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How older adults can prevent low sodium levels

DEAR DR. ROACH: I’m a 79-year-old woman who’s trying her best to stay strong physically with daily exercise, eating right, and successfully living independently after the death of my husband. Other than taking one 20-mg benazepril tablet daily for high blood pressure, I’m in pretty good health. Recently, several friends who are close to my age have been diagnosed with low blood sodium levels. One landed in the ICU for several days, while others had problems with falls, swollen ankles and legs, slurred speech, and difficulty thinking and problem-solving, among other symptoms. ...

Latin America’s many trumps

Latin America is turning right, and it’s a vindication for President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. In some ways, the Cold War never really ended in the Western hemisphere: Socialism has haunted the nations of Central and South America long after the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the same Cuban regime the Soviet Union propped up for decades remains in power to this day. The hard left thought it had cemented control over Venezuela, too, thanks to Hugo Chavez and Nicolas Maduro — until American forces snatched Maduro right out of his bed back in January and took ...

The central question of power in America

Behind this election’s dominant issue of affordability lies the record concentration of wealth at the top of America. The richest 0.001% of Americans — a handful of extraordinarily wealthy men — now control more of the nation’s wealth than at any time in modern history. To be sure, wealth is not a zero-sum game in which the riches of those at the top necessarily come at the expense of everyone else. But power is a zero-sum game, because the more of it that is held by some people, the less of it is held by others. Wealth cannot be separated from power. Great wealth becomes ...

Dear Annie: Their stepmother oversteps

Dear Annie: I have been divorced for four years and share custody of my two children, ages 11 and 14. My ex-husband remarried last year, and I truly wanted his new wife to have a good relationship with the kids. At first, I was grateful. She was kind, showed up to their games and made an effort to include them. But lately, it feels like she is trying to become their mother instead of simply being their stepmother. She buys them clothes without asking, signs school forms, gives punishments and recently told my daughter she could come to her with “anything she wouldn’t feel ...

DEAR DR. ROACH: As a 69-year-old female, when my cholesterol reached 250 mg/dL, I was prescribed and started taking 10 mg of rosuvastatin daily. I soon noticed a constant ringing/buzzing in my ears. Six months later, my cholesterol was down to 183 mg/dL. Another four months have passed, and the tinnitus is worse than ever and keeps me up at night. I’m also experiencing daily headaches. Realizing coincidence isn’t causation, I do wonder whether a link of any kind between statins and tinnitus has been investigated. I saw an ear, nose and throat doctor and an audiologist; my hearing ...

Local journalism is woven into the fabric of our communities

Across Pennsylvania, from small towns to major cities, a common thread quietly weaves communities together. It draws attention to a local high school’s championship hopes, the detectives who solved a decades-old cold case, a proposed data center seeking approval in a township or the celebration of a hometown business reaching its 100th anniversary. That thread is local journalism, and it is an essential part of the fabric that binds our communities. National Newspaper Week offers an opportunity to recognize and celebrate the role local news organizations, both print and digital, play ...