordinary advances in medicine and technology. But one thing has never changed: healthcare is only as good as the people providing it. Every patient experience depends on the nurses, technicians, housekeepers, transporters, dietary workers, respiratory therapists and so many ...

Fight! Fight! Fight!

Letters to the editor

Sam Stea Cogan Station Trump’s famous words. Along with “Regime change.” But I think he’s talking not about Iran but America He’s going to monkey with the legality of the midterm elections to try to stay in power He may use the Iran War to justify martial law here at home. All he needs is for enough people to hope these don’t happen and stay quiet if they do. Raise your voices. Our great Republic is in peril.

Why the debate over life-saving vehicles?

Columns

Somewhere in Los Angeles this year, someone will get home who otherwise wouldn’t have. You’ll never learn her name. There will be no headline, no celebration, no council resolution — only an unremarkable Tuesday that ends the way Tuesdays are supposed to end. The same nonstory will eventually play out in more than a dozen other metro areas where autonomous vehicles will serve as cabs. Last year, 36,640 Americans died in traffic crashes. That was the fewest since 2019, yet it still works out to more than 100 fatalities per day. The new generation of vehicles quietly accumulating ...